Workplace reviews and discussion: 中化銀髮事業股份有限公司

The benefits are good because the parent company is China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. You can receive year-end and mid-year bonuses, while the other two holidays come with gift vouchers. There is also a birthday gift. The parent company also provides free flu vaccinations and comprehensive internal training courses.

The reason is that China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Senior Care is just a small subsidiary under China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., so apart from the company benefits, all other policies and regulations are handled separately.

The company has been operating at a loss for several consecutive years and has relied on borrowing money from the parent pharmaceutical company to operate. After losing money for so many years, it is even looked down upon by other subsidiaries. Nevertheless, Senior Care still takes pride in itself, believing that it has a strong reputation and prestige in the long-term care sector. (Isn’t that just thanks to the halo of China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.?)

Although the company is clearly very small, it still has a general manager and a deputy general manager running it. Apart from being two-faced and fond of making grand promises, they treat employees as pawns in their game.

Because the company has continually expanded its retail locations and opened a day-care center, which was scheduled to begin operations in July 2022, it has been burning through rent and utility costs because it failed to pass regulatory requirements and has been unable to open. It then began making things difficult for all employees, trying to cut every possible expense and save on labor costs. One person is expected to do the work of several people. Even if you test positive, you are not allowed to work from home and are pressured to take sick leave so the company does not have to pay your salary. The internal regulations are a complete mess, and usually whatever the upper management says goes. Double standards are common.

The male general manager is an old-timer who has become accustomed to acting like a big shot in the long-term care industry. Besides being prideful, he likes to overreach and pretend to be more capable than he is, constantly demanding that frontline staff do things that cannot be carried out. The female deputy general manager has a public-relations background. She is smooth-talking and lies without batting an eye, and is two-faced. If something does not suit her, she will do everything she can to make trouble for you, because what she needs are obedient puppets. She believes that employees with their own ideas and opinions are beyond her control. My colleagues and I were forced out together because we had too many ideas of our own.

The company can only operate according to the ideas of these two people, which is why it is still losing money and constantly burning through cash, while owing China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. a huge debt. The money was borrowed by the general manager and deputy general manager, and then they try to save money on everything at the employees’ expense. Employees are expected to figure out how to earn the money back. If you do not make money or meet your targets, there is a penalty deduction system that cuts your salary. It is absolutely terrible!

It is also a company that likes breaking the law. The day-care center repeatedly failed to pass building-code inspections and had no operating license for its elevator, yet they secretly sealed off the elevator with plywood walls first. After the inspection authorities finished checking, they secretly removed the plywood and continued using the elevator. They completely disregard the safety of the elderly people in the day-care center and have no regard for human life. When I questioned the company about it, the deputy general manager even shamelessly said, “Many day-care centers evade the regulations this way. It’s no big deal!” I was truly speechless. What hypocrites—they can ignore other regulations if they want, but whatever China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Senior Care thinks is acceptable is acceptable!

The bureaucratic system is also extremely severe. You have to treat the general manager, deputy general manager, and supervisors like gods, constantly curry favor with them and praise them. You cannot take an overly innovative approach to anything. It is even more bureaucratic than a government agency. Government employees can at least slack off; here, not only are you not allowed to slack off, but overtime is the norm and there is no overtime pay. If you leave exactly on time, they think you are not serious enough or not devoted enough to the company. What is laughable is that the general manager and deputy general manager both love leaving work early. Apart from attending meetings and dining with vendors, they spend their working hours enjoying the vanity of being admired by others. In the office, they browse the internet, chat on the phone, make tea, and even clip their nails… They have it pretty easy, huh (?)

The employees below are working themselves to the bone and constantly working overtime, while management considers it only natural. The company especially loves putting on flashy events. You cannot tell whether it is a long-term care company or a PR company. It can hold four or five large-scale events a year, and everyone has to pitch in. These events have absolutely no effect and are just money-burning exercises.

Home-care staff are also often fined for failing to do their jobs well. Many home-care workers refuse to stay and switch jobs because the company is unwilling to offer high salaries. There are too many better-paying home-care companies to choose from, so why choose China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Senior Care? As a result, amid the severe labor shortage, the number of cases has decreased and the company’s revenue has plummeted. Combined with its constant borrowing from the pharmaceutical company, this is an unprofitable, debt-ridden company, yet the supervisors are still proud of it and completely unaware of the situation.

All I can say is: Run for your life, RRR~ Stay as far away from this company as possible!