CEO Sets A Minimum Wage Of $70,000 For Everyone In His Compa

[Riddick]

“Is anyone else freaking out right now?” said Dan Price, the owner of a small Seattle-based credit card processing company, to a room full of his employees after he informed them of his new salary policy. “I’m kind of freaking out.”

The New York Times ran a story on April 13 about how Price, the founder and CEO of Gravity Payments, read a research paper arguing that people who make less than $70,000 can truly become happier by earning more money. Price then decided to simply raise everyone’s salary to a minimum of $70,000, even the employees lowest on the corporate ladder.

According to the Times, Price’s company, which he started over a decade ago when he was 19, has 120 employees. Seventy of them will see their salaries increased, and 30 will actually have their salaries doubled by the new policy. Thanks, research!

To help pay for the raises, Price will drop his own salary to $70,000 from $1 million, and redirect a good chunk of the company’s expected profits this year towards them.

“The market rate for me as a CEO compared to a regular person is ridiculous, it’s absurd,” Price told the Times. In the US, an executive makes over 350 times the salary of an average worker ($12,259,894 to $34,645). In 2013, it took the average McDonald’s worker seven months to earn what its CEO Don Thompson made in an hour.

Price seems to be killing two birds with one stone. Not only is he making a statement on the enormous wage gap between executives and their employees, but he’s also, in a way, enacting his own minimum wage reform.

“Everyone is talking about this $15 minimum wage in Seattle and it’s nice to work someplace where someone is actually doing something about it and not just talking about it,” Hayley Vogt, a 24-year-old employee who earned $45,000, told the Times.

Twenty-three US states will increase their minimum wage this year. Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour, easily the highest in the country. As millions of workers both in the US and around the world call for an increase in wages, politicians seem to be responding, if only in piecemeal fashion. But at least one CEO, publicity stunt notwithstanding, is taking matters into his own hands.

http://qz.com/383096/after-reading-an-a ... 00-a-year/

[Raggedyann]

Maybe the tide is finally changing and better times are ahead. If there is a heaven, this CEO will surely be heading that way. Great story!

[kbot]

“
To help pay for the raises, Price will drop his own salary to ,000 from

Originally posted by Riddick
“
To help pay for the raises, Price will drop his own salary to $70,000 from $1 million, and redirect a good chunk of the company’s expected profits this year towards them.

“The market rate for me as a CEO compared to a regular person is ridiculous, it’s absurd,” Price told the Times. In the US, an executive makes over 350 times the salary of an average worker ($12,259,894 to $34,645). In 2013, it took the average McDonald’s worker seven months to earn what its CEO Don Thompson made in an hour.

million, and redirect a good chunk of the company’s expected profits this year towards them.

“The market rate for me as a CEO compared to a regular person is ridiculous, it’s absurd,” Price told the Times. In the US, an executive makes over 350 times the salary of an average worker (,259,894 to ,645). In 2013, it took the average McDonald’s worker seven months to earn what its CEO Don Thompson made in an hour.

If EVER there was a fly in the ointment, it's this on.

I love the concept, but don't see it taking-off. At least right away. I'll wait for the new built-in clauses that protect the CEOs, because, you just know that this won't go without a fight.......

[Fan]

there is a cool high-tech firm here that for many years now has run as a worker collective. Everyone makes the same hourly wage, janitors to CEO. All workers have shares in the company. They are thriving. They are actually one of the top web design firms around.

[kbot]

And that's the key - it has to be from the top on down.

I think that if a company were started on that philosophy it could work. But, changing a culture where the CEO is making multiple times the rank-and-file will be much more difficult.

And, of course, you will always hear the whine of the moneyed entitled "If you want to attract the best and the brightest........"

[Doka]

We have in my area , Bi-Mart stores, the are a smaller version of Wal-Mart and are employee owned. I really like the place and will go to it over Wal-Mart any day.

[fos]

The employees at this firm must all be incredibly productive. An employee's salary is only part of the employee's total cost.

