Posted on 08/01/2015 8:29:29 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
There are times when Dan Price feels as if he stumbled into the middle of the street with a flag and found himself at the head of a parade.
Three months ago, Mr. Price, 31, announced he was setting a new minimum salary of $70,000 at his Seattle credit card processing firm, Gravity Payments, and slashing his own million-dollar pay package to do it. He wasn’t thinking about the current political clamor over low wages or the growing gap between rich and poor, he said. He was just thinking of the 120 people who worked for him and, let’s be honest, a bit of free publicity. The idea struck him when a friend shared her worries about paying both her rent and student loans on a $40,000 salary. He realized a lot of his own employees earned that or less.
*
More troubling, a few customers, dismayed by what they viewed as a political statement, withdrew their business. Others, anticipating a fee increase also left. While dozens of new clients, inspired by Mr. Price’s announcement, were signing up, those accounts will not start paying off for at least another year. To handle the flood, he has already had to hire a dozen additional employees — now at a significantly higher cost — and is struggling to figure out whether more are needed without knowing for certain how long the bonanza will last.
Two of Mr. Price’s most valued employees quit, spurred in part by their view that it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises. Some friends and associates in Seattle’s close-knit entrepreneurial network were also piqued that Mr. Price’s action made them look stingy in front of their own employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It may have been easier for him to lower his own compensation and pay everyone a bonus, based in part on longevity.
That escalated quickly.
lol.
Obviously, that wasn’t a well-thought out plan
He’s a bloody idiot.
People assimilate into their own class warfare. Hey they got more raise than me, they cry!
The guy stepped out of a free market system... and was justifiably considered 'unfair'...
Price pays the price.
There’s a book title in there somewhere...
And now a rash decision based on emotion may bring dire consequences...didnn’t see that one coming.../s
Bump
As a result, you move up in the ranks and earn for yourself a decent $70,000 salary.
Meanwhile, you are surrounded by slackers who habitually show up late or call in sick. They never go the extra mile. They gripe and complain and hold you in contempt because they see you as a brown-noser and a sucker. But you are okay with that because you are making almost double what they are making.
Then you come to work one morning and read the announcement. Everybody in the company is suddenly making the same as you. And unlike you, they didn't have to work for it. Suddenly all those who were taunting you are walking by you with smirks. They know that they are now at your level and that all your striving and dedication was all for nothing.
The guy sure knows how to reward loyalty. /s
And the “Good Book” - first put down about 2000 years ago in the towns around Jerusalem - also spoke of a parable where the workers complained about how much the workers in the vinyard made for people hired at day break, at midday, and in the afternoon.
But why did this "good socialist owner" not just pay the workers what they actually earned (what a strange concept so foreign to socialists!) so the best workers earned more money than the worst, and those not earning their wages actually got fired? What a concept!
“”While dozens of new clients, inspired by Mr. Price’s announcement, were signing up, those accounts will not start paying off for at least another year.””
Read the whole article and I still don’t know what benefits the new clients are expecting...They get to pay a fee to Mr. Price’s company like any other credit card processing company and then what?
Lol
U failed to read article MM
Shamey shamey
He did lower his pay
Non meritorious egalitarian pay structure is a bad idea any time
Even properly done bonuses create issues even with good employees
I’ve been dealing with all this since 1975 when I determined Christmas bonus for my first crew at 18
I still don’t have a magic system
I listen to my wife’s good instincts about people at bonus time
I tend to think I can buy loyalty
His co-founder brother owns 30% of the company and is suing. Now the company can’t afford to buy him out, let alone pay more legal fees.
They musta got lucky to be successful in the first place
pay everyone a bonus, based in part on longevity
Yes, much more effective. Many surveys are around that put pay at a lower importance in employee satisfaction.
Fairness, support, showing appreciation, training and business participation are much more important. Profit sharing or bonus is the way to go.
Scale salaries to market demand or, at the most, slightly above.
I recognize that place...
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