Workplace reviews and discussion: 兆琪(上海)貿易有限公司惠州分公司

You might think you’ve joined a great women’s shoe brand—fashionable, progressive, appealing, and perhaps beloved by the media. Wrong!

This family-run company is absolutely unbelievable. The company got its start in the shoe business in China and only began trying to develop its business in Taiwan in recent years. They always say, “We sell very well in mainland China, Europe, the United States, and Japan, so how could we possibly fail in Taiwan?”

As a result, they simply moved their entire mainland marketing approach to Taiwan. The problem is that the public sentiment and consumer acceptance in the two places are completely different. This company only accepts its own ideas and refuses to face the needs of the Taiwanese market.

At the Taipei headquarters, there are more than ten people just in finance and administration, while the marketing department is pitifully understaffed, with only four people. Supervisors are usually constantly traveling between mainland China and Taiwan, so their presence is practically meaningless. Yet they love monitoring you through WeChat, QQ, and the company’s internet phone system! You have to report and send back information on everything, big or small, and can only proceed to the next step after getting their approval. The only thing missing is having to report when you go to the bathroom. It’s practically no different from the Communist Party.

Because it’s a family business, many senior positions are held by family members. Whenever you see them, you have to greet them respectfully. If you’re busy and fail to greet them, you may even be called into the office and reprimanded... Do they really think they’re kings and queens? This company is ridiculous. You’re completely tied up in everything you do, given no autonomy, yet still pressured to produce results—and there isn’t even a performance bonus. Even more absurdly, although you work in marketing administration, you’re required to take shifts at department-store sales counters simply because they can’t find sales staff! They even force you to work shifts on holidays. It’s completely outrageous.

Most of the coworkers are quite young. Perhaps because they lack experience, they are ordered around constantly, and they are even fine with frequently working overtime until midnight. The extent to which they are mistreated only encourages the company to push its limits further. In addition to events, there are also company worship and pilgrimage activities, and you’re expected to waste your weekends carrying them out for the company. Sometimes I really can’t figure out what this company is doing. Why don’t they just open a temple?

They also think they’re very high-class and that their brand is the absolute best! Yet when they carry out marketing, they reference the two major women’s shoe brands that originated from Taiwan’s online retail market. Whether it’s marketing or visual design, they love copying everything and refuse to admit it. Many of their shoe styles are also just like those of European and American luxury brands—they copy shamelessly.

There are actually many more shortcomings, but I can’t be bothered to list them all. If you love a challenge, you can join this company and experience it for yourself. It really is astonishing—you’ll get to see what an incredibly bizarre company looks like!