Happiness

This morning I opened my email and found a note from my son with a link to an April 14, 2014 Article in the New York Times Business Day he thought I might appreciate.  As usual, he was accurate.  As is often true with people who truly care about each other he has a pretty good idea of what might interest me.  My son and I share a lot of interest, but also have many interests or talents the other does not share.  This means, among other things, there is always something interesting to bring to the relationship.

The link he sent me this morning was to an article about Dan Price who is the owner of a Credit Card Processor Company, Gravity Payments, in Seattle.  He is quoted as saying that he had read on article on happiness, which stated, “For people who earn less than about $70,000.00, extra money makes a big difference in their lives.”  That made him think and on Monday he announced to his staff that over the next three years he will  “raise the salary of even the lowest paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000.00 a year.”  He will do this by cutting his own salary from nearly $1 million to $70,000 and using 75 to 80 percent of the company’s anticipated $2.2 million in profit this year.

He continues to describe himself as a capitalist.

The article goes on to point out that in this country the average pay gap between executives and the average worker is nearly 300 percent. 

Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman, as is also pointed out in the article did the research on happiness.  They

found that emotional well-being is not increased after reaching a salary of approximately “70,000.00 a year.  They further pointed out that money above that brings pleasures but does not increase emotional well being.   However, making less than that can decrease happiness and emotional well being.

Although the specific figures came as news to me, the idea that money does not buy happiness is not new.  We have all known, heard about or seen movies about very wealthy people who were extremely unhappy.

The articles do not discuss in detail the fact that the decision also makes a lot of business sense. Happier people generally make more efficient, creative, dedicated employees.   Less time is lost in time off or for illness and turnover is lower.

I recall years ago noticing that a certain restaurant in Washington, Pa. seems to have very happy employees who worked together well as a team. The turnover of primary staff seems non-existent. One night I had the opportunity to talk to the current family member who was running this family business. He confirmed that all the full time staff of the restaurant got paid sick time, paid vacations, and other benefits.  Who would leave such a job unless for some reason they were moving, deciding to stay home to care for a new child for some other reason unrelated to being unhappy with their job.  Because they were happy, the customers were happy. They tipped well and frequently returned.

The current owner said the family had always treated staff this well. It was not a new policy with him.

I recall another example of a manufacturing company in New England. After the building burnt down the owner decided to continue to pay all the workers their regular salaries during the time (six months or a year as I recall) it would take to rebuild the plant.

For many years once I finished graduate school I worked for various non-profit or not for profit agencies. No one made a lot of money. This was long before the time when it was revealed that some charitable organizations such as the Red Cross were paying the CEO a huge salary.  In fact I just checked on snopes.com.  The latest charitable organization CEO salaries listed were for 2009.  They included:

         Unicef - $1,200.00

         American Red Cross – $651, 975 plus many expenses/benefits (.39 of every dollar goes to the work of the Red Cross)

         United Way - $375,000 plus golf club membership, yacht club membership, two luxury vehicles, two gold credit cards, etc.

The lists go on and on.  The last community mental health center for which I worked, at one time was paying the CEO over $400,000 plus many other benefits.  

There came a time when I knew I could no longer work for such an organization because this sort of attitude also filtered down to how clients were treated.   At the time, it seemed my only option was to open a private practice with some other therapists.  We decided that we would have a standard fee, which we would bill clients and their insurances when that was possible. (Actually insurance companies set the fee, which was often a fraction of our relatively low fee.)  For clients whose insurance would not pay or who did not have insurance the charge would be based upon what they determined that they could afford.  We did not ask to see their income or expenses statements.  95% of people not only did their best, but also often wanted to pay more than they could afford.  We made enough so that all of us, including the office person, had enough money to live on.  Well, that is not entirely true. If someone was working part time the goal was to make sure that his/her family income was approximately the same as mine.  If that person had become single then the agreement was that we would find a way to increase that.  All staff got pro-rated vacation and sick time. If they did not have health insurance we paid for it.  This paid off in terms of “happiness” of staff and clients.   All of us had a decent place to live and a plenty to eat.  The business flourished and we flourished.     

Several years ago thee were a group of Wall Street Stock Brokers who decided to cater to those of us who did not want to knowingly invest money in companies which treated other people or the environment badly.  Some of us also did not want to invest in any company, which supplied material for violent action, i. e. military.  Their business was a resounding success financially and emotionally. When I went to see them I did not have any money but wanted to set up a trust for my son based on life insurance I then expected to leave my son.  Standard banks investment officers had told me I did not have enough money to even consider asking for “special consideration” of how the money was invested when I died.  This company, Christopher Street Financial, treated me the same as their wealthiest client.  I had the very same experience with the local bank in the community in which I was living and working.  Main Street Bank was employee owned. The President of Main Street Bank, Mr. Rich Lucas. to this day, treats me with as much consideration, kindness and respect as those customers who have a lot of money.

The bottom line it turns out that Jesus, the Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mr. Price is right.  When we treat each other and ourselves well, everyone in that circle prospers emotionally, spiritually, and financially.   When we treat each other as less than no one prospers emotionally, physically, or spiritually nor, in the long run, financially.