The following experience sharing is limited to an administrative staff position in a certain area in northern Taiwan:

1. The leave system and leave-taking rules comply with the Labor Standards Act. (Administrative staff have public holidays off; sales staff arrange days off according to the number of holidays marked in red.)

2. The department occasionally holds group meals. (Depending on whether the department manager feels like initiating one.)

3. Snacks and refreshments are provided in the office. (But this depends on how each department manager prepares and distributes them.)

4. The computers used by administrative staff are quite good, with decent processing performance and not outdated.

1. Implicit pressure to work overtime.

The head office describes itself as “creating a comfortable work environment without overtime,” but staffing is kept lean (personnel expenses are saved down to the Earth’s core), while the workload is extremely high. Department managers do not like approving overtime, probably because they do not want the bosses at headquarters to see the amount of overtime. Therefore, managers refer to requiring you to work overtime as “voluntarily staying behind” to handle things. Working overtime on days off is the norm. If you officially report overtime, you can apply for compensatory leave or overtime pay.

2. No training or SOPs.

After joining, you have to rely on luck to see whether you encounter a senior employee who is willing to train you. If senior colleagues do not want to teach you, or employees who are about to leave have already stopped caring, you can only learn and work while being scolded. You must not show that you feel wronged or speak in a bad tone, otherwise senior employees and managers will think you are difficult to work with and have low stress tolerance. In this environment, if you make a mistake, it is your own problem: you must reflect on yourself and then “voluntarily stay behind” every day to demonstrate your ambition.

3. The company only values sales.

It is true that sales can make money for the company, but the managers and bosses have never considered how deals could be sent out without administrative staff. Unfortunately, they really have never thought about it that way. The managers were all promoted from sales, so they do not understand administrative workflows. They only demand that administrative staff meet their KPIs and accuracy rates, yet cannot articulate effective solutions. I cannot speak for branches in other areas, but at least in this area, administrative staff turnover is extremely high. The managers all believe that the departing employees are the problem, and that it has nothing to do with the company’s leadership or decision-making abilities.

4. Bonuses do not reach administrative staff.

Following from the previous point, because the company’s policy focuses only on sales, many different types of bonuses are available only to sales staff. For administrative staff to receive a share of bonuses, the department manager must distribute them according to personal preference. Unfortunately, the manager of the department where I worked allocated only NT$2,000 from the store bonus for the two administrative employees to share, which seriously creates a sense of frustration from giving one’s blood, sweat, and tears without receiving anything in return.

5. The company’s managers lack internal leadership skills.

Basically, as long as you flatter the right people, even those without ability can be promoted. During my time there, I saw that nearly 98% of the managers only know how to talk. When something happens, they first call someone over and scold them. Later, if they discover that the administrative staff member was in the right, they will not apologize; they will only tell you to go back and continue working. But if you actually make a mistake while working, the managers will not let the opportunity pass. They will keep bringing it up everywhere until everyone has to know about it. They are extremely gossipy, and embellish the story with added details. Having once been at the center of this tornado, I believe it reached the level of spreading rumors.

6. The company does not lay off employees.

Therefore, when managers dislike you and want to drive you out, they will unite to target only you, doing everything they can to force you to leave on your own. (It has reached the level of workplace bullying, and senior company management also participates in bullying the employee.) Although this did not happen to me personally, I witnessed it happen right in front of me and was powerless to help my colleague. I could only record it on Tianyancha, hoping that job seekers who see this experience sharing will think carefully.

7. A work environment that depends heavily on luck.

If you encounter a manager who looks after people, colleagues who can carry the team, a department with few sales cases, and a moderate-to-low workload, congratulations—you have landed an easy job.

(But it really, really, really depends on luck. I drew the worst possible lot when I joined.)

8. One person doing several jobs.

The managers all think administrative work is very easy, simple, and not plentiful. Therefore, administrative staffing is kept extremely lean and is not expanded much. One person may be given roughly the workload of three to five people. If you privately approach your manager to ask for some work to be redistributed, you will be considered incompetent and picky about your work. Pay raises are small (or rather, they also depend on whether the department manager is willing to approve one). If you feel that you want to gain experience and be tested in society, this position is a decent choice.

9. The year-end bonus is paid in three installments.

Therefore, do not think about holding on until you receive the full year-end bonus before leaving. Perhaps the people in charge at headquarters discovered that turnover was high, so the year-end bonus was split into three payments distributed at the year-end banquet, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival. A genuine three-festival bonus does not exist. If you want to leave, just leave; holding on until you receive the year-end bonus is meaningless.

P.S. The company will congratulate employees on their birthdays and issue birthday cash gifts one month late. Of course, if you resign, they will automatically not issue them.

10. There are even more drawbacks, but I will not elaborate further. Job seekers who consider themselves resilient and talented are welcome to take over the vacancy I left behind (because every new hire they found escaped within a month). Wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year!