Workplace reviews and discussion: 立達國際電子股份有限公司

After thinking it over, the only motivation to go to work every day is the great colleagues in the department—and being close to home.

1. The top boss is extremely emotional and curses at employees of every rank in his private office, from vice presidents down to assistants. He also smokes heavily inside the office, and our department happens to be closest to his office, so we have to inhale his secondhand smoke every time. We can only silently put on our own masks to protect ourselves from the smell of smoke.

2. It is called global branding in name, but they are fundamentally unwilling to spend even a cent on brand marketing. All kinds of marketing budgets are rejected. Even the annual product catalog has to be repeatedly cost-cut with the printer. In the end, the printer’s representative even advised us not to print it, because the results of printing with such a low budget would be very poor. There are far too many cases like this to list.

3. There is absolutely no system, and managers at every level lack a sense of responsibility, as if this were the company’s first year. For example, there is no SOP for expense reimbursement; whether expenses are approved depends entirely on the boss’s wife’s mood. It often happens that the top boss approves an expense, but if the boss’s wife is in a bad mood, she makes all kinds of difficulties and refuses to release the payment, stringing employees and vendors along again and again. (The vendors say they are used to it.)

4. Military-style management: The office is extremely quiet—you can even hear a pin drop. Any absence or departure must be reported on the company Skype. Even stepping out for 10 minutes during work hours to pick up documents from the copy shop next door must be reported. The company is highly distrustful of employees. Colleagues in the same department are not allowed to go to the restroom or pantry at the same time. I was once “spoken to” because I went to the restroom while discussing work with a colleague from my department.

5. Sales above all. This company is highly performance-oriented (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but only salespeople are treated like gods. Everyone in other supporting functions has to work like a beast and cater to the sales team’s moods. Think twice before applying for a non-sales position.

6. Business management problems: 15% of the workforce was laid off in the short term. From November 2017 to February 2018, nearly 20 people were laid off.