CEO Dan Price took a 90% pay cut and slashed his company's profits just so he could give his employees a raise.

首席执行官丹·布莱斯自降九成年薪、大幅降低公司利润，以提高员工薪水。

Price, who heads up the Seattle payment processing firm Gravity Payments that he founded, has pledged to make sure all of his staffers make at least $70,000 annually in the next three years。

布莱斯是西雅图信用卡支付处理公司Gravity Payments的创始人兼执行官。他承诺：未来3年内，所有员工的年薪将不低于7万美元。

To do that he's cutting his $1 million salary to $70,000, and dipping into the firm's annual $2 million in profits。

为此，他自降百万年薪至7万美元，并动用公司200万的年利润。

This will double the pay of about 30 of his workers and will mean significant raises for an additional 40.

由于该计划，30名员工薪水翻倍，另外有40名员工薪水得到大幅度提高。

Price told employees of the new pay policy at a meeting Monday. For several moments there was stunned silence before people broke into applause and high fives said Phillip Akhavan, a merchants relations worker whose $43,000 salary immediately jumped 16% to $50,000.

据该公司商户关系专员菲利普·阿哈万称，老板宣布这一消息后，所有人先是陷入不可置信的沉默中，随后全场爆发猛烈的掌声和欢呼声。阿哈万的工资提高了16%，从4.3万美元上升至5万美元。

"It took us a moment to understand what he was saying," said Akhavan. His first call was to his wife, who he said didn't believe him at first。

阿哈万说：“过了一会儿，我们才找到了北。”他首先打电话给他的妻子，他的妻子刚开始还不相信这个喜讯。

Nydelis Ortiz, a 25-year old underwriter who only started work there in January called her parents with the news. The family had struggled with homelessness after they moved to the states from Puerto Rico when she was a girl, and Ortiz, who also is now paid $50,000 said she now makes more than both her parents combined。

今年1月才来到公司的25岁核保人奥尔蒂斯立即打电话告诉父母这个消息。奥尔蒂斯一家自从在她小时候从波多黎各搬到美国以后，这么多年来总是为房租发愁。现在，她的工资涨到5万美元，比她父母加起来的工资还要高。

"My mom cried when I told her," she said. Her $36,000 salary was one of the lowest in the company。

她说：“我妈妈听到消息后哭了。”之前，奥尔蒂斯年薪3.6万美元，是公司里年薪最低的。

Jason Byrd, 38, had struggled to get by in Seattle on his $40,000 salary as a technician. "This gives us so much freedom to just do our jobs and not have to worry about money," he said. He said he'll save some of his extra pay, and try to pay down some of the $42,000 he owes in student loans. "I almost bought a new Jeep today, then I decided I'll keep driving this one until it dies," he said。

38岁的詹森·伯德是一名技术员。以前，他以4万美元的年薪在西雅图勉强度日。“涨薪后，我们可以有更多的自由时间花在工作上，不用担心钱的问题。”他表示将存下多余的钱，付清助学贷款4.2万美元。“我今天差点买下一辆吉普车。要是买到了，我要开到报废才换。”

Price said he's the majority owner of the privately-held firm, which he started in his college dorm room 11 years ago. His older brother, who gave him seed money to get started, is the only other stockholder。

布莱斯表示他是这个私人控股公司的大股东。11年前，还是大学生的布莱斯在宿舍成立了该公司。哥哥资助了他，是公司仅有的另一个股东。

"My brother Lucas reacted with caution and questions, but not objections," said Price. He's single so he didn't have to explain his pay cut to a spouse。

他说：“我哥哥卢卡斯对我的计划很疑惑，保持谨慎态度，但是他没有反对。”由于未婚，布莱斯不用向妻子解释其中缘由。

Price decided to hike his employees pay after he read a study about happiness. It said additional income can make a significant difference in a person's emotional well being up to the point when they earn $75,000 a year。

他做出这一决定是受一项关于幸福的研究的启发。该研究表明，年薪超过7.5万美元后人们的快乐程度大大增加。

He'd also been hearing employees talk about the challenges of finding housing and meeting other expenses on their current salary, and decided there shouldn't be such a big gap between his pay as CEO and that of his workers. He described the raises as a "moral imperative."

此外，他还曾听员工诉说过以目前的薪水要租到合适的房子以及应付其他开销很有难度，这让他决定自己与员工的收入差距不能如此之大。布莱斯将加薪形容为“道义上的需要”。

Price told CNNMoney he isn't the only CEO looking to close the income gap. He's heard from almost 100 other CEO via email and text who say they support his move. "I don't know if we'll see enough to move the needle, but i think people of my generation are committed to making a change."

在接受美国有线电视新闻网财经频道专访时，布莱斯说他不是唯一一个试图缩小与员工收入差距的公司高管。有媒体报道后，已经有近100个其他公司的首席执行官发电子邮件或短信表示支持。“我不知道我们是否足以推动现状，但我认为我们这一代人需要作出一点改变。”

Price said he'll stick with the reduced paycheck until he can restore Gravity's profits。

布莱斯表示，他会接受低薪直到公司恢复原先利润。

"My goal is to get back to previous profit levels within two to three years," he said。

“我的目标是在2年或3年内，利润回到原来水平。”

Price said the 50 workers who already earn more than $70,000 were nearly as excited about the news as their lower paid co-workers。

布莱斯说，50位原先工资高于7万美元的员工与低薪员工一样高兴。

"They are happy that the folks that enable them to be high earners -- their team members -- will be taken care of," Price said。“高薪员工的工作需要底薪员工的支持。所以看到团队员工涨工资，他们也很开心。”

Customer reaction has also been positive。

客户的反应也很积极。

"They love our service level and think the team deserves it," he said。

布莱斯说：“顾客喜欢我们的服务水平，认为我们的团队值得涨薪。”

One thing he didn't expect: "We are all surprised at the coverage this is getting," Price said。

他说没有预料到的是：“这件事情会被大幅报道。”

News of Price's pay cut was reported earlier by the New York Times。

之前，《纽约时报》已经报道过他的降薪新闻。

Vocabulary

move the needle: 造成或带来可见的变化