Salary Increases Alone Are Not Enough... Game Companies Entice Developers with 'Welfare' Benefits

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Domestic game companies are strengthening their welfare policies. As developers' salaries have become more standardized at higher levels due to a shortage of development personnel, companies have chosen to improve welfare levels as another incentive.

According to the game industry on the 18th, Nexon recently announced through an internal notice the introduction of new welfare systems such as the 'Bereavement Support System' and the '20-Year Service Award System,' as well as the expansion of existing systems including extended parental leave periods and increased loan limits.

The Bereavement Support System is a program where the company assists with funeral personnel or funeral services when an employee's family experiences a bereavement. For personnel, funeral directors and funeral assistants are dispatched, and if personnel support is unnecessary, employees can select necessary items such as one funeral director dispatch, funeral vehicles, burial clothes, altar decorations, mourning clothes, and pallbearers.

Nexon also implements the '369 Recharge Leave System' to give long-term employees a chance to recharge. Employees with 3, 6, and 9 years of service receive up to 20 days of leave, and those at the 9-year mark can receive up to 5 million KRW in vacation expenses. The '20-Year Service Award System,' established last year, grants employees who reach 20 years of service a merit award of 10 million KRW and a special trophy.

The loan limit for the in-house loan program, which supports employees in purchasing housing and marriage funds, will be increased from the existing 30 million KRW to 50 million KRW. Nexon supports employees using the in-house loan system by subsidizing 2% of the loan interest for up to 3 years.

NCSOFT, a major competitor of Nexon, recently expanded its 'Post Scholarship' program, which supports employees' student loan repayments, up to 15 million KRW. The Post Scholarship program is a welfare system conceptually a post-graduate scholarship where the company supports repayment of student loans incurred during employees' academic years.

From 2017 to 2020, the company supported up to 10 million KRW for repayment of undergraduate tuition loans for new employees hired through open recruitment. This year, NCSOFT is increasing the support amount to a maximum of 15 million KRW.

In addition to undergraduate tuition, repayment support for master's tuition loans is also provided. The eligible recipients have been expanded to include new employees hired through open recruitment and regular full-time employees with less than two years of experience hired through non-regular recruitment.

NCSOFT is the only domestic company operating this system. Companies like Google and NVIDIA operate similar programs.

Pearl Abyss is also implementing industry-leading welfare systems to secure outstanding talent. Pearl Abyss currently provides 500,000 KRW per month per child without limitation on the number of children as childcare support and 500,000 KRW per month as housing support for employees living near the company.

They also support interest on employees' housing loans and provide up to 7 million KRW annually for children's tuition. Additionally, welfare programs include ▲medical expense support for infertile couples ▲parental care expense support ▲family accident insurance support ▲welfare card provision ▲long-term service awards ▲fitness center support ▲in-house cafeteria ▲congratulatory and condolence money and funeral services.

This strengthening of welfare policies in the game industry is analyzed as an effort to secure excellent development personnel. An industry insider said, "When choosing a company, welfare levels are as important as salary," adding, "As developers' salaries have become more standardized at higher levels, the recognition that another incentive is needed seems to have led each company to improve welfare."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.