Workplace reviews and discussion: 公準精密工業股份有限公司

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The company’s chairman and general manager—the so-called big boss—is extremely insecure and has a very strong need for control. There are two fixed meeting times every day, and both are large meetings with more than 30 people, lasting at least one or two hours each. He also often suddenly summons an entire department. You can imagine the company’s internal efficiency. When I applied, the chairman personally came down to interview me. At first, I thought the company was really making an effort, but later I realized that wasn’t the case at all. Have you ever seen an on-site foreign worker needing to personally report directly to the general manager alone? You often see this unbelievable scene here.

Because delivery dates promised to customers are often delayed, several problems arise. For example, an urgent order is inserted into production, but then another urgent order comes before it, and an even more urgent order comes before that one... There is also the possibility that, because things are so urgent, mass production begins without running a first-article inspection. If something goes wrong, it may affect an entire large batch.

Perhaps because several on-site employees are veteran figures who helped the general manager establish the plant, the general manager’s attitude toward the production floor has always been bafflingly lenient. The production floor may produce inventory on its own without knowing that a customer has changed the design, then directly ship products from the previous version during the next production run. If quality assurance happens not to sample those products during inspection and the customer later files a complaint, that kind of thing is considered perfectly normal here.

HR will tell you that the company fully complies with the Labor Standards Act, but then brazenly tell you that indirect staff are under a “responsibility-based work system.” The problem is that the statement “indirect staff are under a responsibility-based work system” itself does not comply with the Labor Standards Act. I don’t know whether this is ignorance or shamelessness.

The only break is the short 50-minute period from 11:50 to 12:40. For some unknown reason, the bell is also rung five minutes early, so the actual time for eating and taking a nap is only “45 minutes,” possibly the shortest in the industry.

Previously, word circulated among colleagues that the company’s water dispenser had tested positive for “heavy metals,” but the truth is unknown because the company only posted a notice on the dispenser saying, “Do not use temporarily.”

Below is also the content of an email someone sent me before I joined the company. I didn’t heed the warning at the time, and now that I’ve read it again, I really regret it, so I’m posting it here for everyone’s reference.

1. Family-owned business: Promotion opportunities are limited and slow.

2. Responsibility-based work system: 7:50–16:40 (You have to clock in on time, but it’s unlikely you can leave on time.) Most of the time, you won’t work extremely late—seven o’clock at the latest—but there is no overtime pay!

3. Low base salary: HR will tell you that your salary will be adjusted based on performance after the three-month probationary period, but in reality it depends on your supervisor... I didn’t receive a raise after three months. My supervisor’s reason was: “The starting salary was already relatively high, so there will be no adjustment after three months.” It was somewhat shocking because this was never mentioned at the beginning, so I felt deceived. However, I don’t know how salaries are set in the engineering department. An engineer I know said that his starting salary at the time was NT$25,000–27,000 (with a bachelor’s degree from a private university). The main point is that salary increases are extremely slow!

4. Benefits are not very good: The year-end bonus is not necessarily paid every year, and at most it is only one month’s salary. Raises are also not given every year: the supervisor has to submit a request, and it depends on whether the big boss signs off. An annual raise of NT$1,000–2,000 is considered very good. The cost of boxed lunches is deducted separately from your salary; if you want one each day, you order it through the system (NT$60). The birthday gift is a NT$300 voucher (apparently only available after six months; the same applies to the three major holidays). Employee trips are also not held every year (otherwise, there may only be a one-day activity).

5. The latest news I heard in July was that their engineering department was also seriously short-staffed, so if you get hired now, you will probably have to work overtime (without overtime pay). As a small aside, because their turnover is high, I feel that new employees are often required to do miscellaneous tasks and have difficulty fitting in. Young people may be okay, but in the department I worked in previously, one father was severely ostracized and eventually laid off. (Yes, don’t doubt it—this company often suddenly dismisses people. If they decide you’re unsuitable, one day they may suddenly ask you to leave.) I was shocked at the time, and it seemed to be the kind of dismissal without severance pay. I don’t know why he didn’t sue them (perhaps because it’s a large company). There was also an engineer who joined before me, a PhD from National Cheng Kung University, whose salary seemed to be less than NT$40,000 and who was frequently scolded. I feel that if you have a high level of education, you should still avoid this company = =

6. Communication and systems between their departments are not very good. You often finish your own work but cannot leave because you have to wait for someone else. The big boss’s mood is unpredictable, and most supervisors will not challenge the boss’s demands, so the people below end up working themselves to death! I stayed for 1 year and 5 months. At first, my department was genuinely pretty good, but then the supervisor changed and I couldn’t really accept it anymore! In addition, there were issues with the benefits, relationships between people, relationships between departments, etc.