CEO further cuts his salary to raise employee salaries to $ 70,000

Just four years ago, the CEO of credit card processing company Gravity Payments reduced his salary to increase his employees' salaries.

This week Dan Price announced that he was starting again.

Employees at the company's new Boise, Idaho office, who earn less than $ 70,000 a year, will be subject to a plan to increase their salaries to $ 70,000 by 2024, according to the company's press release. week.

This decision marks the efforts of the Seattle-based company to create "an incredibly accessible society that defends the little guy and the little girl in pursuit of the American dream."

While some considered the CEO's move an unreasonable sacrifice, Price quickly explained why he had decided to cut his seven-figure salary in order to pay the initial increases.

"There are a number of cases where, when you touch it, the money that flows does not make your life much better," Price said.

"It was worth it," tweeted Price, adding, "I'm the proof. Any company making more than a million profits, any CEO exceeding one million should do it. It's time. "

Gravity acquired the office of Idaho, which was previously an independent company called ChargeItPro, as a subsidiary in 2017.

Prior to the Gravity acquisition three years ago, more than half of ChargeItPro employees earned less than $ 30,000 a year, according to the company, which would have raised the minimum wage to $ 40,000 by the end of 2017.

Since the announcement, Gravity Payments has announced an increase in employment, rising from about 120 to nearly 200 employees, who have experienced personal growth resulting from the increase in their salary.

The number of child employees had gone from zero to one per year, from six to seven per year, while more than 10 percent of its workers were buying a home for the first time, according to the company. More than 70 percent of the heavily indebted employees were able to pay back a portion, and personal contributions for 401 (k) also more than doubled, the company added.

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This announcement follows a similar initiative by banks that have committed to raising their minimum wage, but with a lower margin.

Citigroup, the last major bank to increase its minimum wage after Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, raised its minimum wage to $ 15 an hour after being questioned by US legislation on its pay gap between high-level employees and employees of branch.

The salary increase was implemented on June 1, after America's third largest bank, the US leader, had $ 24.6 million, or 486 times the average employee salary.