There is lunch and an extra 15 minutes for dinner, three bonus installments, and soy milk, Yakult, cereal, instant noodles, and other food and drinks available. After having a child, you can get two company products, depending on what is currently available in Taiwan. I can't think of anything else, but do those count as advantages? Haha, I still have to write something.
From what I observed, this is a very traditional and conservative company with extremely high employee turnover. It is an extreme case of believing that foreign things are better. It started primarily as a contract manufacturer for Graco, an affordable, long-established American baby-and-child brand, and later developed two brands, N and J. Although they claim to be European brands, they are actually made in China, and many products are in fact mainly designed by Chinese R&D teams. The factory is in Qingxi, Dongguan. Taiwan is mainly responsible for several product-related departments: the two brands, sales, engineering, and IT. The baby-and-child industry is a closed industry, so changing jobs or switching careers in the future is relatively difficult. In particular, this company's training is extremely rushed and old-fashioned. The so-called training consists merely of talking about products, with no systematic training at all. The training courses are probably versions from ten years ago. It is like a treasure hunt where you have to find colleagues who have been assigned to train you. Oh, and you have to write a so-called learning journal every day—an extremely formulaic training method. There is also an exam after the probationary period, although this depends on the circumstances. In recent years, the sales and engineering heads have been too busy, so it seems to have been canceled. After probation, you have to go to Dongguan for a month-long internship, mainly observing the production line. You still have to write a training journal every day, which is extremely mindless. In addition, during training in Dongguan, you are required to return to the company on weekends, so you may basically have to go to the production line for internship even on holidays…
This company's HR is completely useless—just the owner's enforcers. The entire Mingmen organization has an extremely domineering management style. During my time there, I found that most of the senior department heads were women, especially in the sales and engineering departments. The sales department is basically like a general labor department. Its main work is communicating with customers and coordinating with the factory and Taiwan's engineering department. During the interview, they said you could develop experience working with European and American customers, but in reality you are basically just a messenger and learn very little. Actually, there is one thing you can learn: when something goes wrong, just throw the blame to the engineering department or the factory and let them take the fall XDDDD. All day, you only need to highlight their problems—easy. But compared with those unfortunate engineering staff under the well-known R vice president, the sales department is still slightly better. However, many veterans in sales love to pull rank and act superior. If you are unlucky enough to join, be careful.
As for the engineering department, this is truly a miserable department. There is an executive director, supervisor R, who may have a high IQ but has exceptionally poor EQ and constantly boasts about her abilities. Every time she has a meeting with sales, she has to show how capable she is and loves showing off in front of the boss. In reality, the people suffering behind the scenes are a group of engineering staff monitored in WeChat groups. I heard that when the boss asks her about something she does not know, she tags someone in the group; if that person does not respond or responds too slowly, they get harshly berated. It is an extremely tense environment… This supervisor does not hold back when scolding people; you can hear her from far away, and she even bangs on the table. Unfortunately, the department's middle managers—senior managers and above—have already learned to be angry but dare not speak. I heard they do not dare tell the truth at all, even when they are right. It is very sad: a department run as a one-person dictatorship. This department also has an extremely high turnover rate. Colleagues you have just gotten to know often suddenly resign and disappear… Perhaps those who stay are simply accustomed to bowing without dignity. People with real ideas, or who have experienced freer cultures at other companies, leave after completing their short-term goals—within three months at the fastest, or two years at the slowest…
Oh, and this company has a history of making senior employees “disappear.” If the boss is unhappy with you, you are basically finished, regardless of whether you have contributed to the company. The managers of various departments seem to have a certain frog-in-the-well superiority complex. In particular, they are deeply submissive themselves but expect their subordinates to be submissive along with them. Whether at the executive-director or director level, they always assume that some ignorant newcomer will be fooled: they tell you that the in-house brands are amazing and the training is comprehensive. Although employee turnover has always been high, the boss never reflects on why, and the managers' positions remain secure. They also show extreme disrespect for professional expertise; everything is based on the wishes of senior management. If you dare to disagree, they will attack you relentlessly and force you out. What they need are people who can carry out the supervisor's wishes (woof woof). If something unfortunately goes wrong, sorry—the subordinate is the one who gets sacrificed, while senior management remains secure.
Basically, if you have your own ideas and are used to freedom, do not try this company. I often watched the company's HR and managers lure people in, only for them to leave soon afterward. It is actually painful, especially for those whose tenure is neither short nor long—they are the most pitiful, stuck in the middle… It is an extremely twisted organizational culture.
Oh, newcomers have to perform. If you are interested, you can look it up on YouTube using the company name and “year-end party performance.” Usually, once September or October arrives, newcomers are divided into groups. In principle, every newcomer has to perform at the year-end party, unless they are pregnant or have an injured hand or foot. If there are many people that year, there may be a props group. As for why there are so many people—well, the turnover rate is high. A coach will be hired, so don't worry if you cannot dance. However, on average, you have to stay two evenings a week to practice with your group. Is there overtime pay? Haha, no…
Also, on typhoon days you have to remain on standby to see whether work will be held. They usually notify you that morning. But if you live far away, sorry—you have to leave early yourself. There is no business-trip allowance. For transportation, they tell you to take an intercity bus because the allowance is only a little over 100 dollars; if it rains heavily and you need to take a taxi, you pay for it yourself. If you have money, the company does not care. You have to stay an extra 15 minutes to eat dinner. Most departments finish around 8 p.m., occasionally 9 p.m., depending on the department. Sales works until 8 or 9, engineering is reportedly similar, and IT seems to finish even later and have it worse…
Disadvantages
1. Traditional, closed, and formulaic organizational culture
2. Senior managers who flatter others and love to kiss up, along with highly emotional, controlling managers with zero EQ
3. A high-turnover organization that is constantly training new hires and can never retain people
4. The year-end party requires you to dance for the boss instead of the boss hiring entertainers to reward everyone for a year's hard work. It is especially pathetic for newcomers…
5. HR has extremely little autonomy. Even though it knows the company is closed-off, it still likes recruiting people who have returned from overseas and need English—basically messenger jobs. They might as well just recruit foreign-language majors.
6. Regardless of your performance, if the local despot is unhappy, sorry, you are definitely done.
7. The training is extremely old-fashioned and has no system; it just requires you to keep taking notes XDDD
8. The foreign moon is supposedly rounder. They only dare demand extreme submissiveness from Taiwanese employees and do not dare demand it from foreigners at the brand offices overseas. Studying abroad is treated as a big deal, but graduating from Taiwan is considered inferior and most miserable—you're just asking to be exploited.
…There is much more. Those who have worked there or interviewed there, feel free to add to this…
If you can avoid going, don't go. If you truly have no other choice, set a short-term goal. If you are thinking long-term, make sure your back is flexible enough and that you are submissive enough…