Workplace reviews and discussion: 華鵬廣告設計有限公司

Seeing the comments below from my former company was simply unbearable, so I am responding to what appears to be a review planted by the former boss himself. Let me review this company from a genuine “employee’s perspective”:

・The starting salary is higher than that of half of the design companies, and the more skills you have, the more your salary increases.

(The truth: Not every project requires additional skills. If you are not the boss, how would you know that having more skills leads to a pay raise? Besides, many of the senior employees in the office only know graphic design; they do not know or learn 3D or even illustration, and simply piece together stock materials⋯ According to that claim, do they all have low salaries?)

・The company often treats employees to food／group meals, and there is a regular birthday afternoon tea every month.

(The truth: Compared with other companies, the frequency of group meals really is not that high, and the snack cabinet is often empty.)

3. All the employees are very nice, and there is no need to form factions and fight among ourselves.

(The truth: Factional infighting is only an issue in companies with hundreds or thousands of employees and complex divisions of labor. This company has fewer than one hundred employees and a simple workflow, so I feel this is just an attempt to blur the focus. The company culture is that everyone is “forced to accept reality.” Today, you may be lucky enough to leave work early, but the next day you may be given even more work, so you will also reluctantly leave work while watching everyone else continue working overtime. Moreover, certain people receive special treatment and do not have work piled onto them or have to work overtime—it is obvious to anyone with eyes.)

・It is easy to win prize money at the year-end party.

(The truth: There is barely any prize money; the prizes are basically small prizes compared with those at other companies. Employees also have to perform at the year-end party, and if you draw the grand prize, you are additionally responsible for organizing the next year’s year-end party process, hosting it, designing it⋯ You might as well pray that you do not win.)

・All the computers are Macs.

(The truth: The designers all use Macs, but there are old and outdated Macs—everyone should understand what I mean by that, right? Using a Mac does not make anyone superior, and some of them are models from many years ago! Employees in other positions do not use Macs.)

・There is an independent structural department, so you do not have to draw cutting dies yourself (The truth: Other advertising companies do not require you to draw them either.)

・When urgent projects come up, employees need to help by working overtime.

(The truth: Urgent projects are not the main reason for overtime. The real issue is a workload that exceeds what employees can handle. Design requires time for creative thinking, but here you are rarely given time to think. There is an excessive workload every day, and someone is definitely working overtime every day.)

・The work intensity requirements are relatively high.

(The truth: An unreasonable work culture is now being turned into an issue of employee work intensity?)

・It is difficult to keep going if you only have one skill.

(The truth: Of course it is good to be versatile and dedicate yourself to your work, but that means you will be given more work and work overtime more often.)

Additional note:

Almost every former employee who has left this company was crushed by an unreasonable workload, and current employees are as well! Sacrificing every day of your time and your life, shedding blood and sweat for the company, and ruining your health—let alone having any energy left to create a future of your own. That is why I resigned.