Workplace reviews and discussion: 南一書局企業股份有限公司(總公司)

My personal work experience at this company was several years ago. I figured I probably wouldn’t run into anyone there anymore, so I felt comfortable writing this review.

As for the advantages, the company is willing to take on inexperienced newcomers. As long as you are willing to learn and adapt to the environment, I think you should be able to get by. At the time, the environment at the northern headquarters was somewhat poor. There was a moldy smell in the office, and the sanitary conditions seemed problematic. I don’t know whether there simply wasn’t enough money to maintain the environment. However, because my work at the time involved field assignments, the poor company environment did not affect me for very long. Regarding building relationships with school clients, there also seemed to be a certain level of existing contact, and new employees were not expected to work entirely on their own from the beginning.

As for the disadvantages, the atmosphere at the company was very oppressive. During meetings, supervisors would ask us employees to share our opinions, but I observed that the employees did not say a single word. It goes without saying that employees had their own difficulties that prevented them from speaking up. The company culture also seemed to have some problems. Senior employees told us that the junior boss had returned from studying in the United States, so I misjudged the situation and assumed the company would have an American-style culture—such as a flat organizational structure, being able to address supervisors by their English first names, and speaking frankly. However, I was wrong. The company culture was still primarily based on traditional Chinese values of hierarchy and respect for seniority. In addition, the turnover rate was high; every few days, you could hear that someone was going to change jobs and resign.

The most important point is that the company would fire employees even when they had not made any serious mistakes. For those who are interested in experiencing this kind of excitement, I recommend following the approach of the employees mentioned above: silence is golden—do not stand out, in order to ensure job security.