“I should have gone to science”… IT industry with an average annual salary of 100 million

As news of an annual salary increase has been announced in the IT industry this year, interest in the annual salary system for each company is also increasing.

Last year, four of the major IT companies had an average annual salary of over 100 million won, but due to the recent unprecedented annual salary increase in the industry, more companies are expected to join the ranks of billions of annual salaries.

◆Samsung Electronics 127 million won, the best in the industry

According to the business report of major IT companies, including electronic, game, and portal, announced on the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 20th, last year there were five places where the average annual salary of employees exceeded 100 million won. These companies were the top companies in each industry in terms of sales and operating profit (excluding Nexon listed on the Japanese stock market).

Samsung Electronics had the highest average annual salary of employees last year at 127 million won. Samsung Electronics, which had an average annual salary of 69.7 million won in 2012 alone, jumped to 120 million won the following year, and has maintained an average annual salary of 100 million won for eight consecutive years until last year.

SK Telecom surpassed 100 million won for two consecutive years with an average annual salary of 121 million won last year. SK Telecom is the only telecommunications company that exceeds 100 million won. Compared to rivals KT and LG Uplus, the annual salary difference is over 30 million won.

Naver, Kakao, and NCsoft also newly joined with an average annual salary of 100 million won last year. The average annual salaries of Naver and Kakao employees last year were 120 million won and 180 million won, respectively, up 20 million won compared to 2019. Last year, Kakao drew attention by surpassing the average Naver salary. Naver’s average annual salary in 2019 was 84.5 million won, and Kakao was 80 million won.

NCsoft also entered the range of 100 million won for the first time ever, with an average employee salary of 15.5 million won last year. NC also saw an average annual salary increase of 20 million won compared to the previous year.

In addition, the 2nd and 3rd largest companies in the industry also showed high salaries. LG Electronics was 86 million won, KT was 88 million won, and LG U+ was 79 million won. Netmarble, with an average annual salary of 73 million won last year, fell by 24 million won from 2019 (97 million won).

An industry official said, “Last year, most IT companies enjoyed a boom in non-face-to-face business due to Corona 19,” and “It is analyzed that the annual salary has increased significantly thanks to the greatly improved profitability.”

◆Unconventional increase, as if this year’s average annual salary of 100 million companies increased

The number of companies that will join the average annual salary of 100 million won is expected to increase further as the wind of annual salary increases in the IT and game industry this year.

Nexon was the place where the salary increase signal was fired. Last month, Nexon announced that it will increase the annual salary of incumbents and new employees to a maximum of 8 million won starting this year. In the case of new development jobs, the starting salary jumped to 50 million won, becoming the highest level in the industry.

Following this, competitors such as Netmarble, Com2uS, and Gameville all raised their salaries, and Krafton also raised the annual salary for development workers by 20 million won on the 25th of last month, opening an era of 60 million won for new recruits.

On the 11th, NCsoft also joined the trend. As it was a bit late, the conditions were unconventional. First, NC abolished the college graduate’s initial salary and suggested the initial salary for new employees with public loans who joined this year at 55 million won for the developer group and 47 million won for the non-development group. It also raised the regular salaries of all employees. The developer group is 13 million won plus alpha, and the non-development job group is 10 million won plus alpha. NCsoft also removed the annual salary cap for new employees. It means that if you are a capable employee, you can get a billion-dollar salary.

Although it is not an increase in annual salary, SK Telecom is also competing to strengthen compensation in the IT industry by paying 8 million won to all employees as a settlement payment for wage negotiations.

Such an increase in salary is a burden for Naver and Kakao. It is the best treatment in the industry, but there is little difference from companies that have recently raised their salaries. Currently, Naver and Kakao are known to be contemplating demanding an additional annual salary increase while they have confirmed their plans for an annual salary increase. Naver founder Lee Hae-jin said in an in-house e-mail sent to all Naver employees on the 11th, “Honestly, I would like to do something like this before leaving this company to be praised and loved by all of you.” He also said that.

Salary increase, skepticism

The contents of comparing the body value of developers to the annual salary increase fever are being actively shared through the online community.

On the 20th, in the anonymous community blinds for workers, the’Comparison Table of Salary System for Development Jobs of Major IT Companies’ was shared and attracted attention. The salary increase, incentives, and stock options announced by the company recently are well organized. Of course, this is not official information, but was created by community members by referring to article reports and rumors. Nevertheless, it is a big topic among office workers.

Some say they feel deprived of the movement to raise their salaries, which are mainly made by large corporations. Park Mo (31), who works as a web developer in a small and medium-sized business, said, “I started with 30 million won in the initial salary and set my annual salary to 40 million won in four years after changing jobs. Of course, I blame myself for not being able to enter a large company, but the recent salary increase. It is also true that watching the relay feel a sense of collapse.

In the industry, there are voices of concern about the successive annual increase in salary. An official in the IT industry said, “The relay that has occurred recently in the IT industry will raise the overall level of compensation and serve as a positive part in recruiting talented people.” Impression can be left as a resting mark later,” he pointed out.

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