"They say last year's average salary rose more than 7% from 2024, but white-collar employees don't really feel it. In reality, it seems to have gone up about 3% from the previous year."
Lately, such complaints have been circulating among white-collar employees inside KT. Last year, the company's overall average salary jumped 7.27% from 2024. However, employees who say they can't feel it are voicing such grievances. The view is that the announced average salary growth rate reflects not a uniform pay raise for all employees, but the effect of preferential treatment for information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI) talent centered on developers.
According to the industry on the 24th, KT employees' year-over-year average salary growth rate came in at 3.88% in 2023 and 2.8% in 2024, before rising to 7.27% last year. After staying in the 2% to 3% range for two straight years, the year-over-year average salary growth rate surged only last year. By the numbers, it looks as if pay for all employees rose sharply, but internal sentiment is said to be somewhat different.
As a backdrop, the developer-centered IT track created in April last year under former KT CEO Kim Young-shub is being cited. KT removed the salary cap only for the top rank of this track, "responsible." While the white-collar track has a five-tier rank system, the IT track has three tiers: responsible, senior, and associate. The white-collar track has salary caps set by rank and experience, but the IT track is structured to allow the recruitment of high-paid talent. According to the industry, the number of people who joined KT last year in the IT track is estimated at around 700.
Even assuming the white-collar track's average salary rose 3% from the previous year, compensation in the IT track is estimated to be high. Applying a 3% raise to KT's 2024 average salary of 110 million won yields an estimated 2025 average salary of about 113.3 million won for the white-collar track. Out of KT's total 14,701 employees, if the IT track is 700 people, the white-collar track numbers 14,001.
Based on this, the total payroll for the white-collar track is about 1.5863 trillion won. Multiplying KT's 2025 overall average salary of 118 million won by the total headcount of 14,701 gives a total payroll of about 1.7347 trillion won. Subtracting the white-collar payroll from this yields an estimated IT track payroll of about 148.4 billion won. Dividing that by 700 IT employees gives an average salary of about 212 million won per person in the IT track. That is about 80% higher than KT's overall average salary (118 million won). The annual average salary gap between the white-collar and IT tracks comes to nearly 100 million won.
Of course, this calculation is a simple estimate based on the average salary and employee count in the business report. The figures can vary depending on the actual number of IT track employees and the white-collar track's average salary increase rate. Still, even applying an increase rate of around 3% to the white-collar track suggests that IT track compensation is well above the overall average, offering a clue to the sense of marginalization inside the company.
A person surnamed Park in the white-collar track who has worked at KT for more than 10 years said, "The pay gap between the white-collar and IT tracks is too large, and discontent is growing inside," adding, "To move from the white-collar track to the IT track, you have to go through complicated procedures such as convening a personnel committee, so in effect changing tracks is impossible." Another employee, a person surnamed Lee, said, "I heard that in the IT track, an assistant manager level can earn an executive-level salary, that's how big the spread is."
If the IT track grows in size, this trend is expected to strengthen. Following the creation of the developer-centered IT track, KT in Feb. formed the Tech Recruiting Center, a dedicated unit for hiring AX (AI transformation) roles. The company is also said to be pursuing triple-digit hiring of core AX talent this year.
Inside and outside the industry, the view is that if the competition among telecom companies to secure AI talent intensifies, overall average salaries will rise, but the phenomenon of white-collar employees not feeling it could spread to SK Telecom and LG Uplus. A telecommunications industry official said, "It's more accurate to see KT's average salary growth rate as the result of a compensation system and workforce reshuffle that favor AI and developer talent, rather than a uniform pay raise for the entire white-collar track," adding, "If the competition among telecom companies to secure AI talent intensifies, a similar trend could appear at other companies."
A KT official said, "The pay systems for the IT track and the white-collar track were applied on the same basis."