Workplace reviews and discussion: 渥得室內裝修有限公司

If you’re good enough at appeasing the boss and were born the right gender, you won’t have to spend your own money on lunch every day.

Unlimited honey snacks.

The office is very spacious and fully equipped.

The restroom is very comfortable; you feel great when you’re taking a dump.

1. There are no payslips, and wages are paid in cash. You’ll also be asked to sign documents stating that your base salary is 24,000.

They underreport high salaries to evade taxes, and there is no proof of salary whatsoever.

2. There is no overtime pay and no compensatory leave. Bonuses are given at the boss’s whim, but being late is not allowed.

If you leave too early, you’ll even be asked: “Why has everyone been leaving right at 6 lately?”

They don’t pursue efficiency or results; instead, they want everyone to “look busy.”

When paying salaries or bonuses, they often open with “the company has high operating costs.”

They may even renege on terms that were agreed upon and written on 104.

Bonuses are often pitifully small and delayed for a long time, yet the boss thinks he is very generous, while casually spending millions on cars and renovations.

3. The company has no systems whatsoever and no regular paper records.

This leads to a pile of problems: if you ask whether unused annual leave can be exchanged for money, you’ll be told that you’re being petty. Because they’re afraid of being targeted, many employees simply pretend that annual leave does not exist.

Since there are no payslips or leave forms, employees usually keep track of their leave days in their heads. Basically, no one knows how many annual-leave days they have left; they just estimate so they don’t lose out too badly.

If you want to take leave, you can only keep pretending to be sick, because the company does not deduct pay for leave. If you don’t actually have something going on, the boss will feel resentful and keep picking on you afterward.

4. The company has no relevant performance or evaluation standards; everything depends entirely on the boss’s mood.

Today, your hard work may still be worth less than someone who makes the boss happy.

Or you may work hard but be singled out because of a rumor spread by someone favored by the boss (a modern workplace palace drama?).

Or your performance may be excellent, but the boss may end up disliking you over one small thing and then badmouthing you throughout the industry.

5. The company has several employees who have managed to do quite well, and many other employees are always cleaning up after them.

I wondered for a long time why the boss never seemed to see how incompetent they were.

Then, one time, the boss said in a meeting that company cohesion was more important than anything else. That was when I realized that being willing to agree with him is more important than ability—or that you just need to be sufficiently deferential and obedient.

6. The boss’s decisions and management are problematic. He often starts developing something, then halfway through decides to change direction, so nothing ever stays on track.

Once, because he wanted employees to arrive on time, he decided to hold a morning meeting every day. After showing up to lead it three times, he stopped attending, and the managers followed his example. Some would even walk out to buy breakfast, leaving only a few unrelated people in the meeting. In the end, everyone wasted time every morning putting on a show for the boss. (If the meeting ends too early, the boss checks the cameras and asks: “Why did it end so early?”)

7. The boss claims it is a technology company, but there isn’t a single engineer.

He hires a bunch of designers but looks down on designers from the bottom of his heart.

He thinks he has a grand vision and will stand behind designers telling them what to draw, despite never having studied design himself.

The boss is often looked down on because he is too young, but deep down he is extremely traditional and looks down on the company’s younger colleagues.

Employee turnover is extremely high. The goal the boss set for the company is an absurdly high number, but he has provided absolutely no explanation of how that number was determined.

8. The company offers various “benefits,” such as snacks and drinks in the snack cabinet, occasionally paying out of his own pocket to treat everyone, and meager bonuses.

Because of these benefits, the boss believes employees should count their blessings and willingly accept the company’s other shortcomings—or, rather, he thinks that providing these things means he does not need to improve the benefits employees actually care about.

For example: complying with basic labor laws (the company was once inspected by the labor authorities, after which employees were asked to sign some strange documents).

I once heard him say: “Even if I score 100 points, there will still be people who think it isn’t good enough!”

The company does not hold year-end banquets. Every time, they say, “Sure, which restaurant do you want to eat at? We’ll book it.” When you actually try to make a booking, they say, “It’s okay, I’ll book it,” and then nothing happens. Yet he remembers every amount of money he has spent on himself perfectly clearly.

9. After an employee submits a resignation, the boss will tamper with their computer, open their private email, ask about job searches and other private matters, and then find fault with them.

He has absolutely no trust in employees and thinks they will steal company property or ideas.

He also likes to use the surveillance cameras to watch what employees are doing.

10. The boss loves taking on projects for terrible clients and is extremely proud of it, keeping these bad clients around.

He says, “At least we get paid” (?), which makes you wonder whether there are many clients who do not pay at all.

Then he only ever remembers the parts you failed to accomplish and never cares about the problems you encountered along the way.

11. The clients served by the company are pitiful.

Some employees have little ability but are very good at flattering the boss, so problems pile up as the work progresses. Yet during internal meetings, the boss and senior management unanimously conclude that they were simply unlucky enough to encounter a bad client.

The company’s solution is for everyone to go pray at a temple to change their luck, rather than examine why the client reacted that way.

12. Oh, and the boss really likes to approach female colleagues through inappropriate physical contact.

I have seen him press directly against someone, touch women’s heads, or put his arm around their shoulders. Perhaps that is just his way of being friendly. Strangely, he never does this to men.

13. “沃得室內裝修有限公司” and “樂居空間選材” are basically owned by the same boss.

Around 20 employees left within one year after the pandemic began.

After reading this far, you may think the boss is an old-fashioned, awful old man.

Quite the opposite: he is in his thirties. When you first meet him and chat, he will make you feel that he is young and innovative (false), and the office is extremely large and beautiful (thanks to the colleagues’ hard work).

So I feel responsible for telling everyone: please protect yourself. Your abilities deserve a better place.

But if you don’t have much ability, are good at flaunting your feminine features, and happen to love honey, please do apply here ^_^