Workplace reviews and discussion: 禾寶醫療器材股份有限公司

The bathrooms and office are clean and attractive.

Colleagues help one another heat up lunch boxes at noon.

If you find colleagues who share your interests, the work can be fairly enjoyable.

－Many of the problems typical of traditional businesses still exist. Since the company is run by the second or third generation, compared with professional managers, they have less understanding of business operations and management. They inherited the business rather than starting from scratch, so it is understandable that they may carry themselves with the airs and concern for face of a big boss and his wife. The owner’s family all use luxury cars for transportation. In principle, whatever the boss says goes. Communication is extremely difficult, and it is hard to persuade or discuss anything. Moreover, regardless of the department, you can feel that those in power have an extremely strong desire for control, so unprofessional decisions are often made, leaving department heads and colleagues feeling that their expertise is not respected. Result: Neither senior nor new employees can be retained. A large number of people have left in the past two years—10 to 20 within six months, without exaggeration. This is supposedly a 40-year-old company, yet there are fewer than five senior employees who have stayed, excluding the owner, the owner’s wife, the owner’s children, and directors. None has been there for more than eight years. You can judge for yourselves what causes the company’s inability to retain people; the high turnover rate has its reasons.

－Those in higher positions hold excessive power, causing many senior managers to be unable to make decisions themselves. They have few conditions they can negotiate for frontline or lower-level employees, and spend every day walking on eggshells simply to please the boss and his wife. This has resulted in managers being unable to develop their own positions or ideas.

－The sales department has long overtime hours. Reports are prepared every week, and meetings focus only on presenting numerical reports. Everyone says flattering things in front of the boss. There are far too many meaningless meetings, and communication is often inefficient.

－Some departments have few promotion opportunities (apart from sales, perhaps?). Some people remain assistants even after three years. Seeking a promotion is useless, yet they are expected to take on the responsibilities required of an assistant, while their salaries do not increase.

－Because the pandemic has eased, the company’s business has declined significantly. As a result, gifts are now given for the three major holidays instead of bonuses. The year-end bonus was cut in half. Last year, the company even deliberately imitated “a certain semiconductor company that protects the country” by paying the year-end bonus in two installments (renaming them the year-end and mid-year bonuses). Starting this year, the year-end bonus has clearly shrunk. If you are considering entering this industry, I suggest assessing the industry’s trends and market momentum; otherwise, your income and job security will sooner or later be at risk.

－The products are more expensive than those of many competitors on the market, making them less competitive in Taiwan.

－The company needs sales performance but is unwilling to invest budget in marketing or promotion, leaving the sales team in a miserable state.

－Sales bonuses are paid inconsistently, creating a situation in which even highly successful salespeople cannot stay.

－Senior management lacks professional expertise but still interferes in the company’s internal affairs and sales, forcing the sales, marketing, human resources, information technology, finance and accounting, audit, general affairs, and other departments—nearly every department—to spend ten times the effort preparing reports to persuade senior management and explain things to them.

－The packaging design can never be finalized. Time is spent revising the packaging all day, without consistent standards, leaving nearly every department exhausted, including sales, design, and the warehouse.

－The company’s personnel management system is chaotic and lacks structure. There are many loopholes and unreasonable aspects in the personnel evaluation criteria, flexible work-hour policy, benefits system, overtime system, and so on. (It is impossible to elaborate here; if you do not believe it, you can join the company and experience it for yourself.)

In addition, I have seen that another company on this platform filed a lawsuit against an anonymous poster. I would simply like to say that if you do not want people to know, do not do it. If someone makes many similar accusations, the company should improve and develop in a positive direction rather than resorting to legal action on a large scale. Doing so only makes it look as though there is something to hide. The above sharing is indeed based on my personal experience and is absolutely not defamatory.

I also recall seeing other colleagues share their impressions of the company on this platform, only for their posts to mysteriously disappear. I am not sure what caused this, and I hope it was not the company having them taken down through the platform administrators. How can we help improve Taiwan’s workplace environment this way? I urge the company to engage in more self-reflection and continuous improvement so that it does not run counter to the current promotion of ESG.