Workplace reviews and discussion: 創空間概念股份有限公司

Colleagues get along well.

The bonus system is relatively transparent (Design Department).

Cons

1. As a design company, the senior management’s design capabilities are generally extremely poor. They often nitpick the work carried out by capable designers. The directors seem only concerned that they cannot control the designers, so they are constantly on guard against and suppressing them. Designers have little chance of enjoying a high-quality work environment, let alone achieving positive growth within this company’s system.

2. The company’s senior management is always overly ambitious, painting a very grand picture. However, to employees with more experience, their claims are full of obvious empty rhetoric. The company may appear highly action-oriented regarding these policies, but a policy often ends after just three to four weeks, and no more than six months at most. Yet implementing a policy usually requires a certain investment of manpower, material resources, and money, so the company’s revenue is constantly being depleted without anyone noticing.

3. A company with a sound structure and positive mindset will usually establish a clear direction for its operations and cultivate new talent. However, this company seems intent on taking shortcuts and has no systematic training for new employees. As a result, employees’ tenure is just as short-lived as the company’s policies, leaving them in a disposable state.

4. The company’s business strategies and理念 are extremely strange. During my tenure, I heard more than once that it planned to merge with other companies. However, a slightly closer look reveals that these merger plans are essentially no different from selling the company. This can easily create a sense of insecurity among employees.

5. Infighting among managers is common, but it is rare to see tactics this childish. There are countless routine and ad hoc meetings, and meeting efficiency is extremely low. After a meeting, the problem it was originally convened to solve often remains unanswered, while people criticize one another and even become tearful during the meeting.

6. The company’s leadership has a narrow outlook. Many policies or business directions that have already been implemented in the industry for years are only now being introduced, but because the company is overly ambitious yet lacks the ability to execute, they ultimately come to nothing. Managers also fail to fulfill their responsibilities by providing leaders with accurate information and advice. In the end, the company becomes a one-person decision-making system, with the leader taking the entire company in bizarre directions, only to encounter obstacles and turn back.

7. The company is rife with nepotism. Many senior employees and high-level managers are part of the same circle of relatives and friends. As a result, there are many people who contribute no value and simply coast along. Because of these relationships, many people are too comfortable to care about conditions in the outside industry, burying their heads in their work and behaving like frogs in a well. This further causes the company to lose competitiveness and makes it even less willing to explore externally, ultimately creating an insular echo chamber where a group of people simply comfort one another within the corporate group.

8. The company lacks integrity toward its employees. The compensation agreed upon during interviews is discounted by the time employees formally start work. For example, when negotiating a salary adjustment after the probationary period, either the increase does not reach the promised amount, or employees must repeatedly follow up and actively chase the matter before it is handled slowly.

9. The company’s view of the value of design is much the same as that of ordinary low-level clients who do not respect design. Design is therefore treated as extremely cheap: the company considers design acceptable as long as it is merely an instinctive, reflexive response and serves engineering interests. Concrete and well-considered design is regarded by this company as nothing more than a designer’s unnecessary self-satisfaction.

In conclusion, if you work in design, I strongly advise against wasting your time at this company.

For less experienced designers or assistants, it is difficult to receive training or gain experience in this environment.

For mid-career designers, it is difficult to find room to perform well at this company, and the income is not particularly generous.

For more experienced designers, personal interests among senior managers can easily prevent them from fully applying their abilities. The company also lacks a platform where designers can thrive, and it continues to operate a design company with the mindset of a fit-out contractor from more than a decade ago—one that merely possesses drafting skills.