This company does not fire people casually. Unless you make an extremely serious mistake—one so serious that it affects the company’s overall operations, reputation, systems, or involves breaking the law—you might get the axe. Simply put, this is a suitable place to coast toward retirement and stay for a long time. It is ideal for people who wanted to become civil servants but couldn’t pass the exam. Welcome to Shin Kong.
1. Salary: The pay is somewhat higher than that of a typical fresh university graduate or master’s graduate, but that’s about it. Want a raise? Ha. I once asked colleagues who had been there for five or six years, and their salaries were as flat as a dead person’s ECG, with almost no adjustments. Want a promotion? Please trade half a century of your life for it.
2. Benefits: There is an annual employee trip, and participation is optional, but it is always a local trip somewhere in northern, central, southern, or eastern Taiwan. Simply put, they give you a subsidy to go love Taiwan. Three major holiday bonuses? Yes, but they are so small they barely register.
3. How much is the year-end bonus? This is definitely something job seekers want to know. Compared with ordinary companies, Shin Kong’s bonus is considered generous. Even fresh graduates get four months. It looks generous, but Shin Kong isn’t stupid—why should a fresh graduate get that much? They use a special way to tie you down: “staggered year-end bonus payments”! They make you obediently remain a company slave. Of the four-month year-end bonus, they pay you three months first and hold the remaining month until July or August of the following year. That makes you miss the job-switching season and unable to change jobs, so you can only obediently stay year after year.
4. Workplace culture: Are you a fresh graduate eager to learn? Then this company can definitely extinguish your enthusiasm! After a while, you will discover that you constantly have to clean up the messes left by your seniors—even by colleagues who have already resigned. Your own responsibilities are never-ending, and the crap your seniors leave for you to deal with will absolutely make you feel more and more powerless at work. Your supervisor will only say, “Young people—treat it as a learning experience.” Using “learning” as an excuse to “help” seniors or colleagues clean up their messes is the norm, until you are wiping crap so often that you start questioning your life.
5. Unspoken rules: Overtime is compulsory at the end of the month. They tell you to clock out at 6:30, then stay at the company and continue being a slave. Huh? Overtime pay? Don’t be silly—you’re our Shin Kong “family” ( ･᷄ὢ･᷅ ). If we ask you to stay and “help,” why would we need to talk about overtime pay? Talking about money hurts the relationship~
6. Other: “Arm-swinging exercises”—a morning routine unique to Shin Kong Property & Casualty Insurance. It is like the older men in a park practicing tai chi at five or six in the morning. Every week, on several mornings, the entire company is required to swing their arms for ten minutes like people with dementia. What is the purpose? Hmm... I would really like to know too. I guess every moderately large company probably has one or two morale-boosting activities that leave you with a head full of question marks!?