If there’s one thing that seems to grow increasingly rare in the workforce, it’s finding decent jobs that pay a living wage. More people are living paycheck-to-paycheck than ever before in the United States, unable to find work that would allow them to build up savings. For many, the situation seems bleak, but change maybe afoot. Some CEOs are now making a point of paying employees above what most experts consider a living wage. One CEO has almost singlehandedly pushed the narrative in a new direction, with headlines blazed across media channels reading, "CEO pays employees 70K each." Could it be? You can ask any of his employees about life working with him and they’ll tell you volumes about it. He now offers every single one of his full-time employees a $70,000 annual salary. The story of how he’s changing the way people work will warm your heart and inspire you to do more good around the world. If you love this story, be sure to SHARE it with your friends on social media.

In 2004, Dan Price started his own payment-processing company with his brother, Lucas. They called it Gravity Payments, and it quickly saw massive success. By 2008, Gravity Payments became one of the largest credit card processors in Washington state. Within a matter of years, the Price brothers found themselves earning million-dollar salaries and taking the industry by storm. However, something didn’t quite seem right about their success…

Most of Price’s workers were earning around $40,000 per year while he earned a million. Dan Price operated his business on a values-based ideology. He was (and still is) more concerned about what’s right rather than what’s profitable. Part of doing what’s right is working to give your employees a decent living wage, making sure your employees have good working conditions, and treating your employees well. For the most part, Dan initially thought he was doing well in this respect—until one day, almost a decade ago...

Early in 2011, Price was cornered by an employee who pointed out how badly CEOs were ripping off employees with standard (and low and stagnant!) wages. Price, like many other CEOs, kept wages steady after the recession as a way to “save the company through fiscal responsibility.” The recession was over, but employees still had the same wages. The employee, Jason Haley, was quick to point out the lie Price told others (and himself) about the standard wage. After all, if Price was earning millions, shouldn’t some of that money go to a fair wage?

At first, Dan Price was appalled by Haley’s bold statement. In an interview, Price felt hurt and attacked when Haley pointed out the hypocrisy in his statement. He even discussed it with friends and family. However, the more Price thought about it, the more he realized Haley was right. He always prided himself on treating employees well, but was he really treating them well if they had to struggle to survive?

Every CEO has the choice to make the world a better place, and to live by the principles they preach. Price realized he had to change something. So, he started to make changes to the wages his employees earned. In 2013, he began to give his employees who earned under $100,000 pay raises to ensure that they would be able to survive on a Gravity Payments salary. This, alone, would be pretty amazing. However, he ended up topping his achievement in 2015 by doing something seriously selfless.

Media first turned its attention to Price’s work after he announced he would slash his million-dollar salary in order to pay every member of his company a living wage of $70,000. The gutsy move was unheard-of prior to this moment. Ever since his decision to cut his paycheck, everyone at his Seattle-based office has been earning $70,000 a year. (Yes, even custodians!) The news quickly shook up the business world and made other CEOs rethink their pay scale.

A pay deduction of $25,000 would not mean much to a person earning millions per year, but that’s not what happened when Dan took his cut. In order to afford the sweeping pay raises he gave employees, Dan Price had to cut his paycheck by a significant amount. How significant, you ask? Well, in order to make the first pay raise sweep in 2015, Price had to reduce his own paycheck by 90 percent! This gave him a salary of $100,000, putting him on the same level as many of his own employees.

Most CEOs would never even think of reducing their own wages in order to afford higher salaries for their workers. However, the payoff that Dan Price saw in his employees and reputation provides a great case for doing so. The mass raises gave his company massive attention, improved employee morale, and also greatly improved the number of people who wanted to work for him. Profits grew astronomically after his first round of raises.

In the business world, Dan Price’s decision to cut his own salary is a massive turn against current trends. A study cited by Vox revealed that CEOs earn approximately 287 times the amount of money that their employees do, and that this number continues to grow annually. By having such a massive income gap, CEOs start to forget how hard it was to make ends meet when they first started out. This leads to stagnating wages, social problems, as well as lower employee morale overall.

As the income disparity between the rich and poor continues to grow, people are beginning to see the major income differences more in an ethical light. Is it really fair to allow CEOs to make millions per year while their employees struggle to make ends meet? Is it really okay to have an annual salary that tops most peoples’ lifetime earning power? Considering that the average small business employee generates $100,000 in revenue per employee, most people would say it isn’t fair. Dan Price seems to agree.

In 2019, Dan Price and Gravity Payments made headlines once again. Price announced that he would slash his paycheck once again. As you can imagine, he had a good reason to make the decision and it involved his company’s ethics. For a while, workers at his Boise office weren’t getting the $70,000 paycheck promise. This time, the funds taken from his paycheck would go to ensure that employees in his Boise offices would be able to enjoy the same $70,000 per year as employees in his main office.

In September 2019, Price sent out an announcement to his employees in the Boise office. All employees who were earning less than $70,000 a year were to be placed on an immediate plan to increase earnings to the $70,000 minimum wage by 2024. The employees who earn less than Price’s minimum wage also got news that they received an immediate $10,000 annual salary raise. That’s some wonderful news to receive, don’t you think?

