The CEO of Gravity Payments just took a pay cut so he could raise the minimum wage in his company to $70,000. Isn't that amazing? According to an article in the New York Times, "Mr. Price surprised his 120-person staff by announcing that he planned over the next three years to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000." Article linked here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/14/business/owner-of-gravity-payments-a-credit-card-processor-is-setting-a-new-minimum-wage-70000-a-year.html
It seems that he'd read an article about how income correlates to happiness. It suggested that for folks who earn less than $70,000/yr a little extra money makes a big difference.
Even more amazing is the fact that in order to do this for his employees, Price is cutting his own salary to $70,000 from $1 million. In a country where CEO's on average make 300 times their average employees, this kind of action is unheard of. We desperately need more CEO's like Mr. Price and more companies like Gravity Payments if this country is ever going to address the income gap that has dramatically increased in the past few decades.
This topic needs to be front and center in our political discussions as we approach the 2016 election. Which candidates will be willing to discuss income inequality and the gigantic gap between CEO pay and employee pay?
No comments:
Post a Comment