Workplace reviews and discussion: 生洋網路股份有限公司

Leaving work on time, many company activities, channels for communicating with the company, and free drinks.

Because the previous article contained some emotional language, I was asked to modify its content.

Therefore, this is the revised version, in which I will describe my experiences in even greater detail.

The following is solely my personal experience and does not mean that everyone will go through the same things. I still hope that those brave enough to take on the challenge can do so and gain experience of their own.

The following describes my experience in the company’s e-commerce department; it has absolutely nothing to do with any other department.

1. The part I still remember from the interview stage is that the supervisor said that if we worked overtime, the company would provide neither overtime pay nor compensatory leave. The reason was that overtime might be caused by the employee’s own lack of ability, and giving that employee overtime pay or compensatory leave would be unfair to employees who left work on time.

2. After joining the company, the computer equipment initially provided was extremely poor, greatly reducing work efficiency. When I reported this to the supervisor, the supervisor did not mention reporting the equipment issue to the company on our behalf, but instead directly suggested that we purchase new equipment ourselves.

The supervisor would also come by every few days and tell everyone that our work efficiency was too low, repeatedly bringing up the idea that we should buy new equipment ourselves.

Later, seeing that we had still not bought any, the supervisor said that they were willing to subsidize our purchase of new equipment, providing a small monthly subsidy until the full cost of our computer equipment had been covered.

(The subsidy came from the department bonus, not from the supervisor personally, and would ultimately be included in our individual income.)

We were also partly at fault here, because we bought computers that were too high-end. Under the supervisor’s proposal, it would have taken more than three years to fully subsidize the cost of the computers.

All of this happened within our first month at the company. It was only after a month that we learned there was a channel for communicating with the company’s management department, so we asked about the equipment issue.

Only then did we learn that the company itself could inspect and even replace our equipment. However, because it had received no reports from the e-commerce department, it had always assumed there was no problem.

In other words, from the very beginning, the supervisor had never reported the issue to the company and had instead continually told everyone to buy new equipment.

3. After we reported the matter to the company, it offered a solution and also provided us with a small subsidy, which could be applied for annually. The condition was that the company would not provide equipment for us.

I thought this was reasonable and let the matter go.

Several months later, after the department supervisor learned about this, they repeatedly hinted during meetings that they wanted to know the amount of our subsidies and demanded that we be honest and not use the opportunity to apply for excessive amounts from them. The implication was that we were secretly taking advantage of them financially. They were very unhappy.

(By the time those of us who eventually resigned left the company, the subsidy we had received was not even one-third of the cost of the computer.)

4. A little over a month after I joined, the supervisor asked another colleague and me to search online for relevant design images, send them to the supervisor, and share why we liked those images.

At first, I thought this was a well-intentioned sharing activity, so I was happy to do it. Later, for a period of time, there were many projects every day because of a major e-commerce campaign, so we had no time to search for and share images. The supervisor became furious and thought we did not take the matter seriously.

(Before this, my colleague and I had always been the only ones sharing images, while the supervisor merely criticized aspects of the images we found that they disliked. In fact, I really disliked this activity.)

The supervisor said this was intended to build a shared sense of aesthetics. I therefore suggested that the supervisor also participate in sharing, so that we could better understand the supervisor’s aesthetic preferences and more quickly develop a common understanding. However, the supervisor continually ignored the topic, and eventually nothing came of it.

【As the saying goes, strict with others but lenient with oneself—that must be it.】

5. The company has employee guidelines that clearly describe how bonuses are distributed. Therefore, everyone knew that the subsidies we received each month and the money the supervisor said would be used to treat everyone to meals both came from the department’s allocated bonuses, and that we would ultimately all be asked to sign for them and have them included in our income.

However, in meetings, the supervisor repeatedly emphasized that the bonuses given to us came from the salaries of the supervisor and another supervisor. They hoped everyone would cherish them and be grateful.

(This raised a question for me: if the money came from their salaries, it would already be included in their income. How could it then be given to all of us and included in our income as well? The lie falls apart on its own; everyone can figure it out.)

【As the saying goes, lying without even drafting a script—that seems to be the case.】

6. Not long after I joined, the supervisor began working half-days. Although this did not directly affect me and another colleague in many respects, it greatly increased the workload for the other colleagues. At first, the supervisor would respond to matters in the afternoon, but later would simply read messages without replying—or not read or reply at all.

After everyone reported the matter to the company, the supervisor held individual discussions with department colleagues and hoped to negotiate work arrangements with everyone so that the half-day schedule could be maintained. Because of the nature of our positions, we did not interact with the supervisor much, so the supervisor said that the matters involving us had been handed over to another colleague. When we discussed this with that colleague after the meeting, they said that the work had not been handed over to them at all and that they knew nothing about it.

【As the saying goes, this was a complete display of the golden-toad escape-and-dump technique.】

7. Before I joined the company, the supervisor called me to discuss the salary because the company could not offer the amount I wanted (although the amount I requested was only the lowest figure in the salary range the company had posted on the job board). The supervisor therefore said they would provide me with an additional monthly allowance. At the time, I thought this supervisor was really kind, so I agreed. After I joined, however, the amount I received was half of what had been discussed on the phone, so I raised the issue.

The supervisor then said that the amount discussed originally was exactly this amount and that they had never promised me anything higher.

【As the saying goes, important people have short memories; remember to keep records in the future.】

8. The supervisor really liked talking to people one-on-one and especially liked discussing other colleagues. I will not describe in further detail what the supervisor said about those colleagues. After all, none of it was worth remembering as kind words.

【As the saying goes, the most sinister people in the workplace are those who like to invite you into a meeting room to talk about your “heart.”】

9. After multiple confrontations with no results, there was little I could do. After all, the supervisor had an established position due to their seniority at the company; how could a small fry easily stand up to them? I therefore decided to resign after the Lunar New Year and submitted my resignation in accordance with the notice period required by labor law. I even stayed longer than the required period, but did not stay until the end of the month. The supervisor said they could not let me receive pay for the consecutive holidays and would set my last day as the day before the holiday began—unless I worked until March. I chose to leave the company one week before the holiday. After all, if I only intended to work until February and would not receive holiday pay anyway, why not leave earlier?

After I left, however, the supervisor spoke maliciously about me behind my back—about someone who had resigned in compliance with labor law and the company’s rules. The supervisor said that my leaving too early had made it impossible to find someone to take over the position immediately. But who would not know that this was simply because the supervisor worked only half-days, leaving very little time for interviews and thus making it impossible to find someone to take over in time?

【As the saying goes, everything is someone else’s fault—a perfect example.】

And so on; the list is endless, and there is far more than can be included here.

I do not know whether any brave readers will make it to the end of this article, but I still hope that all you brave adventurers can face this workplace RPG courageously. Remember that this workplace frequently uses PUA magic; max out your skills and face it bravely!

P.S. At this workplace, I was frequently subjected to verbal sexual harassment by the supervisor, which made me extremely uncomfortable. It ranged from comments like, “Your breasts are so big,” followed by a joke, to, “You look really tired today—did you go somewhere with someone last night to get Happy Happy?” The supervisor also loved prying into employees’ personal affairs and would occasionally bring up my private matters in meetings with multiple people. (Oh! The comment about who I went to get “Happy Happy” with last night was made during an interdepartmental meeting!)