The $70,000 minimum wage is paying off for that Seattle company

[cal04]

Gravity Payments, that Seattle credit-card-payments processing company that said all its employees would earn at least $70,000 in three years, is defying the doomsayers.

Revenue is growing at twice the rate it was before Chief Executive Dan Price made his announcement this spring, according to a report on Inc.com. Profits have doubled. Customer retention is up, despite some who left because they disagreed with the decision or feared service would suffer. (Price said he’d make up the extra cost by cutting his own $1.1 million pay.)

(snip)
Perhaps not surprisingly, plenty of people want to work for Gravity. One who now works there is a former Yahoo executive who says she took an 80%-to-85% pay cut to take the job, according to Inc.

The company has hired an extra 10 people to handle the anticipated new business, Gravity’s vice president of operations, Maria Haley, told Inc.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-70000-minimum-wage-is-paying-off-for-that-seattle-company-2015-10-25?link=MW_home_latest_news

[Gothmog]

1. Great story

[Omaha Steve]

2. America HELL YA

K&R!

OS

[artislife]

3. Kshama Sewant had an impossible issue

That was the basis of her campaign. A socialist and a minority. But she wasn't afraid and pushed for it. This is one of her ripples.

[cascadiance]

21. She's a great lady, and will be a bigger voice in the future too!

I liked her ever since I saw her early on on FSTV's Pirate Television series when she was running for office then!

If Bernie wins, she will be a rising star in Washington state politics, if she isn't already.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

4. Those who left are really going to regret that decision.

I see this company getting big and those that were with him from the beginning having very comfortable retirements.

[spooky3]

9. The article said "barely any" have left.

[stillwaiting]

11. Those who work there are so lucky.

Can you imagine working at a place where the biggest right-wing assholes all quit?!

Heaven.

[FSogol]

13. +1. Exactly. n/t

[IronLionZion]

5. Being a place where people want to work

is usually key to attracting the best workers. Which in turn produces the best service and brings in more customers.

Republicans hate workers too much to accept this.

[NBachers]

6. Republicans hate workers too much to accept this.

Truer words were never written.

[cascadiance]

22. And gives so many more people more money to help decent businesses too!

That's the way things work. We are really a DEMAND-side economy, despite what the supply siders have tried over the years to project us as, and leading us toward the financial disasters we have had recently with the corporate policies that they have put in to effect during theses times.

[SheilaT]

7. Oh, good.

I recall reading postings when this came up that long time employees were leaving because new employees were suddenly making so much money. All I could think of, was, could they make their old salary elsewhere?

I have long understood that companies get what they pay for. Alas, there is too much of "Paying the absolute minimum and to hell with the consequences" attitude out there. I've long understood that you get what you pay for.

[Sherman A1]

8. K&R!

Superb!

[DFW]

10. But, but, but......

They're a corporation. Corporations are evil. I read it on DU, so it must be true. Isn't it?

[Tikki]

12. We need to come up with a new name to discribe....Corps....that work with their employees in mind.

Something like co-oporations.

Tikki

[DFW]

15. Don't we have enough labels already?

At this point, if I see a post with the word "corporatist" or "corporate" in it, I immediately skip over it.

Corporations are like mushrooms: some are really good, some are poison, and they come in all sizes.

Generalization is the enemy, not the fact that some decent guy's accountant told him once upon a time that it would make good business sense for him to operate with an "inc." after his company's name.

[Gregorian]

17. Corporations aren't the problem. The capitalist "agreement" between employee and employer is.

I also dislike the generalized hatred of corporations. I ran an electronics corporation with my father, and the employees loved us, still do, and improved their lives immensely. However, I still cringe when I realize just what WE made on their backs. That's the problem part.

[DFW]

18. If the employees loved you for how you treated them, and you still did well

Then it seems you owe no one an apology. Many companies have a profit-sharing plan where, if the company makes a profit over and above expenses, a percentage is distributed to the employees as a bonus. You don't have to apologize for treating employees fairly and doing well. Doing well shouldn't be automatic grounds for apologizing--doing evil is. The two are not necessarily synonymous, even though they often are.

[Gregorian]

23. By being unable to be part of the decision making at the top end of a company,

that automatically makes it undemocratic. That is the part I felt badly about. I still do. One example would be when we sold the company. We found a buyer who has treated them well since. But that was out of their hands. This is the big issue I see now that is also what is at stake in this election. Trying to do what many countries have tried to do, and mostly failed at, which is to alter this relationship. That to me is the heart of this election. And by doing so, that little change brings dignity and health back into the equation. Our health literally depends on this working relationship for many reasons beside how it has fostered the imbalanced economic 1%/99% ratio. It's just really unfriendly now. I see people having children that spend that crucially important time in the beginning of life, separated from each other. That's a lousy start in life. We can change these things in a capitalistic society, but it depends upon either a nice employer, or public regulating. Why not work on the problem rather than the symptom. And that would be where we can work in a situation where decisions that are made include everyone there, not just the boardroom.

[DFW]

24. The USA definitely needs an attitude change there

Here in Europe, women get a couple of months maternity leave at least. My two daughters (no children yet) are working, and the one working in the USA gets (after 5 years) 3 weeks paid vacation and a stingy health plan. The other one, living in Frankfurt, gets six weeks paid vacation (and her employer, an American firm, oddly enough, makes her take it to avoid burnout), and comprehensive health care Americans could only dream of.

