The $70K Salary

Remember the business owner from Seattle who decided that even a $15/hr wage wasn’t enough and decided to pay everyone $70,000 per year? An interesting thing happened.

“The 20 percent raises Price implemented in 2012 were supposed to be a one-time deal. Then something strange happened: Profits rose just as much as the previous year, fueled by a surprising productivity jump—of 30 to 40 percent. He figured it was a fluke, but he piled on 20 percent raises again the following year. Again, profits rose by a like amount. Baffled, he did the same in 2014 and profits continued to rise, though not quite as much as before, because Gravity had to do more hiring.” – Salon

The other things that happened were he was idolized and vilified, and he is being sued for enough money to negate the effect – possibly because people thought he should have been greedy and exploited the attention and value brought to the company. Doing the right thing by treating people with compassion and respect runs counter to enough of American societal norms that it generates a backlash – but maybe that’s because that’s what happens to people who initiate important improvements.

(Click on the photo for the link.)

“Remember Dan Price Of Gravity Payments Who Gave His Employees A $70,000 Minimum Wage?” – Slate