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$70,000 Minimum Salary

Dan Price, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based credit card processor Gravity Payments, has recently announced that he is raising the minimum salary in his company to $70,000. He is doing it made a lot of headlines. He is drastically cutting his own salary in order to raise the standard of living of even his lowest paid employees.

When it was announced “Everyone start[ed] screaming and cheering and just going crazy."  That enthusiasm eventually settled down as Gravity Payments went about figuring out how to make the new plan work. The original plan immediately raised everyone’s minimum to $50,000 and then would increase by $10,000 until it reached $70,000 by December 2017.

B.C. Tech Firms Dangle Perks as Demand for Workers Outstrips Supply

From vacation cash to luxury cars, some technology companies in British Columbia are offering big perks to woo prospective employees. Multinationals like Amazon and Microsoft have opened offices in Vancouver, while homegrown startups like Hootsuite have gained international acclaim in recent years.

The growth has left companies competing to recruit workers.  

In order to stand out, many brands are advertising their culture and mission statements in job postings so employees can choose the post that best fits their lifestyle and personality, he said.

They're also offering benefits that go above and beyond standard medical and dental coverage. Tam said he's heard of companies that offer unlimited vacation, flexible work hours, and even one that paid for down payments on new Tesla cars.

A five-hour work day

RingPartner, a digital marketing firm in Victoria, slashed work days to five hours in a bid to find employees. RingPartner's 30 employees are required to be in the office between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. from Monday through Friday, but where and when they do the rest of their work is up to them.

That means some people take off for the beach in the afternoon, then log in to their computers at home in the evening, Gulbrandsen said. Many parents have found that they now have more time to spend with their kids, she added.