In 2015, Dan Price, the CEO of Gravity Payments, made a headline-grabbing decision that many in the business world called reckless. He slashed his own salary from $1.1 million to $70,000 and used the difference to ensure that every employee at his company earned a minimum of $70,000 a year.
Critics, particularly in conservative media, were quick to mock the move. Fox News called him a socialist. Business pundits predicted that employees would become complacent, profits would evaporate, and the company would ultimately fail. But the skeptics were wrong — profoundly wrong.
The Results: Six Years of Growth and Stability
Six years later, the data tells a very different story. Rather than collapsing, Gravity Payments flourished. According to Price:
- Revenue has tripled
- The customer base has doubled
- Turnover dropped by half
- 401(k) contributions increased by 155%
- 70% of employees paid off debt
- A tenfold increase in employees purchasing homes
This unprecedented employee-focused strategy not only helped individuals but also improved the company’s overall performance and stability. In fact, Gravity Payments’ success became so noteworthy that Harvard Business School turned it into a case study on sustainable business practices.
Profit and Pay Today
As of the most recent figures available, Gravity Payments continues to report strong annual profits, with consistent revenue growth driven by higher employee productivity, lower turnover costs, and an enhanced brand reputation.
Employees currently enjoy:
- A baseline salary of $70,000, which remains the company’s minimum wage.
- Robust retirement contributions from the company.
- Full healthcare benefits, with the company covering a majority of premiums.
- Greater financial independence, as evidenced by the surge in homeownership and reduced personal debt.
A Culture of Loyalty and Innovation
By investing in his team, Price cultivated a deeply loyal and motivated workforce. Employees no longer needed to stress over basic financial survival, which freed them to focus more on creative problem-solving, customer service, and professional development. Gravity Payments experienced a surge in innovation and customer satisfaction, helping it stand out in the competitive payment processing industry.
A Business Case for Human-Centered Capitalism
Dan Price’s experiment challenged long-standing assumptions about business, compensation, and what drives success. While some CEOs continue to rake in multimillion-dollar salaries while their lowest-paid workers struggle, Price demonstrated a different path — one where shared prosperity can power a thriving company.
He summed it up in a tweet on the six-year anniversary of the wage change:
“6 years ago today I raised my company’s min wage to $70k. Fox News called me a socialist whose employees would be on bread lines. Since then our revenue tripled, we’re a Harvard Business School case study & our employees had a 10x boom in homes bought. Always invest in people.”
In an era when economic inequality continues to grow, Gravity Payments offers a powerful counterexample — a company where doing the right thing wasn’t just ethical; it was profitable.