An eye-opening experience

Not recommended. Absolutely not recommended! Don’t be fooled by the seemingly high salary—after deducting the unpaid overtime given to the company, you’d be better off working for a Taiwanese company, where at least the culture is more flexible and they wouldn’t make absurd statements like “personal learning does not count as overtime.”

1. New employees spend one or two hours writing daily journals, but this is not counted as overtime pay because it is considered “personal learning.” Although the scheduled end of the workday is 4 p.m., almost everyone leaves at 5 or 6.

2. Even though employees are already working unpaid overtime, supervisors still assign “homework” for subordinates to complete at home. If you do not “learn” at home, you will be scolded the next day.

3. All of the above is classified as “personal learning.” Several senior employees within the company agree that “personal learning does not count as overtime” because it “cannot bring the company tangible numerical benefits.”

I can’t believe that in Taipei today, there are still companies like this. It is even a consulting firm that claims to provide consulting services for Japanese companies in Taiwan. It has been operating for more than 20 years, yet it has never realized that its company policies are illegal.

Not paying overtime, arbitrarily defining what “does not count as overtime”—this is illegal both in Japan and Taiwan, and it also violates basic common sense.

I’ve only ever seen people specify “what counts as overtime”; I’ve never seen anyone specify “what does not count as overtime.” This company truly opened my eyes.