On the other hand, if a company is one with thousands of employees, it is unwieldy to have those who empty the trash at night be in on making decisions on which they are not qualified to offer input. Their union should be consulted if it's an issue that affects those particular workers, but a company that reacts to vital decisions with cumbersome lethargy will miss out on big transactions to ones that are not as weighed down. Size matters here. A company with ten thousand employees can't do things the same way as a company with 400 employees.

Here in Germany, workers' councils have representation at the top of big companies, but an incredible part of German law says that sitting members of parliament can simultaneously be part of of the executive councils (not board of directors) of large corporations (!!!!). There has been stiff resistance (thankfully largely unsuccessful) in the German Bundestag (parliament) to large state support of renewable energy. This has come from members of parliament who are also on the executive councils of oil companies. What a coincidence, right?

[Gregorian]

26. Decision making should be democratic.

We have a democratic system, and look at how that is turning out, one could note. But we have perverted the system. There is no longer a true fourth estate. I fear that's what happens to every attempt to accomplish a dream.

I think most people are unable to participate because the system is partially excluded from them. There has to first be a foundation, such as education and health care, before people actually can participate, as a rule.

Here's an odd example. I was listening to an interview with a musician who was in one of the most successful groups of all time. So much so I can't remember the name right now. But he said that early on they all decided that whatever direction the band took was to be voted on. Decisions that could turn into long lived problems ended up being simple, as a result. It was an agreement they made that lead to an efficient way of aiming their vision. It served them very well, and it sounds like they're about to enter their 50th year of playing.

We need more than raising wages. The point I feel is central is that when people have involvement in the process, they'll take interest in that process.

[DFW]

27. Your last point is vital

The voting participation in the USA is dismal, which is appalling, considering the impact the make-up of our government has on the rest of the world. As in, "how would a Gore presidency have changed the history of the world starting January 2001?" But it seems people have fallen out of the habit in general--not healthy for the survival of the country. The whole Fox Noise phenomenon. "You vote, we decide how."

I still say that a group of four or five equals can take a vote and a make decision a lot easier than a company of 10,000 employees, let alone a State of 5 or 15 million individuals. Even Switzerland, which has plebiscites all the time on important issues, gets messy at times. Germany, where I live, doesn't even bother, and is torn down the middle about what to do on several vital issues of the day. The Bavarians are pissed at the Westfalians for not taking enough refugees off their hands fast enough, and the Westfalians are pissed at the Bavarians for trying to send them to up Westfalia before they have the facilities to accommodate them (as if Bavaria did). Old-time socialists I know are pissed at Merkel for taking in "too many" refugees, where some old-time "conservatives" are wondering why more can't be accommodated. Who knows WHAT a plebiscite would bring here, and even then--Regional? Local? Federal?

As for the fourth estate--ah, one of my favorite subjects. It helps that my father was one of the last of the great unsung (mostly) Washington print journalists. He died in November, 2000. He was one of the few presidents of the Gridiron Club to come from a newspaper from a rural one-horse town most people have never heard of. One of his dying laments was the low point to which his profession was sinking (Washington Times, ascent of Fox on TV, etc.). I grew up with him taking me up to Capitol Hill to the Senate Press Gallery and hanging around with men who were, or would become, legends (I was 7, what did I know?). He was cited by Senators and House members of both right and left in the Congressional Record for his integrity and fairness. Not much of THAT going around any more, is there?

[Gregorian]

16. That's really good.

Maybe we can warm people up to the notion that socialism is good for them. One step at a time. First you admit you have a problem, then...

[DirkGently]

14. Shhhhh! What if this catches on? n/t

[matt819]

19. A customer

I changed credit card processors to Gravity Payments after the announcement earlier this year about the minimum pay. Their rates are lower than my previous cc processor, and I will save money by making the change. Plus I get to talk to someone who's not in a call center and who I know is not an outsourced minimum wage worker.

Happy customer so far.

I am flabbergasted by the negative comments that have turned up on other sites carrying Gravity Payments stories. How dare an employer treat employees like human beings! How dare workers get paid more than the $12.50 they should be grateful for! Oh, so now you're going to pay janitors the same as surgeons? The company will fail. I wouldn't invest in that company even if you gave me the money to do so (never mind the fact that it's privately held with no announced plans for going public).

[Bonx]

20. Interesting. There seem to be conflicting reports on the company's health

"Don't Go the Way of Gravity Payments. Focus on Fairness, Balance in Salary Management.

OCTOBER 15, 2015
Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price was lauded back in April for raising the minimum salary in his company to $70,000. Since then, he’s lost employees and customers over the decision and is having some personal financial difficulties. All of this begs the question: How should leaders handle pay in their organizations?"

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249648

[erpowers]

25. Campaign To Prevent This From Happening Again

This might just be part of a campaign to prevent other business leaders from doing the same thing. This article did not list the supposed problems Dan Price is having. However, I had read an earlier story from, I believe, The New York Times. The headline of the article made it seem like Price's life was falling apart. Anyone who read the title and stopped reading at that point would have thought Price's decision was turning out to be a bad idea. Anyone who continued to read past the headline and maybe the first paragraph learned that Price's life was not falling apart. Yes, some of his employees had left the company because they did not like the decision. Yes, he had lost a few accounts. However, Price's company was not falling apart and he was not running out of money.

[Bonx]

28. It's probably still too early to tell how this will shake out

I will keep watching though as I'm impressed this guy has the moxie to try this.