Workplace reviews and discussion: 耀際實業有限公司

The job basically consists of riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or establishments to carry out cockroach and rodent control.

Working hours are 8:30 to 17:00, with a 1.5-hour lunch break. You clock in and out at the company.

You have to visit approximately 5–8 clients per day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so high,

you often end up taking over someone else’s mess (a cockroach infestation or severe rodent problem). Since the establishment’s pest-control results were poor, the person taking over may

get severely blamed for problems left by the previous employee. Reporting the issue to management often results in being told that you should figure out how to solve it yourself,

or that a team leader or someone else will be assigned to accompany you (although senior management only makes a superficial appearance and does not genuinely put in the effort to help resolve the issue).

“Night work” is defined as work after 5 p.m. For example, leaving at 5 p.m. to perform pest control until 8 p.m. counts as overtime.

Returning to the company to do pesticide spraying at 10 p.m. after finishing at 5 p.m. and resting for 2–3 hours counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck; when there is a staff shortage, plenty of people work more than ten days of night shifts.

After working at night, you must take compensatory leave the following morning, meaning you can start work at noon the next day.

At present, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also days off), using flexible-hour scheduling.

In other words, you may get two or three days off in a week (three if there happens to be a national holiday), but three consecutive days off cannot be scheduled.

Overtime is currently calculated according to the Labor Standards Act, but only based on the insured salary used for labor insurance.

For example, if your labor-insurance salary is 22,500: 22,500 / 240 × 1.33, or 1.66 (after two hours).

Because the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” system and national holidays are shifted, there is essentially no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Scheduling days off still depends on the work at hand—in other words, coordinating with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

For example, a supervisor may suddenly instruct you not to take the day off, or a client may suddenly ask to change the appointment time.

A team leader or coworker may ask you to swap shifts with them. Often, if you do not show up, the work simply goes uncovered.

Pay consists of the basic salary + meal allowance + unexplained bonuses + overtime pay (if any; I heard they may switch to a responsibility-based system).

Some employee-paid labor and health insurance contributions are then deducted. Since the insured salary is low, the deduction is generally a little over 1,000.

The actual calculation is 22,500 + 1,500 + 8,000 + 1,236 − 800 = 32,436 (illustration for reference only).

Monthly income is generally between 30,000 and 40,000, with only a few people earning more than 40,000. You only get a raise if you are promoted or take on a management position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, becoming a manager, or salary increases; it depends entirely on the boss’s mood. Of course, on the surface, they will say that a system exists.

The year-end bonus is also calculated based on the basic salary, multiplied by a performance ratio (also determined by the boss, between 0.5 and 1).

The actual year-end bonus received is approximately 11,250–22,500 (based on a basic salary of 22,500). If you have worked for less than a year, it is calculated proportionally by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. It could be just one box of cookies for everyone to share, or cash of 600–1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If it is impossible even to take three consecutive days off, how could there be an employee trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally. However, if people eat too much, the boss may complain again, so some employees do not attend the dinners.

What I find most ridiculous about this company is that it claims on 104 Job Bank to provide comprehensive training.

“Comprehensive training” means applying to the company and being casually handed over to a senior employee or a coworker who is about to leave.

They train you for 3–5 days, then send you out to deal with clients and perform pest control on your own (because turnover is so fast that no one is available to take over the assigned area).

Then, within the company, they claim that employees tell people outside that they have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this a time chamber?

In my view, pest-control work may appear easy to enter, but without one or two years of training, it is difficult to become fully qualified.

The job basically consists of riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or establishments to carry out cockroach and rodent control.

Working hours are 8:30 to 17:00, with a 1.5-hour lunch break. You clock in and out at the company.

You have to visit approximately 5–8 clients per day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so high,

you often end up taking over someone else’s mess (a cockroach infestation or severe rodent problem). Since the establishment’s pest-control results were poor, the person taking over may

get severely blamed for problems left by the previous employee. Reporting the issue to management often results in being told that you should figure out how to solve it yourself,

or that a team leader or someone else will be assigned to accompany you (although senior management only makes a superficial appearance and does not genuinely put in the effort to help resolve the issue).

“Night work” is defined as work after 5 p.m. For example, leaving at 5 p.m. to perform pest control until 8 p.m. counts as overtime.

Returning to the company to do pesticide spraying at 10 p.m. after finishing at 5 p.m. and resting for 2–3 hours counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck; when there is a staff shortage, plenty of people work more than ten days of night shifts.

After working at night, you must take compensatory leave the following morning, meaning you can start work at noon the next day.

At present, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also days off), using flexible-hour scheduling.

In other words, you may get two or three days off in a week (three if there happens to be a national holiday), but three consecutive days off cannot be scheduled.

Overtime is currently calculated according to the Labor Standards Act, but only based on the insured salary used for labor insurance.

For example, if your labor-insurance salary is 22,500: 22,500 / 240 × 1.33, or 1.66 (after two hours).

Because the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” system and national holidays are shifted, there is essentially no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Scheduling days off still depends on the work at hand—in other words, coordinating with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

For example, a supervisor may suddenly instruct you not to take the day off, or a client may suddenly ask to change the appointment time.

A team leader or coworker may ask you to swap shifts with them. Often, if you do not show up, the work simply goes uncovered.

Pay consists of the basic salary + meal allowance + unexplained bonuses + overtime pay (if any; I heard they may switch to a responsibility-based system).

Some employee-paid labor and health insurance contributions are then deducted. Since the insured salary is low, the deduction is generally a little over 1,000.

The actual calculation is 22,500 + 1,500 + 8,000 + 1,236 − 800 = 32,436 (illustration for reference only).

Monthly income is generally between 30,000 and 40,000, with only a few people earning more than 40,000. You only get a raise if you are promoted or take on a management position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, becoming a manager, or salary increases; it depends entirely on the boss’s mood. Of course, on the surface, they will say that a system exists.

The year-end bonus is also calculated based on the basic salary, multiplied by a performance ratio (also determined by the boss, between 0.5 and 1).

The actual year-end bonus received is approximately 11,250–22,500 (based on a basic salary of 22,500). If you have worked for less than a year, it is calculated proportionally by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. It could be just one box of cookies for everyone to share, or cash of 600–1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If it is impossible even to take three consecutive days off, how could there be an employee trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally. However, if people eat too much, the boss may complain again, so some employees do not attend the dinners.

What I find most ridiculous about this company is that it claims on 104 Job Bank to provide comprehensive training.

“Comprehensive training” means applying to the company and being casually handed over to a senior employee or a coworker who is about to leave.

They train you for 3–5 days, then send you out to deal with clients and perform pest control on your own (because turnover is so fast that no one is available to take over the assigned area).

Then, within the company, they claim that employees tell people outside that they have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this a time chamber?

In my view, pest-control work may appear easy to enter, but without one or two years of training, it is difficult to become fully qualified.