Sony removes its yearly winter bonus in Japan and raises monthly salaries instead

In an effort of making workplaces more attractive and to retain staff for longer durations.

Although bonus programs are not entirely uncommon in Europe, they are even more common in Japan and the United States where bonuses are regularly given to encourage good performance and achieving (and ideally exceeding) goals. In Japan, there is usually one bonus for summer and one for winter, and the sums involved are often quite substantial.

Now Nikkei (via Automaton) reports that Sony and Bandai Namco has decided to do away with the traditional winter bonuses and instead increase fixed monthly salaries. This will give employees a more stable income and make the companies a more attractive place to work, with the hope that employees will want to stay while new talent can be attracted.

At Sony, in addition to regular pay rises, the bonus alone provides a monthly increase for employees of 38,000 yen (around £202/€239). Meanwhile, Bandai Namco implemented this change back in 2022 and has since raised monthly salaries by the equivalent of around £449/€522. Nikkei also writes that salaries for Japanese game developers are expected to continue to rise rapidly, a sign of the boom that the Japanese games industry has experienced in recent years.

AI image, created with Bing AI.