82.4% of South Korean Employees Receive Pay Raises as ‘Notifications,’ Not ‘Negotiations’

A recent study has unveiled that 82.4% of employees find their pay rates through notifications rather than negotiations, highlighting a significant gap in salary discussions.

The findings come from the “HR Trend Report: Salary Edition,” published by HR tech company WantedLab on the 6th. This report resulted from a survey that polled 1,300 people over two weeks starting December 8th last year.

The report further reveals that 46.1% of the surveyed employees received a salary increase that lagged behind last year’s inflation rate of 3.6%. Specifically, 26.6% of employees saw their salaries rise by only 1 to 3%, while 19.5% experienced no salary increase.

When asked about their current salary levels, 18.9% of respondents described them as “very insufficient,” and 53.2% found them “insufficient.” Only 25.7% considered their salaries “appropriate,” with a mere 2.2% stating their pay was “slightly excessive.”

Looking ahead, more than half of the respondents (53.5%) expect the salary increase rate in 2024 to remain the same as in 2023, with only 15.7% optimistic about a better increase next year.

Regarding the inflation rate, 34.7% of employees believe a “4% to less than 6%” raise would be adequate, followed by 30.1% who think a “7% to less than 9%” increase would suffice, and 26.4% saying a raise of “10% or more” is needed. Only a tiny fraction, 5.6%, would be content with a “1% to less than 3%” increase, and even fewer, 3.2%, would accept a freeze on their current salary.

In terms of what employees value most in their compensation packages, “incentives and bonuses” topped the list with 41.8%, followed by “work pattern” at 24.6%, “lunch allowance” at 12.3%, “working hours” at 11.2%, and “signing bonuses and stock options” at 6.6%.