Companies expand benefits to attract workers

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By Kim Hyun-bin

IT and other companies are raising wages and expanding benefits to attract and retain young skilled workers as the concept of “a job for life” is a foreign one among millennials and generation Z (MZ generation), according to the employment platform Catch Sunday.

Coinone, a cryptocurrency exchange, has raised the salaries of existing employees by 20 percent. In the case of Tmax, the base salary was raised by 5 million won ($4,180).

Kakao Bank had an average salary increase of 10 million won for all employees. Krafton also raised the salaries of existing employees by more than 15 million won.

"As each employee's salary is different, the extent of the increase will differ. It's case by case and we are not aware of who gets paid more," a Kakao Bank official said, "Kakao Bank has grown at a rapid pace so far, and for continuous growth, we have come up with a compensation plan that allows internal members and the company to grow together, so we have come up with a salary increase and performance compensation plan for our staff."

Toss Bank provides 20,000 stock options to employees after the first year of employment at the company, and SK Telecom provides 100 shares of treasury stocks to all employees.

“We made this decision because all executives and staff members directly become shareholders of the company and it becomes an opportunity to strengthen responsible management,” an SKT official said.

In addition to the financial benefits, companies are making other efforts including the improvement of employee-friendly organizational culture in hopes of enhancing loyalty.

There are companies that implement a four-day work week system to enhance work-life balance including Eduwill, Enesti, Mullaware, Endorphin Connect and the Korean Studies Promotion Agency.

There is also an onboarding program, a process that helps new hires quickly adapt to the organization. The onboarding program promotes corporate culture and values.

Recently, it has been conducted not only in the form of simple education, but in various forms such as direct participation and employee parties. Kakao and Naver are known to have implemented the onboarding program well.

Welcome Kits are no longer just for customers. More and more companies are offering such kits, as a welcome gift to new employees. Employees who received a welcome kit tend to post images of what they have received on social media platforms, develop a sense of loyalty and use the item to feel a sense of belonging, which also has a publicity effect.

Woowa Brothers, TMON, Kakao Pay, Sandbox, and Bucket Place are some companies that utilize welcome kits.

"In the future, it is expected that more and more companies will pay attention to the employee experience, which gives a sense of loyalty through experience, in addition to basic working conditions such as salary," Catch CEO Kim Jeong-hyun said.