Workplace reviews and discussion: 拜達生化科技股份有限公司

None

The location is in a remote area of Shulin. This is an experience-sharing account from a former employee. It is lengthy, so read it in full before deciding whether to interview and work there. This is very important—I sincerely mean it.

Baida Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd., also known as Huiyu Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Both have the same person in charge—the same owner. They are the same company!

1. The e-commerce department was established less than a month ago and has no structure at all, meaning you would be starting from scratch. The work differs from previous e-commerce positions I have held, as this company focuses mainly on its official website. The owner is not interested in other platforms and considers them to have little benefit. Work responsibilities are unclear, and the operating model is not really e-commerce-oriented. You apply for e-commerce operations, yet they also expect you to know graphic design, even though there are already two graphic designers!

2. They only ever say that the company has been operating for 22 years, but the company has no systems whatsoever, no work SOPs, no HR department, and no formal supervisors. The entire company has only two operators, the longest-serving of whom has worked there for just over two years. The e-commerce department has three people, including me, and all of us were new hires who started in March at the same time. Everything is decided by the owner. The training is militarized: one order, one action. Everything has to meet his expectations, and you have to listen to him. There is little room to perform, leaving you tied hand and foot. If he is unhappy, he tells you to leave. Who knows how many previous new hires were driven away!

By the way, the e-commerce supervisor is a foreign national who also started in March at the same time as us. She only knows graphic design, yet the owner promoted her to supervisor. The logic is extremely puzzling.

3. There are meetings every day—possibly two or three times a day, not necessarily! At 8:30 a.m., as soon as work starts, there is immediately a meeting. The meetings do not focus on key points; they consist mostly of chatting and pointless talk, listening to him recount his past achievements and how capable and powerful he is, as well as his ideas. He is also extremely arrogant and self-important, teaching everyone as though they were students. Meetings always delay the day's work progress. If you respond during a meeting, you may sometimes be scolded. Everything is decided by him, leaving everyone… When the owner asks for opinions, hardly anyone dares to speak. He even says not to be afraid of being scolded and to speak freely, but his way of speaking is always intended to overpower you or comes across as very sarcastic.

4. The owner often loses his temper, scolds, and lectures people, and has poor emotional control. If you have a strong heart and high stress tolerance, you can take on the challenge. He scolds people over small matters, and sometimes you are inexplicably lectured. Even when chatting with the owner, you may see employees being scolded for no reason. It is difficult to know how to handle him. During meetings, the owner also makes personal attacks in front of everyone, behaves aggressively, and uses insulting language, treating employees like slaves. Every employee has been scolded, including newcomers who have just arrived. He is not even courteous when berating vendors or PMs from e-commerce platforms. He has offended quite a few people because he considers many things beneath him or believes that, as a manufacturer, he is the most capable.

5. He loves comparing employees' work abilities in front of everyone. Even capable people are described as incompetent and criticized. He also loves talking about former employees who resigned, criticizing and nagging about them. He is highly prone to favoritism, and the owner's logic for judging people is extremely peculiar.

6. The owner does not want to spend more money hiring people. NT$30,000 or less is the salary threshold. People with ability and experience may have their salaries unreasonably cut. The salary figures posted on recruitment platforms should be taken with a grain of salt—they are fake, because he does not want to pay more. They are just window dressing; he only wants to pay low wages to have people work for him. The salary offered during the interview may be mutually agreed upon, but afterward he may change his mind and look for a pretext to make you leave or reduce your salary. The reasons given are often utterly absurd, with many unreasonable demands. Once he has used you, he lets you go and simply hires someone new.

This same approach has probably driven many people away. Turnover is extremely high, and it is impossible to know how many people resigned within a very short time—possibly after only one or two days. But according to the owner, they all left for career planning reasons or other excuses he uses to save face. Many people also cannot communicate with him. His personality is basically unacceptable to anyone, and it is extremely difficult to get along with him—unless you enjoy being mistreated.

7. On my first day of work, I was not enrolled in labor and health insurance, employment insurance, or the 6% labor pension contribution. Even after working for a month, I still was not insured, because he wanted to save money. This is already illegal. He drives people to resign and then does not pay severance, so he does not need to insure them. This has apparently been his method for years, assuming no one would report him and exploiting loopholes in the law. Even long-term employees are not insured, and no alternative subsidy is provided, meaning employees must insure themselves through an occupational union. He is a typical exploitative, old-fashioned boss.

8. Every day after work, you smell of cigarette smoke from head to toe because the owner smokes inside the office. Even when the door is closed, the entire open office area smells of smoke. Just one meeting a day can expose you to the smell of two or three cigarettes at close range, if not more. Sometimes the space where he talks with vendors is filled with thick smoke. He does not care about employees' health. Employees cannot tolerate the smell but have to silently endure it. Saying something is useless; you continue to inhale secondhand smoke.

9. When discussing matters or holding meetings, the owner may sometimes speak very quickly. If you cannot take notes quickly enough or want to confirm something again, he will scold you, claiming that he has already said it a second or third time, even though he in fact said it only once. Sometimes he insists that he said something he clearly never said, accusing you of not listening carefully. Everything is decided by him. In short, you are constantly on edge at work.

10. Even files and data on employees' computer desktops cannot be left anywhere; they must be organized, because he says he will inspect them. He also controls how files sent to him are named. He even wants to control what employees do after work. Is this workplace being treated like a school? It is ridiculous.

11. There are no benefits of any kind, and there is no overtime pay because it is a responsibility-based system. In the future, they may start livestreaming until very late. There do not appear to be bonuses for the three major holidays or year-end bonuses. However, he said that if the e-commerce business takes off, performance commissions may be available: only after sales exceed one million can you receive 5% (take that with a grain of salt).

12. The salary is calculated arbitrarily. They deliberately include a NT$2,000 perfect-attendance allowance in the agreed monthly salary under some pretext, despite not mentioning this during the interview. They like to play number games and exploit legal loopholes! They are extremely stingy. When transferring your salary, they will also deduct a NT$15 handling fee from your account! This was the first time I had ever encountered that.

After reading all of the above, if you still want to join, all I can say is: fend for yourself. This is an irregular small company with no systems, run by an exploitative, old-fashioned boss who exploits many loopholes. The employees get along reasonably well, but it is only after joining and working there for a very short time that you discover so many dark sides and the boss's exploitative practices, which will leave you shaking your head. Although the owner is technically the most powerful person, here you have to treat him like a king. Employees have very little dignity, making working here mentally and physically unpleasant. Capable people are not valued here and are instead trampled on. It is a complete waste of time, with no development or future at all. Why bother? For this salary, any other company would be 100 times better. Do not abuse yourself. This experience truly opened my eyes and left a deep impression. There are no advantages whatsoever, only a pile of drawbacks. Do not expect a company that lacks generosity to offer much of a future.