Workplace reviews and discussion: 典匠資訊股份有限公司

The company is close to an MRT station, and there are plenty of convenient places to eat nearby.

1. Employees are treated like cleaners: each department takes turns collecting urine, feces, toilet paper, food waste, and office trash. When collecting the trash from the boss’s office, the boss will not even look you in the eye, which feels unpleasant.

2. The office environment is old, and not only are the facilities not updated, even the broken pedals on the restroom trash cans are not replaced. The facilities and environment may be worse than those in a military barracks.

3. Applying for overtime pay will get you reprimanded by the boss, and it will not be approved. They make excuses to avoid paying overtime. I have heard former employees say that part of their monthly salary was withheld. The company has been reported several times and fined by the labor bureau, yet it is still filing administrative appeals. There are news reports about this online.

4. The sales manager is obnoxious. Aside from having good personal sales performance, he has no ability to lead people and only talks, constantly pressuring everyone to “see money coming in” (performance). Most of what you learn on the job depends on colleagues carrying you.

5. The company has shown no operational growth in recent years. Whether it is making money is unknown, yet it creates a grand vision of developing business in mainland China. Taiwan is not being managed well, but they still want to expand to mainland China—quite courageous.

6. Each employee is made to do the work of two or three people. Besides their own duties, they are often required to help with miscellaneous tasks, including serving as garbage cleaners, of course. XD

7. There are at least three to five meaningless meetings every week. The meetings consist of listening to the sales supervisor nitpick and berate people, with absolutely no benefit to the work. You are often called away to meaningless meetings halfway through your work, disrupting your train of thought.

8. No salary increases, no year-end bonuses, and hardly any opportunities for promotion. Unless your performance is exceptionally good and you are favored by the boss, managerial positions at this small company are all blocked off. To be frank, there are zero opportunities for advancement.

9. During the interview, if they want to make you an offer, their attitude will be very nice. After you report for work and join the company, they completely become a different person, ordering you around like a junior assistant and making you feel undignified.

10. Employee turnover is high. Many people cannot last more than three months, and those who make it to six months are considered very tough. But continuing to tough it out at this kind of company feels like wasting your life. If it is not a good fit, leave quickly. Those considering applying for an interview should think twice.

11. It feels like this industry is extremely niche in Taiwan, so the experience is not very helpful when looking for a job after leaving—unless you want to work in the stock image industry until retirement.

12. The company does not protect its employees. The boss and supervisors hide behind the scenes. I often hear about colleagues receiving phone calls in which they are berated, while we are also required to use our full names, making it very easy to offend people. Earning little would be one thing, but having to offend so many people who misuse images just to earn this bit of money, and then get yelled at, feels dangerous.

13. The weekly afternoon tea is only called that for appearances. In reality, each person orders a drink costing NT$60; it is reasonable to pay for anything over that amount yourself, but if you do not order one, the cost is deducted from your salary! What is the deal with forcing people to order drinks? Do they have an arrangement with the beverage shop? It is really strange.

14. The boss and the female vice president do not get along at all. There is an office-politics culture, and both of them seem to have a strong sense of authority. You have to pay attention to many details, and there are lots of unspoken rules at work.