A company has to make some money or it will inevitably fail.

Jeff

[kbot]

The employees at this firm must all be incredibly productive. An employee's salary is only part of the employee's total cost.

A company has to make some money or it will inevitably fail.

Jeff

fos - obviously, you haven't read the Obama economic model.......

[Fan]

And that's the key - it has to be from the top on down.

I think that if a company were started on that philosophy it could work. But, changing a culture where the CEO is making multiple times the rank-and-file will be much more difficult.

And, of course, you will always hear the whine of the moneyed entitled "If you want to attract the best and the brightest........"

they want the most socially conscious, who often happen to be the brightest as well

[Doka]

Fan quote:

they want the most socially conscious,

What does that mean?

[Fan]

Fan quote:

they want the most socially conscious,

What does that mean?

people who want to participate in a system that is socially responsible. That is fair to all and provides both a good working environment and tries to be a force for change in the world. Who believes that making money is not the only important thing, and as long as a fair wage is paid more important issues can be addressed.

They hire self-aware, socially conscious people who want to actually do something that will make a difference. These people tend to be well-educated and self-sufficient, for various reasons.

They also do work for free for community based non-profits, they work extensively with homeless people, sex workers, intellectually handicapped. They do good for the community.

This is social consciousness. I suppose the idea is that you are not the only important person in the world, so act that way.

[kbot]

Well, then, either I am misunderstanding you, or we're talking about other things. The "best and brightest" line I mentioned, refers to those who make exorbitant salaries and, btw, don't do what you've mentioned.......

It's used as an excuse by obscenely-profitable corporations and flush CEOs for years now.

[Doka]

people who want to participate in a system that is socially responsible. That is fair to all and provides both a good working environment and tries to be a force for change in the world. Who believes that making money is not the only important thing, and as long as a fair wage is paid more important issues can be addressed.

They hire self-aware, socially conscious people who want to actually do something that will make a difference. These people tend to be well-educated and self-sufficient, for various reasons.

They also do work for free for community based non-profits, they work extensively with homeless people, sex workers, intellectually handicapped. They do good for the community.

This is social consciousness. I suppose the idea is that you are not the only important person in the world, so act that way.

Your words are beautiful. I crave everything that you say. And I am sure you will find these wonderful qualities in in small bands, and in certain individuals, for most of us they represent our "Hope"! But then I can't forget where I am, just another human stuck on a war planet. Expectations (or demands) on others to fulfill , what, I can't even do for myself, has led to crazy makin' stuff. The sad reality is humans are like herding cats, pretty much impossible, and never happy with what they have. Seeking "Perfection" leads to very unhappy lives, in a world where perfection for one leads to dis-satisfaction for another. I am lucky on any given day to be between "Jack- the-Ripper and "Mother Therersa".

[Fan]

Well, then, either I am misunderstanding you, or we're talking about other things. The "best and brightest" line I mentioned, refers to those who make exorbitant salaries and, btw, don't do what you've mentioned.......

It's used as an excuse by obscenely-profitable corporations and flush CEOs for years now.

yeah but those are not the best and brightest, those are the greediest and most useless.

The best and brightest don't mind working for free if they are doing something amazing. Think Linux programmers. The best programmers in the world do not work for apple or microsoft or google.

[Fan]

Your words are beautiful. I crave everything that you say. And I am sure you will find these wonderful qualities in in small bands, and in certain individuals, for most of us they represent our "Hope"! But then I can't forget where I am, just another human stuck on a war planet. Expectations (or demands) on others to fulfill , what, I can't even do for myself, has led to crazy makin' stuff. The sad reality is humans are like herding cats, pretty much impossible, and never happy with what they have. Seeking "Perfection" leads to very unhappy lives, in a world where perfection for one leads to dis-satisfaction for another. I am lucky on any given day to be between "Jack- the-Ripper and "Mother Therersa".

Everyone has their own way of making the world better, these guys just set up a corporate structure based around that idea, among others.