Workplace reviews and discussion: 全盛科技有限公司

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This is a predatory company parasitizing the Veterans Affairs Council’s vocational training system. It is itself a Hsiao family business, with the boss, the boss’s younger brother, son, daughter, and relatives controlling personnel and finances, so don’t expect any prospects for advancement.

The boss teaches at a Veterans Affairs Council vocational training center.

Basically, the owner of a company with nearly 20 employees and annual revenue exceeding NT$10 million looks down on the hourly teaching fees at a Veterans Affairs Council vocational training center.

What he wants is first contact with those who have just been discharged from the military and are still unaware of the darker side of society—naive soldiers.

That way, he can carry out his exploitation plan. Soldiers are easy to deceive, after all; scam rings like this kind of target the most.

As for why it is predatory:

1. Working environment: There is a morning meeting at 8 a.m. where the boss assigns tasks and work. Sometimes, if he is in a bad mood, he curses at people. Clocking in and out is done through a cloud-based system, which means that at 5 p.m. you have to clock out while still at the worksite or on your way back from it. That is how they avoid paying overtime.

2. Overtime pay: Basically, just assume this does not exist. For newcomers, when you return from a worksite, the boss uses various forms of emotional blackmail, sarcastic remarks and stares from veteran employees, and peer pressure to force you to stay at the company and do miscellaneous chores under the pretext of practice. For veteran employees, it is actually even worse, because after returning to the company they have to fill out all kinds of forms, submit official documents, and get yelled at by the boss. None of this is counted as overtime.

3. No meals provided: Normally, when a legitimate company sends a work crew out, the foreman provides meals and water. This company provides absolutely nothing. They even charge you for the boxed meals sold at the construction-site canteen, and water goes without saying—if you fill too much water from the office, the boss will complain.

4. Workplace atmosphere: Being at a worksite is much more pleasant than being at the company, because returning to the company means entering a depressing atmosphere. This is also why the veteran employees here all have such terrible attitudes: the pressure imposed by the boss can only be vented on newcomers.

5. Most importantly, pay: Newcomers earn less than NT$30,000, with a three-month probationary period. Raises depend on the boss’s mood and are NT$500 at a time. Leadership positions are just as laughable, with only an additional NT$500. There are technicians who have been with the company for three or four years but earn less than NT$40,000 a month, and they have to work overtime on holidays to exceed NT$40,000. The holiday overtime pay is particularly ridiculous—calculated out, it is even less than what you would make doing day labor, at most just over NT$1,000.

6. Tools: The company does not provide basic tools and expects you to buy your own. Although there are shared power tools, the boss keeps a close eye on how you use them, and you have to pay for any damage. Therefore, people there generally prepare their own tools. There is one benefit: when you resign, you can simply take them all with you.

7. Why hasn’t the company been sued? This goes back to what was mentioned earlier: soldiers are naive and easy to deceive. As a result, there have not yet been any labor disputes. After brainwashing people in his classes, he manages to trick another fool into joining his company every few months. I am writing this long message simply hoping to save at least one person at a time. Low-voltage technicians are in very short supply on the market, so don’t let this company trick you.