Workplace reviews and discussion: 奧維德廣告企劃有限公司

1. Flexible working hours; the boss does not micromanage.

2. As long as you are willing to learn business skills, the boss is very willing to teach you.

3. Working hours are 9:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m., with a lunch break from 12:00–1:30 p.m., so there are only seven working hours. The boss likes to take naps at lunchtime and often rests past 1:30 p.m.

1. Environment: The company is extremely dirty and messy. It leaks during heavy rain, and all of the company's employees have left, leaving only the boss. The company cannot recruit anyone, but because the boss himself is very capable in business, he can still keep it going.

2. Equipment: The company's designers use Apple computers, but they are the lowest-end models. The sales staff and assistants use PCs. Also, for an advertising design company, there is not even a basic DSLR camera (the boss says to just use a phone), nor are there any PANTONE color swatches; you have to go to the printing company to borrow them. The air conditioner cannot be temperature-controlled: it is extremely cold when turned on and extremely hot when it is off.

3. Salary: The company uses a profit-sharing system and offers no base salary (except for assistants). The company's explanation is that it provides equipment, resources, and technical expertise, and you have to earn whatever else you want yourself.

What is the profit-sharing system? Simply put, from the amount signed in the contract with the client, you first deduct printing costs (nothing is deducted if there is no printing), then shipping, and then a total of 8% for operating costs, accounting costs, and welfare funds. Of the remaining profit, sales gets 35%, design gets 35%, and the company gets 30%.

PS. Contract amount $60,000 - printing costs $30,000 - shipping $600 (shipping ranges from $200 to $1,200) = $29,400 x 0.08 = $2,353; $29,400 - $2,352 = profit of $27,048; 30% for the company = $8,115, sales = $9,467, design = $9,467. Bonuses can only be collected after the client has transferred the payment. In addition, the company promises an annual salary of $300,000 (that is, a monthly salary of $25,000, with no year-end bonus), but what the company means is that if your annual performance reaches or exceeds $300,000, the company will not provide any additional bonus. If your annual performance does not reach $300,000—for example, if it is $250,000—your year-end bonus will be $50,000. In any case, the boss is only willing to pay you $300,000 for the year. In summary, what I find extremely baffling is that the company already deducts operating costs, yet it still takes 30% of the profit. Also, because all of the company's employees have left, all income depends on the boss's projects; you have to develop other projects yourself. But projects are difficult to develop now, and the boss has few projects, so you basically cannot make any money. If you work solely as a designer, it is even worse: there are few projects to take on, and you only receive 35% with no base salary. The boss himself gets major projects every year, but he earns all the money himself and does not allocate them to you; the projects assigned to you are all small ones.

4. Benefits: The company deducts 1% as a welfare fund from every project, but basically the company offers very few benefits. There is a staff dinner once or twice a year, approximately. There are no employee trips (the boss will tell you there are, but that they depend on performance, so I have never gone on one). There is a gift box for the Mid-Autumn Festival, nothing for the Dragon Boat Festival, and no year-end bonus at New Year—there is only a red envelope, and the amount depends on the boss's mood.

5. Personality: The boss is someone who is extremely fond of making grand promises. He will tell you that he has many money-making plans and just lacks people to strive alongside him, and so on. He gives you a great deal of hope, making you feel that you should be able to trust the company, but after one or two years, you will realize that all of it was lies. For example, when I first joined the company, the boss told me, “If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. Just tell me if you need any equipment or resources.” Then one day I asked the boss to buy a DSLR camera so that I could take photos of compositing materials or company work for promotional images myself, but the boss said it was unnecessary and that phones are convenient now, so I should just use a phone. Another time I asked the boss to buy stock images from a stock-image website because it would make design work faster and easier. The boss said the company had bought stock images before (the kind found on CDs 25 years ago), and that I should just look for images there. Then an assistant submitted a resignation, and the boss wanted him to stay, so he said he would help develop clients for him to generate sales. After the assistant successfully stayed, five months passed without even half a client being developed. The assistant naturally resigned again, and the boss tried every possible way to retain him, but the assistant did not stay this time. The boss also loves telling you about his past accomplishments; every time he starts, it takes an hour and a half, so you do not have to do any work. Normally, when the boss has nothing to do, he is either reading Business Weekly or sleeping. You will feel that he is a damn useless person who only knows how to talk. The biggest and most serious flaw is that the boss is extremely lecherous: he touches female employees inappropriately and shows special favoritism toward them.