Raising All Ships By Sacrificing The CEO Lifestyle

Lots has been written about Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments. Price made headlines six years ago by setting the company's minimum pay to $70,000 per year. Part of this was accomplished by Price lowering his own salary to that same mark. CBS News ran an update about him to see how things are going.

"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," said Price.

Dan Price via CBS News

By not only doing right by his employees, Price inadvertently helped keep his company afloat during the pandemic. The report goes into detail that Gravity Payments lost 55% of their business due to the pandemic. With only months of cash available, the employees volunteered to lower their pay in order to keep the company afloat. Even more stunning is this fact: Gravity paid that money back.

The saddest part of this tale is how rare it is. You have a CEO who cares deeply about his employees. The employees are able to pursue happier lives because of this financial freedom. This positivity can help attract even more business. Price often denounces toxic corporate culture over on LinkedIn. it's a reminder that we are not married to our jobs. When a CEO decides happiness is not millions of dollars in the bank, the distribution of that wealth raises all ships.