Because of one rule, The Container Store employees make double the national average

The Container Store founder and CEO Kip Tindell is able to pay his employees almost twice the national average because he believes in the "1=3 rule," where one excellent employee is just as productive as three employees who are only good.

For each outstanding employee, the company gets three times the productivity at merely two times the cost, he says. "They win, you save money, the customers win, and all the employees win because they get to work with someone great," Tindell told Business Insider's Jenna Goudreau.

The Container Store sees annual sales of almost $800 million, and Tindell says his average retail salesperson makes almost $50,000 a year; the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the national average for a retail salesperson is slightly above $25,000. The perks keep coming: Employees receive annual raises based on their performance, which could be up to 8 percent of their salaries. "Everybody loves to say that it's not all about pay," Tindell said. "But pay is more important than most people realize, particularly if you're trying to attract and keep really great people."

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Later this month Tindell will be named chairman of the National Retail Federation, an organization that has opposed raising the minimum wage. Tindell told Bloomberg his goal is to get the group to "moderate its views" on an increase.