Workplace reviews and discussion: 達新工業股份有限公司

The company has offices in Taipei, a headquarters in Taichung, and a Zhonggang plant.

Taipei: Unknown. I’ve heard it is more serious and offers additional allowances, so the comments below do not include the Taipei branch.

Taichung headquarters: More resources, a much better environment than the Zhonggang plant, and faster communication.

Zhonggang: Good culture. The young leaders are easy to communicate with and thoughtful. Perhaps because it is located in a suburban area, colleagues are honest and easy to get along with. Even with limited resources provided by headquarters, the plant leaders do their best to serve as a lubricant between frontline employees and upper management, though there is a potential risk that they may gradually become powerless over time.

Common advantages: Free meals three times a day and free accommodation (in Taichung, two people share a relatively new room; in Zhonggang, there are single rooms, but the condition of the housing is poor). As an established company, it is basically unlikely to go under within the next 10 years. The newly appointed general manager has brought a fresh atmosphere, but time will tell whether the changes are for better or worse.

Although the salary may not be particularly good, you can take the value of the free meals and accommodation into consideration when making your own assessment.

It feels like the company has been working hard in recent years to bring in new talent and improve its competitiveness. Although the process is understood to be difficult and lengthy, the company is still making the effort.

There are currently still stable orders from major manufacturers supporting the company, but overall, it feels like the company is walking a tightrope.

For newcomers with drive and strong performance, seize the opportunity to demonstrate yourselves in front of first-level managers, and there will be plenty of room for development.

Taichung: The center of power, with a relatively strong bureaucratic atmosphere and many unspoken rules. Because the company is stable and employees almost always leave work on time, when people have too much free time and no ambition, they end up gossiping and engaging in office politics—becoming the kind of long-serving employees that everyone dislikes. In some departments, there is a culture of pretending to be busy until 6 p.m. before leaving. In others, whenever a new employee joins, one new employee is driven away (even if that “new employee” is an older, experienced person). However, if you have worked at other large companies before, you may smile knowingly when you come here. Perhaps because the work environment is relatively closed, the tactics used tend to be rather crude.

Zhonggang: There are not many internal problems. The plant leaders work very hard to fulfill their roles, most employees are enthusiastic and willing to teach, and there is a strong culture of good relationships and mutual help among employees. Compared with Taichung, there are fewer resources, and cost control is emphasized in many areas—sometimes to the point of making you frown. The hardware, facilities, and overall environment are poorer, giving it somewhat of a frontier feel. Although there is more freedom, there are few resources, and it is difficult to obtain additional ones.

Common disadvantages: Low salaries and serious talent attrition. The company’s products are gradually becoming outdated, and its prospects are somewhat worrying, although it should have no problem holding on for another 10 years. Even though the company currently appears to be trying to improve its competitiveness through simultaneous organizational renewal and talent replacement, most of the resources and experience remain in the hands of veteran employees. The company does not want to lay people off, resulting in many unmotivated employees continuing to occupy positions without contributing. It is currently facing both internal and external transformation, but still needs to address issues such as how to handle the more than 50% of employees who are veterans, the company’s salary system, and bottlenecks in developing innovative products.

I won’t comment on the overseas plants because I don’t know enough about them. This company has a solid foundation and is not short of money, but it has many minor issues waiting to be improved. For young people who are passionate and willing to commit to a long-term battle, there is a great stage to perform on, and they may even be assigned overseas as managers—but first, you have to seize the opportunity to get noticed XD.