美老闆自降年薪爲員工加薪

CEO Dan Price took a 90% pay cut and slashed his company's profits just so he could give his employees a raise.
首席執行官丹·布萊斯自降九成年薪、大幅降低公司利潤，以提高員工薪水。

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.
布萊斯是西雅圖信用卡支付處理公司Gravity Payments的創始人兼執行官。他承諾：未來3年內，所有員工的年薪將不低於7萬美元。

To do that he's cutting his $1 million salary to $70,000, and dipping into the firm's annual $2 million in profits.
爲此，他自降百萬年薪至7萬美元，並動用公司200萬的年利潤。

This will double the pay of about 30 of his workers and will mean significant raises for an additional 40.
由於該計劃，30名員工薪水翻倍，另外有40名員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.
據該公司商戶關係專員菲利普·阿哈萬稱，老闆宣佈這一消息後，所有人先是陷入不可置信的沉默中，隨後全場爆發猛烈的掌聲和歡呼聲。阿哈萬的工資提高了16%，從4.3萬美元上升至5萬美元。

"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.
阿哈萬說：“過了一會兒，我們才找到了北。”他首先打電話給他的妻子，他的妻子剛開始還不相信這個喜訊。

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月纔來到公司的25歲覈保人奧爾蒂斯立即打電話告訴父母這個消息。奧爾蒂斯一家自從在她小時候從波多黎各搬到美國以後，這麼多年來總是爲房租發愁。現在，她的工資漲到5萬美元，比她父母加起來的工資還要高。

"My mom cried when I told her," she said. Her $36,000 salary was one of the lowest in the company.
她說：“我媽媽聽到消息後哭了。”之前，奧爾蒂斯年薪3.6萬美元，是公司裏年薪最低的。

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歲的詹森·伯德是一名技術員。以前，他以4萬美元的年薪在西雅圖勉強度日。“漲薪後，我們可以有更多的自由時間花在工作上，不用擔心錢的問題。”他表示將存下多餘的錢，付清助學貸款4.2萬美元。“我今天差點買下一輛吉普車。要是買到了，我要開到報廢才換。”

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.
布萊斯表示他是這個私人控股公司的大股東。11年前，還是大學生的布萊斯在宿舍成立了該公司。哥哥資助了他，是公司僅有的另一個股東。

"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.
他說：“我哥哥盧卡斯對我的計劃很疑惑，保持謹慎態度，但是他沒有反對。”由於未婚，布萊斯不用向妻子解釋其中緣由。

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.
他做出這一決定是受一項關於幸福的研究的啓發。該研究表明，年薪超過7.5萬美元后人們的快樂程度大大增加。

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，他還曾聽員工訴說過以目前的薪水要租到合適的房子以及應付其他開銷很有難度，這讓他決定自己與員工的收入差距不能如此之大。布萊斯將加薪形容爲“道義上的需要”。

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."
在接受美國有線電視新聞網財經頻道專訪時，布萊斯說他不是唯一一個試圖縮小與員工收入差距的公司高管。有媒體報道後，已經有近100個其他公司的首席執行官發電子郵件或短信表示支持。“我不知道我們是否足以推動現狀，但我認爲我們這一代人需要作出一點改變。”

Price said he'll stick with the reduced paycheck until he can restore Gravity's profits.
布萊斯表示，他會接受低薪直到公司恢復原先利潤。

"My goal is to get back to previous profit levels within two to three years," he said.
“我的目標是在2年或3年內，利潤回到原來水平。”

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.
布萊斯說，50位原先工資高於7萬美元的員工與低薪員工一樣高興。

"They are happy that the folks that enable them to be high earners -- their team members -- will be taken care of," Price said.“高薪員工的工作需要底薪員工的支持。所以看到團隊員工漲工資，他們也很開心。”

Customer reaction has also been positive.
客戶的反應也很積極。

"They love our service level and think the team deserves it," he said.
布萊斯說：“顧客喜歡我們的服務水平，認爲我們的團隊值得漲薪。”

One thing he didn't expect: "We are all surprised at the coverage this is getting," Price said.
他說沒有預料到的是：“這件事情會被大幅報道。”

News of Price's pay cut was reported earlier by the New York Times.
之前，《紐約時報》已經報道過他的降薪新聞。

Vocabulary

move the needle: 造成或帶來可見的變化