Let me offer a contrarian perspective. I’m currently approaching my fifth year working at the association. I happened to miss the period discussed in the earlier posts and was not involved, so I can’t comment on that. I’ll just share my personal observations about the current situation and the areas that have improved, in an attempt to reassure some of the people who were frightened by the previous wave of comments.

1. The department I work in handles a very large amount of information, so we have established training and education procedures for both full-time employees and interns, and we regularly adjust them to help newcomers get up to speed as smoothly as possible. Other departments also have SOPs.

2. There are two managers with different perspectives within the department, allowing us to see different aspects, adjust management policies more flexibly, and effectively resolve problems that colleagues encounter at work. Although we are part of management, we are also, so to speak, frontline staff, so our decisions are less likely to be off the mark. We know that every bit of effort is precious, and we don’t like pointless busywork.

3. Work assignments are planned for both full-time employees and interns. Apart from necessary routine tasks, we try to leave room for everyone to develop according to their strengths. We discuss matters and make flexible adjustments during fixed weekly department meetings. Each quarter, we also arrange one-on-one meetings to check in on one another’s situation, while direct supervisors keep track of everyone’s work status.

4. Relations with other departments are currently good. There aren’t many conflicts or problems of people pushing responsibility onto one another. We work hard to build and repair bridges, and continue extending those bridges to the outside world.

5. Basically, the issues mentioned previously—such as labor and health insurance and how overtime is calculated—are no longer problems. We use an online clock-in system, so all applicable overtime is counted. In addition, you can work from home for four days each month. As long as your work arrangements do not affect others, taking leave is quite easy.

6. Work enthusiasm is evaluated only through job performance. People are not assessed based on emotional impressions, such as leaving work on time or not responding to messages after work. Personally, I often encourage everyone to leave work on time and rest properly during their days off.

7. If you want to devote yourself to animal protection work, this work environment allows you to participate very directly and encounter all kinds of good and bad aspects. Even if your direction differs from that of the association, we are happy for you to find a path you can follow here. After all, there are countless ways to help animals, and they are all worthwhile.

8. Because the organization is small, there is room for autonomy and flexibility, including when communicating upward with the CEO, directors, and supervisors. At present, there are no situations that are completely impossible to communicate about. Based on my years of personal experience here, many things need to be initiated by yourself. Of course, you may encounter rejection or situations requiring mutual compromise—it depends on how you coordinate.

9. Quite a few people have mentioned the cleaning issue XD. We now have a regular cleaner who helps maintain the cleanliness of the environment (after all, everyone is too busy with work). Staff are still assigned to take turns on duty each week to take out the trash and do some basic cleaning as part of routine maintenance. Since offices outside the main county/city have fewer people and fewer opportunities to house animals, full-time employees are still assigned to clean them.

10. Finally, let me talk about my own work experience. When a job is not motivated by money, you need to find your own personal connection to it. Many people actually can’t find one, so please don’t come here just because you like animals.

I’ve listed ten advantages, so to be fair, I should also present ten disadvantages. Some of these may not truly be disadvantages, may be things that can be improved, or may simply not be disadvantages to you.

1. This job depends heavily on your personality traits. Even with more training and communication, after doing it for a while you still have to face your authentic self. You often need to challenge yourself. The growth is valuable, but it can be uncomfortable.

2. You need to deal with negative comments, emotions, and strange people from outside the organization. Compared with internal arguments, these are truly child’s play; it’s the people outside who are hard to withstand, such as members of the public, pet owners, government authorities, or online commenters. Negative psychological effects can easily accumulate, though this varies from person to person. Recently, counseling subsidies have become available.

3. The work really is miscellaneous and plentiful, and staffing can never seem to catch up. Add all kinds of unexpected incidents, and this is not a place to come for an easy retirement. There is no solution.

4. Staff turnover is high. Often, people leave before I’ve even spoken with them or memorized their names (which may be my problem XD). There is no solution.

5. Physical exhaustion. My position often requires me to travel around outside, all over Taiwan. Most reported cases involving animals occur outdoors, so you’ll be exposed to intense sun and rain, with temperatures alternating between hot and cold. You need to be in reasonably good physical shape.

6. You need to know how to drive and park. I originally didn’t think this was worth listing, but later realized it was a major barrier.

7. Your heart and mind will constantly be filled to capacity. When I was still a rookie, I thought it would be enough to punish evil and uphold justice. In reality, we face an enormous number of voices—good, bad, and ambiguous. If you aren’t objective enough to listen and observe more in order to understand, it is difficult to find the root of a problem. New things keep being poured into you.

8. Many people and situations will inexplicably challenge your emotions. For example, you might travel abroad using your own money and then be questioned about whether you misappropriated public funds (every cent spent by a nonprofit organization with a fundraising registration number must be clearly accounted for), or be asked whether mosquitoes should be protected.

9. You will encounter all kinds of colleagues. Objectively speaking, when recruiting talent is difficult, you will meet all sorts of coworkers—for example, an antisocial loner like me who dislikes team activities. This also really tests your self-discipline and your ability not to let yourself be affected.

10. You need to bear part of the burden of the organization’s historical baggage. Animal-protection concepts, knowledge, and the organization as a whole will change, and there are also many inside stories that cannot be explained publicly. You will often be tested on or criticized for things from the past—for example, even now it is easy to get booed and be asked to explain comments you made six or seven years ago.