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

The job basically involves riding a company scooter or car to various restaurants or locations to carry out cockroach and rodent control.

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

You visit approximately 5–8 clients a 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). When the previous pest-control work was ineffective, the person taking over

may get harshly blamed for problems left by the previous worker. 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 usually just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely devote the effort needed to resolve the problem).

“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.

If you finish work at 5 p.m., rest for 2–3 hours, and then return to the company to carry out spraying work at 10 p.m., that counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts are limited to no more than seven days is a matter of luck; when the company is short-staffed, plenty of people work more than ten days of them.

After night work, you must take compensatory time off the following morning, meaning you only need to start work at noon the next day.

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

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

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

For example, if your insured base salary is 22,500, the calculation is 22,500/240 × 1.33 or 1.66 (after two hours).

Because the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” system and public holidays are shifted, there is essentially no overtime pay for working on scheduled days off to claim.

Days off must still be scheduled around the work on hand—in other words, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

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

or a team leader or coworker may ask you to swap shifts. Often, if you do not show up, the work simply has no one to cover it.

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

minus some employee-paid labor and health insurance contributions. 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 (for reference only).

Monthly earnings are generally between 30,000 and 40,000, with only a few people earning more than 40,000. You only get more money if you are promoted or take on a management role.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, management appointments, or pay raises; it all depends 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 judged 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 prorated by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. They may consist only of a box of cookies for everyone to share, or cash of 600–1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If a job does not even allow you to take three consecutive days off, can there really be an employee trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally, but 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 that it provides comprehensive training.

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

being trained for 3–5 days, and then being sent out to deal with clients and perform pest control on your own (because turnover is so high that no one is available to cover the area).

Then, inside the company, they claim that they tell people outside that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this some kind of time chamber?

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

The job basically involves riding a company scooter or car to various restaurants or locations to carry out cockroach and rodent control.

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

You visit approximately 5–8 clients a 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). When the previous pest-control work was ineffective, the person taking over

may get harshly blamed for problems left by the previous worker. 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 usually just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely devote the effort needed to resolve the problem).

“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.

If you finish work at 5 p.m., rest for 2–3 hours, and then return to the company to carry out spraying work at 10 p.m., that counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts are limited to no more than seven days is a matter of luck; when the company is short-staffed, plenty of people work more than ten days of them.

After night work, you must take compensatory time off the following morning, meaning you only need to start work at noon the next day.

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

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

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

For example, if your insured base salary is 22,500, the calculation is 22,500/240 × 1.33 or 1.66 (after two hours).

Because the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” system and public holidays are shifted, there is essentially no overtime pay for working on scheduled days off to claim.

Days off must still be scheduled around the work on hand—in other words, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

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

or a team leader or coworker may ask you to swap shifts. Often, if you do not show up, the work simply has no one to cover it.

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

minus some employee-paid labor and health insurance contributions. 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 (for reference only).

Monthly earnings are generally between 30,000 and 40,000, with only a few people earning more than 40,000. You only get more money if you are promoted or take on a management role.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, management appointments, or pay raises; it all depends 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 judged 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 prorated by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. They may consist only of a box of cookies for everyone to share, or cash of 600–1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If a job does not even allow you to take three consecutive days off, can there really be an employee trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally, but 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 that it provides comprehensive training.

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

being trained for 3–5 days, and then being sent out to deal with clients and perform pest control on your own (because turnover is so high that no one is available to cover the area).

Then, inside the company, they claim that they tell people outside that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this some kind of time chamber?

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