Workplace reviews and discussion: 儷寶化粧品有限公司

1. Located in Taichung’s most expensive office building

2. Clean work environment

1. Heavy workload and extremely high turnover

This is a family-owned company that manufactures cosmetic packaging materials.

The workload is so heavy that employees occasionally hide in the restroom to cry, and turnover is extremely high. In 2021 alone, 45 people left (the average number of employees at our headquarters is 35).

Senior management is very impatient and expects everything to be produced immediately. Some account managers who show little respect for others also often assign work to R&D design just before or after the end of the workday, demanding that drawings be delivered to them that same day. They completely treat designers like magicians.

2. Regular overtime without overtime pay

The company’s working hours are 9:00–18:00, and overtime is unpaid. The company may even ask employees to “clock out first, then continue working” after six o’clock.

Basically, the company judges whether you are working seriously and whether you are passionate about the job based on whether you work overtime. If you leave before seven, senior management will think you have it too easy, lack goals, and are not proactive.

What they do not realize is that everyone’s goal is to work seriously with 150% focus every day and pray to leave on time. Some people are truly exhausted, yet they are regarded as being able to leave “on time” only because they have too little work, simply because they leave at 6:30.

3. Strict punishment system, vague reward system

If an employee violates any provision of the employee handbook or is dismissed, their full name will be posted on the bulletin board, or they will be made to write a self-reflection report like a student. (Even if you forget to clock in or out twice and want to correct the records, you must first receive a demerit before you are allowed to do so.)

In short, almost every week someone is posted on the bulletin board for receiving a demerit. Everyone knows what will result in a demerit, but no one is clear about what can earn a commendation. For certain positions, receiving a demerit and writing a self-reflection report is as easy as getting handed a flyer on the street.

4. Office atmosphere

Although the company is located in Taichung’s most expensive office building and has an excellent work environment, the atmosphere in the office is extremely oppressive and tense.

In this high-pressure environment, many people become emotional, selfish, impatient, irritable, and anxious. Since actual power is concentrated in the hands of senior management—the family members who own the business—managers without real authority are also afraid of taking responsibility. As a result, employees who encounter unfair situations often find themselves isolated and helpless. (Basically, do not expect your manager to help you. Your manager may curse the company constantly in private, but at critical moments they definitely will not protect you.)

“Who got a demerit today?” “Who was just called in for an interview?” “The vice president isn’t here today; we can finally relax.” Everyone works every day in a highly unsettling environment.

Even something as minor as someone forgetting to turn off the lights in the conference room will be singled out and criticized.

In early 2022, the company even caused widespread panic by suddenly laying off two senior employees just before the Lunar New Year.

5. Year-end bonus dispute

Because the company paid only NT$3,000 in year-end bonuses at the beginning of 2021, many employees left. Therefore, in June 2021, the company gathered everyone together and promised that in 2021, “anyone who meets the performance requirements and has worked for six full months will receive a year-end bonus.”

However, because I was going to resign after the Lunar New Year, the company refused to pay me the year-end bonus. Meanwhile, the company’s factory in Changhua was also full of complaints because it had not paid year-end bonuses for two consecutive years.

6. Hierarchical culture

The company has a strange hierarchical culture. I recommend that job seekers check the salary structures for different positions on 104 Job Bank before submitting their résumés. For example, the starting salary for an administrative assistant is actually NT$7,000 higher than that for R&D design.

This alone shows that certain positions are not valued at all by the company. Moreover, account managers basically have free rein, so R&D staff should be prepared to be treated as graphic designers by the company.

In short, this is an authoritarian company that has systems in name only. It introduces a pile of employee rules, reward-and-punishment systems, and performance evaluations to imitate the style of a large corporation, but lacks the magnanimity a large corporation should have. Even if you receive a huge number of demerits, the company will still promote you if it wants to; conversely, someone who has never been disciplined may continue to remain stuck in the same position.

Finally, whether it is a Google review or an interviewer, if they tell you that “the company is already changing,” please do not believe them.