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 carry out cockroach and rodent control.

Working hours are 8:30 to 17:00, with a 1.5-hour lunch break), and you clock 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 inheriting a mess (a cockroach infestation or serious rodent problem). Because the establishment’s pest-control results were poor, the person taking over

may be harshly blamed 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 to accompany you (although senior management usually just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely have the time or effort to help solve the problem).

“Night work” is defined as work extending past 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, then return to the company to carry out spraying work at 10 p.m.; this 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 night shifts.

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 implements a two-day weekly rest schedule (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also days off), with flexible-hours scheduling.

That means you may be given two or three days off in a week (three when 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 contributions.

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

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

Your days off still have to be scheduled according to the work at hand—that is, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and the company’s 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 with them. Often, if you do not show up, the work simply goes uncovered.

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

minus some employee-paid labor and health insurance contributions. Since the insured salary is low, the deduction is generally just over 1,000.

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

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

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management roles, or salary increases; it depends entirely on the boss’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 ratio (which is also determined solely 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 further prorated by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. They might consist of just one box of pastries for everyone to share, or cash of anywhere from 600 to 1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If this is a job where even taking three consecutive days off is impossible, could 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 laughable 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 resign,

being trained for 3–5 days, and then being left to deal with clients and pest control on your own (because turnover is so high, there is no one to take over the assigned area).

Then, within the company, they claim to outsiders that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—did you enter a time chamber?

In my view, pest-control work may look 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 carry out cockroach and rodent control.

Working hours are 8:30 to 17:00, with a 1.5-hour lunch break), and you clock 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 inheriting a mess (a cockroach infestation or serious rodent problem). Because the establishment’s pest-control results were poor, the person taking over

may be harshly blamed 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 to accompany you (although senior management usually just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely have the time or effort to help solve the problem).

“Night work” is defined as work extending past 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, then return to the company to carry out spraying work at 10 p.m.; this 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 night shifts.

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 implements a two-day weekly rest schedule (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also days off), with flexible-hours scheduling.

That means you may be given two or three days off in a week (three when 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 contributions.

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

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

Your days off still have to be scheduled according to the work at hand—that is, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and the company’s 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 with them. Often, if you do not show up, the work simply goes uncovered.

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

minus some employee-paid labor and health insurance contributions. Since the insured salary is low, the deduction is generally just over 1,000.

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

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

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management roles, or salary increases; it depends entirely on the boss’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 ratio (which is also determined solely 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 further prorated by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. They might consist of just one box of pastries for everyone to share, or cash of anywhere from 600 to 1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If this is a job where even taking three consecutive days off is impossible, could 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 laughable 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 resign,

being trained for 3–5 days, and then being left to deal with clients and pest control on your own (because turnover is so high, there is no one to take over the assigned area).

Then, within the company, they claim to outsiders that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—did you enter a time chamber?

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