Remember That Company With the $70K Minimum Wage? Here’s How It’s Doing Now | Inc.com

March 10, 2020March 9, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Remember how five years ago, Dan Price, the CEO of Seattle-based payment processing company Gravity Payments, raised all of his 120 employees’ salary to at least $70,000 a year, taking a huge pay cut to make it happen?

A media firestorm resulted, including here in Inc.com, much of it focused on negative blowback from the decision, including executive resignations, sniping from local startups, and a lawsuit from Price’s co-founder (also his brother). Rush Limbaugh called Price “a communist.” All in all, the coverage painted a messier picture than a simple feel-good story of a generous CEO doing good by his employees.

Here’s What Really Happened at That Company That Set a $70,000 Minimum Wage | Inc.com

October 22, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Before Dan Price caused a media firestorm by establishing a $70,000 minimum wage at his Seattle company, Gravity Payments… before Hollywood agents, reality-show producers, and book publishers began throwing elbows for a piece of the hip, 31-year-old entrepreneur with the shoulder-length hair and Brad Pitt looks… before Rush Limbaugh called him a socialist and Harvard Business School professors asked to study his radical experiment in paying workers… an entry-level Gravity employee named Jason Haley got really pissed off at him.

It was late 2011. Haley was a 32-year-old phone tech earning about $35,000 a year, and he was in a sour mood. Price had noticed it, and when he spotted Haley outside on a smoking break, he approached. “Seems like something’s bothering you,” he said. “What’s on your mind?”

“You’re ripping me off,” Haley told him.

CEO dramatically raised minimum wage at his company | Business Insider

April 15, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Financial stress is bad for business. A 2010 Federal Reserve study estimated that it can cost an employer an average of $5,000 per employee per year.

Dan Price, founder and CEO of the credit card payment processing firm Gravity Payments recently proposed an unprecedented solution to financial stress within his company: a new minimum wage of $70,000 a year.