Workplace reviews and discussion: 台灣之星電信股份有限公司

Unit: Neihu Headquarters, a certain department

*The internal atmosphere varies across business units; this only describes what I observed during my employment for reference.

1. The interview process was extremely lengthy. I suspect the cumbersome process is used to filter for sufficiently submissive workers.

2. They make a virtue of not requiring clocking in and out, but if you are one minute late, you have to report it in the group chat. When there is too much work, they ask you to work overtime and say that this is a good opportunity for you to learn.

3. I never heard of anyone around me receiving overtime pay. After all, this is a learning opportunity, so you should cherish it~

4. Since I wanted to resign, I went to a nearby interview after work. I returned to the company after dinner, sometime after 9 p.m., to pick up my scooter, and ran into colleagues from other departments who had only just gotten off work.

5. Getting off work at 9 p.m. is actually not late. A colleague from another department sent a LINE message at 11 p.m. saying that UAT testing was complete; the next day, I checked the test records and found that they had actually been busy until 4 a.m.

6. Some colleagues came back to the office to work overtime on both Saturday and Sunday, and some went home before returning to the office to continue working.

7. To provide some balance: The actual overtime situation still depends on the unit. IT probably has the least, but an overall culture of working overtime is widespread.

8. LINE cannot be installed on internal computers because of information security controls, but you are required to join several LINE groups on your phone.

9. During the pandemic, remember to report your health status on LINE every day (including holidays—I thought I was doing military service).

10. IT is best advised to be on call and pay attention to the LINE groups at all times (people really will call you while you are lying in bed).

11. The company provides computers, but issues extremely poor office PCs, while the network firewall blocks a whole host of things. Developers are left to fend for themselves.

12. At exactly 12 noon every day, the company computers forcibly display a screen reminding you about macular degeneration. At that moment, pray that you do not happen to have an important unsaved file open, because the program may cause the system to crash and reboot.

13. If you really want to avoid macular degeneration, remember to bring a larger monitor to the office yourself. The laptop screen is genuinely tiny, and it is also very laggy.

14. Because the company computers are so bad, developers are better off bringing their own laptop and an unlimited mobile hotspot so they can meet work requirements. However, remember to hide the laptop when an audit takes place.

15. I witnessed a colleague being severely berated in front of nearly a hundred people (with humiliating remarks such as “go jump off a building”), and then being punished by being made to stand facing the wall. What a wonderful corporate culture.

16. Employees can sign up for a plan with a reduced monthly fee. However, one colleague who resigned was required to pay an early termination fee; without paying it, they were not allowed to cancel, and if they did not cancel, high monthly fees began to accrue.

17. They love rotating people to different positions for no reason, so processes are constantly going wrong. Every year feels like onboarding new hires, and communication costs are extremely high.

18. HR says the company is young and full of vitality, but in reality disposable employees are replaced batch after batch. If you can stay for three years, you are already considered a senior colleague. Where else could you find such a wonderful environment? Come join us!!