Workplace reviews and discussion: 神達電腦股份有限公司

Pros:

1. Dinner is free (regardless of whether you work overtime).

2. Flexible start and end times (07:30–09:30).

3. Leave and overtime are calculated by the minute—that is, minute by minute—so there are no situations where being five minutes late requires taking half an hour of leave.

4. Overtime is paid, and you can continue reporting overtime beyond the 46-hour limit under the Labor Standards Act.

Cons:

1. “The HR department’s capabilities need improvement.” I don’t know whether a relatively high turnover rate has caused handover problems, but many company policies regarding leave and types of leave are inconsistent, and the HR staff themselves are unclear about them. Other relevant regulations are also confusing.

2. “The X-shu sales team is a mess.” They don’t understand the capabilities and staffing of the R&D units, so they take on strange projects and then compress the R&D schedule to deliver products to customers. When the resulting products have problems, the two senior executives mentioned above start looking for someone to take the blame. I’m not exaggerating—I once saw a new colleague inherit the mess left by a predecessor and get blamed before even finishing their probationary period... Quite a few R&D employees have been blamed for no apparent reason.

3. “There is no 14-month guarantee for the full year.” The bonuses here at X-shu are divided into two payments: year-end bonus + mid-year profit sharing.

The year-end bonus is approximately 2±1 months’ salary, and the mid-year bonus is approximately 0.5±0.5 months’ salary. Therefore:

Those in favor may receive 15–16 months’ salary in total.

Average performers receive approximately 14±0.5 months.

Those out of favor receive approximately 13±0.5 months.

In my more than five years here, I have seen people who made serious mistakes and were so out of favor that their total compensation for the year was less than 13 months’ salary.

I have never made a serious mistake, and my performance has been decent; my annual total has been around 14.2 months.

To be honest, the annual package is much worse than at “Brother Wu.” If the workload is the same, you might as well go to Brother Wu.

3. “Annual raises are approximately 1%–6%.” This refers to the annual salary adjustment.

A very small number of favored employees receive 6%; those who perform somewhat well receive around 5%.

Most people fall between 2% and 4%.

There is no need to explain 1%—those are the employees out of favor. I’ve heard that some particularly disfavored employees received no raise at all.

Given the low base salaries here, seeing a 2%–4% raise will definitely not make you smile.

4. “Future prospects.” Overall, the company does not make much money and relies mainly on non-operating income from the investment holding company. Only X Cloud’s performance is fairly good. I will refrain from commenting on the automotive unit, because Hon X and Guang X have successively been reported to be working on OEM automotive projects (in-vehicle systems). The functions and technology of OEM automotive products are becoming increasingly mature and advanced, while the pie available in the aftermarket is getting smaller and smaller, which raises concerns about future prospects.

5. “The two senior executives.” The two senior executives under the Global R&D Center are the two people whom everyone finds most incomprehensible. Leaving aside the fact that they draw high salaries, they spend all day touring the offices and laboratories, preaching grand philosophies about life to everyone, and offering a stream of suggestions and methods for doing things. Whether the results are good or bad has nothing to do with them because they do not have to take responsibility. So who takes the blame? Department- or division-level managers, or the R&D staff themselves, can carry the blame. In the five years I have been here, three managers and two senior managers have left.

6. “The culture surrounding senior executives.” This is difficult to describe clearly because each manager cares about different things. If I had to put it bluntly, you have to know how to act—and perform convincingly and completely. You also need to keep your eyes open.

7. “A culture of questioning.” When problems arise or cross-departmental communication is needed, people should quickly ask experienced colleagues for help and brainstorm solutions together. But that is not how things work here; instead, they question you first, then question you again. “Why did you do it this way?” “Are you sure?” “Where did you get that from?” These are some of the phrases I hear most often.

8. “Teamwork is not harmonious enough.” Here, teamwork refers to cooperation between departments. When a difficult project comes up, nobody wants to be the scapegoat who gets chewed out by the senior executives. At times like these, each unit truly relies on its own abilities; everyone brings out all their skills, whether verbal or practical, because once you are blamed, you may never be able to recover your reputation here.

Summary: It is certain that there are more disadvantages than advantages here. There are many long-term employees, low pay, stingy bosses, a need to put on an act, a need to have thick skin, and an even greater need for good luck. If you can accept all of the above, this is still an okay company. Even so, I am grateful, because those experiences taught me a great deal. During my time here, I have seen far too many people who were willing to work leave, honest people leave, and people who saw through the company culture as soon as they joined leave as well. Those who remain are people who are good at playing along and have decent communication skills, and only after leaving do you realize that your market value outside is actually much higher.