A CEO who gave all his employees a minimum wage of $70,000 (£51,300) has insisted six years later that it has paid off.
37-year-old Dan Price, boss of credit card payment firm Gravity Payments, increased his staff's salaries after finding out that one employee had secretly taken a second job at McDonald's to supplement their income.
The staff member, on a £31,000 salary, was struggling with her bills living in Seattle, US, reports the Mirror.
Price also slashed his own salary by £730,000 to help fund the pay rises, as well as selling a second home and spending some of his savings.
He lowered his own salary to around £51,300, the same as his lowest-paid employee.
At the time opinion was divided, with some saying he would go bankrupt and others that he was a hero boss.
But six years on and the move has paid off, Price told CBS News.
He is still paying his employees at least £51,300, and he said that Gravity has tripled in size since the move.
He added that he now has incredibly loyal staff, which pays off because they stay longer and are better value.
-
Russia’s most evil killers – from mum and son who ate corpses to OAP murderer
"Our turnover rate was cut in half, so when you have employees staying twice as long, their knowledge of how to help our customers skyrocketed over time and that's really what paid for the raise more so than my pay cut," he said.
To repay Price for the sacrifices he made, the staff recently clubbed together to buy him a new Tesla.
"My employees have done way more for me than I could ever do for them. So the fact that they wanted to get me such an unreal, amazing gift, it's pretty special. I don't know if I can put it into words," Price said.
Price, who founded Gravity in 2004 at the age of 20, is outspoken about the excesses of capitalism and high executive pay.
-
Two men caught crossing lockdown border with over £50k and boot full of KFC
Research showed last month that more than five million people became millionaires during the pandemic, meaning that there are now around 56 million millionaires in the world.
Analysis by bank Credit Suisse shows that the UK now has the fifth-highest proportion of high net worth individuals in the world, with 4% of the total.
The United States has the most millionaires – 39% of the total.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.
Source: Read Full Article