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

The job basically involves riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or establishments to control cockroaches and rats.

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 a day. This is not difficult for someone with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is extremely high,

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

may get blamed and harshly berated for problems left by the previous worker. Reporting the issue to management often gets you a response like, “You should figure out how to solve it yourself,”

or they send a team leader or someone else along (although senior management usually just makes a token visit and does not genuinely have the time or inclination 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.

After finishing at 5 p.m., you rest for 2–3 hours and return to the company for a 10 p.m. spraying job; this counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck. When staff are short, plenty of people end up doing more than ten days.

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

Currently, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also off). Shifts are arranged under flexible working hours,

meaning you may get two or three days off in a week (when a public holiday happens to fall in that week), but you cannot be scheduled for three consecutive days off.

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

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

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

Days off still have to be scheduled around the work at hand—in other words, according to the needs of 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,

or a team leader or coworker may ask you to swap shifts. Often, if you do not show up, the work is simply left uncovered.

Pay consists of the basic salary + meal allowance + unexplained bonuses + overtime pay (if any; I heard they plan to change it to a position of responsibility system),

minus the employee-paid portions of labor and health insurance. Since the insured salary is low, the deductions are generally just 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 by being promoted or taking on a managerial position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management roles, or salary increases; it all depends on the owner’s mood. Of course, on the surface, they will say there is a system.

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

The actual year-end bonus received is approximately 11,250–22,500 (calculated using 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. They may consist of just one box of pastries for everyone to share, or cash of 600–1,000.

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

Department dinners only happen occasionally, but if people eat too much, the owner 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.

The “comprehensive training” consists of 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 fast, there is no one to take over the area).

Then, inside the company, they claim to others that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this a time chamber?

In my view, pest-control work may seem easy to enter, but without 1–2 years of training, it is difficult to become fully competent.

The job basically involves riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or establishments to control cockroaches and rats.

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 a day. This is not difficult for someone with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is extremely high,

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

may get blamed and harshly berated for problems left by the previous worker. Reporting the issue to management often gets you a response like, “You should figure out how to solve it yourself,”

or they send a team leader or someone else along (although senior management usually just makes a token visit and does not genuinely have the time or inclination 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.

After finishing at 5 p.m., you rest for 2–3 hours and return to the company for a 10 p.m. spraying job; this counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck. When staff are short, plenty of people end up doing more than ten days.

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

Currently, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also off). Shifts are arranged under flexible working hours,

meaning you may get two or three days off in a week (when a public holiday happens to fall in that week), but you cannot be scheduled for three consecutive days off.

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

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

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

Days off still have to be scheduled around the work at hand—in other words, according to the needs of 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,

or a team leader or coworker may ask you to swap shifts. Often, if you do not show up, the work is simply left uncovered.

Pay consists of the basic salary + meal allowance + unexplained bonuses + overtime pay (if any; I heard they plan to change it to a position of responsibility system),

minus the employee-paid portions of labor and health insurance. Since the insured salary is low, the deductions are generally just 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 by being promoted or taking on a managerial position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management roles, or salary increases; it all depends on the owner’s mood. Of course, on the surface, they will say there is a system.

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

The actual year-end bonus received is approximately 11,250–22,500 (calculated using 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. They may consist of just one box of pastries for everyone to share, or cash of 600–1,000.

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

Department dinners only happen occasionally, but if people eat too much, the owner 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.

The “comprehensive training” consists of 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 fast, there is no one to take over the area).

Then, inside the company, they claim to others that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this a time chamber?

In my view, pest-control work may seem easy to enter, but without 1–2 years of training, it is difficult to become fully competent.