Workplace reviews and discussion: Advantech_研華股份有限公司

Advantech Technology, Linkou — warehouse management, commonly referred to as material preparation staff. Every day, production control provides the required quantities for the production line to the staff member who prints the orders. The orders are then printed and materials are prepared for the production line. At the new Linkou plant, the warehouse is in the basement (B1), QC is on the first floor, and the restaurant is also on the first floor. Here is the key point: food waste is collected in the basement—in other words, in the controlled-material warehouse. The food-waste collection room is also in the basement. That’s right! Every day, you have to smell the odor of food waste, and you have to work there for 8–10 hours.

Advantech’s hiring process has three stages: an initial interview, a section manager’s interview, and then waiting for notification. Only after passing these stages do you proceed to discuss salary and other matters. But don’t have overly high expectations for the salary; the benefits are not particularly good either. At first, you are hired as a contract worker for NT$24,000. Your salary is only NT$2,000 more than that of students in cooperative education programs. They can leave work on time, but you cannot. Besides being unable to leave work on time every day, the pressure is very high. There are about 30–40 material-preparation work orders every day, and you simply cannot finish them all, even with overtime. You also have to come to the company to work overtime on Saturdays and Sundays. If you do not work overtime, your supervisors will deduct from your performance rating, which affects your year-end evaluation. In addition, long-serving employees will complain, saying things like, “Are all the new people leaving this early?”

At the beginning, HR will tell you that you can become a full-time employee after three months. In reality, you have to wait at least a year, and some people have waited three years before being converted. The full-time salary is only NT$25,000. Lunch is deducted from your salary; the company subsidizes only NT$25 per meal. Finishing work at 8 or 9 p.m. every night is the norm.

If materials are missing, they will look for you because the production line has the greatest authority. During the manufacturing process, if something is damaged, for example, they will simply take a replacement directly without asking for your consent. When materials are missing, they will not come to you because they will bypass you and take them directly from the warehouse. So when inventory is checked and the stock count is inaccurate, you do not know who took the materials. All you can do is accept it and write a shortage report.

As for promotion, don’t worry—you will never get a turn. There are many long-serving employees ahead of you in the company, and you definitely will not be chosen for promotion. This is not a particularly suitable place for young people to work. It really is a place where older employees go to retire. Don’t assume that a large company necessarily offers good benefits and pay. At this company, you cannot see a future, nor can you see any opportunities for advancement, even though the stock price is good. (From someone who has been there)

Pros: A good place to coast until retirement—and that’s it.

The salary is not particularly high, and the benefits are not particularly good.

Overtime is routine, and you have to work overtime on Saturdays and Sundays.

There are cliques, and the work pressure is high.