The tactic used by Dan Price is one of many to fit under the umbrella term of “Ethical Business.” This style of management focuses on adhering to management decisions and standards that put social responsibility over profit. Ethical and socially responsible management is quickly becoming a major issue across all industries. Price is considered to be one of the top thought-leaders in this management field, and regularly makes appearances discussing the importance of offering a living wage to employees.

If nothing else, Dan Price really knows how to make sure his employees feel appreciated. While revealing the news to the general public on Twitter, Price graciously added, “I’m so grateful to work with this amazing team and to be able to compensate them for the value they bring to our community.” For most of his employees, this massive pay raise will be undoubtedly life-changing. The fact that he’s as grateful as he is for company loyalty speaks volumes about both his character and the way his company operates.

Many CEOs who heard of Price’s payroll moves immediately balked, claiming the concept to be “very unreasonable” or even downright excessive in how it was carried out. Price seemed to have a feeling that others would balk at his behavior, and quickly pointed out his life’s philosophy. Price takes a very “zen” approach to these remarks. He explained, “There’s some number where, when you hit it, the money over that just doesn’t make your life that much better.”

Believe it or not, it appears that Dan Price’s decision to pay his employees a fair wage had one major detractor in the company: his brother. The very same year Dan slashed his own paycheck, his brother Lucas Price carried out a lawsuit against him. The suit alleged that Dan Price was excessively paid, and was acting on his own interest when working as CEO of Gravity Payments. Dan Price won after the two battled it out in court. It’s uncertain whether the brothers’ relationship ever got better after this.

Believe it or not, there were two long-standing employees who weren’t fond of Dan Price’s flat-fee concept. Because Price’s philosophy affected their chances at receiving million-dollar paychecks, two of his oldest employees left after the first raise sweep in 2015. That being said, it seems like those two were outliers. As word gets out about Gravity Payments’ fair wages, people from across the country have been hoping to get a seat at the company.

Considering the battle that Dan Price had to make in order to give his employees a living wage, one would hope that it changed employees’ lives significantly. Gravity Payments wanted to know, so a small survey was launched. What they discovered was that the money helped employee growth on a personal level. The number of employees who started families increased from one per year to six per year as a result of the raise. In other words, many families were able to start their dreams of having a child because of Price!

Another amazing metric that Gravity Payments revealed involved the number of employees who decided to venture out in the world of home ownership. According to the study, approximately 10 percent of Price’s employees set out to buy a house for the first time in their lives after receiving the pay raise. It seems like everyone is using their raises responsibly. Other employees used their pay raises to pay down debt or max out their 401(k) plans.

Since Dan Price started to work toward paying his employees a better wage, the number of employees at Gravity Payments almost doubled. The staff size grew from an already-impressive 120 people to a total of 200. The number of payments almost quadrupled in recent years, going from $3.4 billion in payments processed through his firm in 2014 to a total of $10.2 billion in 2018. So, it seems fair to say that employee growth can spark company growth too.

Price has taken all the chaos that erupted from his disrupting concept in stride. If anything, he views his move as a source of pride—and a way to show CEOs that it’s possible to live comfortably while still providing a good life for employees across the board. In one interview, he explained, “A lot of people think giving up a million dollar a year salary and millions in profit is an unreasonable sacrifice to pay a living wage and give small businesses white-glove service. Well, I am proof of one thing. It is worth it!”

Considering that Dan Price’s initial decision to pay employees a living wage came from an upset employee, one might think pressure had something to do with his decision. However, peer pressure doesn’t really have anything to do with Price’s decision. If it was all about outside pressure, Price probably would have backed down after hearing naysayers and dealing with inside pressure to keep wages low. The 2015 pay raise announcement came only weeks after several major banking chains announced higher minimum wages.

Price’s pay raises haven’t gone unnoticed. Since Price’s initial moves to raise minimum wages to $70,000, several top companies have also introduced their own payment standards that are expected to go into effect. People seem to be taking Price’s example and running with it as inspiration to advocate for workers’ wages. Employees of major companies like Walmart, Lyft, and McDonald’s are now rallying to get their own affordable living minimum wages.

With a wage as high as $70,000, most people would assume that Gravity Payments doesn’t give out too many benefits. However, this assumption seems to be pretty wrong. The company’s website points out that employees all get to enjoy insurance, a 401(k), and open time off. Catered breakfasts and lunches, paid company outings, and ample volunteering opportunities are also listed on the company’s site as frequent job perks.

These days, Dan Price is very vocal about the importance of giving employees a living wage when he’s advising other entrepreneurs. But, that’s not all he’s doing. As acting CEO of Gravity Payments, Price also made an effort to coordinate with charities to make the world a better place. Some of the charities that Gravity Payments worked with include Seattle’s Redeeming Soles, the Gender Justice League, and Water1st International.

With a CEO like Dan Price, it’s clear that the revolutionary concepts that are being displayed at Gravity Payments are just the beginning. The company’s wild growth and sterling reputation for ethics make it a serious force to be reckoned with in its industry. Even if you’re not in the payments processing world, the story of Price’s Gravity Payments really does make you rethink what CEOs know about running a business. It’s a tale that proves that everyone wins when work is done ethically.