Workplace reviews and discussion: 曾永信建築師事務所

1. Facilities: The office was established not long ago, with a simple and modern style.

2. Policies: Working hours are flexible, and employees can take leave or arrive late.

3. Benefits:

（1）The company often provides premium tea bags and capsule coffee, as well as various snacks. However, be sure to pay particular attention to the expiration dates before consuming them.

（2）The company regularly holds weekend afternoon tea and birthday celebrations. It also orders custom-made cakes from cake shops, which can be shared with friends and family by posting and checking in on Facebook.

4. Design: The company places particular emphasis on renderings and uses them to review design and construction, which can be considered an industry innovation.

1. Facilities: Most of the computers are old and slow, requiring a great deal of patience while waiting.

2. Policies:

（1）Excessive overtime: During competition periods (approximately once every two months), the average time off work is around midnight or later. Before submissions, employees are required to work on holidays and overnight. Furthermore, in order to evade investigations by the Bureau of Labor Insurance, the company explicitly stipulates the times during which employees may clock in and out. Any hours exceeding those prescribed by the Labor Standards Act cannot be recorded by clocking in or out; employees can only fill out separate overtime forms for their wages to be calculated.

（2）Communication-group coordination: A company of approximately 20 people has dozens of work-related LINE groups. The boss usually assigns work through messaging, including at 3, 4, or 5 a.m. and on holidays.

（3）Lengthy and frequent meetings: Each project has at least two or three meetings per week, with each meeting lasting anywhere from approximately 30 minutes to several hours. If you are responsible for several projects, most of your working time is spent in meetings. The actual work must then be completed through overtime or by finding time outside regular work hours, especially during competition periods.

（4）Lack of work planning and time awareness: Changes to drawings are usually requested one to two hours before submission, resulting in a high error rate. As deadlines approach, the boss also begins to display hysterical emotional reactions and use profanity.

（5）Business-oriented: The company focuses primarily on design competitions and places less emphasis on practical work. Combined with the person in charge’s incomplete understanding, practical execution depends on specific employees within the company, making it difficult to learn more comprehensive experience in architectural practice.

（6）Proxy signing: The company has offices in Taipei and Tainan, with only one architect stationed in Tainan. Documents from the Taipei office are usually signed and stamped by an up-and-coming architect without an architect’s license (see the book “Reimagining”). I do not understand how the industry handles documents; I am simply deeply puzzled by this matter.

3. Benefits: The company often provides premium tea bags and capsule coffee, as well as various snacks. However, be sure to pay particular attention to the expiration dates before consuming them; tea bags that expired a year ago and moldy or fermented snacks are often handed out.

4. Design:

（1）Principles: Modularization based on vertical, horizontal, centered, and symmetrical arrangements.

（2）Quantity: The more, the better; usually, only slight differences are used to increase the quantity.

（3）Concept: Photographing, entering competitions, winning awards, obtaining media coverage, and publicity.

The above is a summary based on more than two years of work experience at the firm.