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

you often end up inheriting a mess (a cockroach infestation or severe rodent problem). Since the previous pest-control work was ineffective, the person taking over

may get severely chewed out for problems left behind by their predecessor. Reporting the issue to management often gets you a response that you should figure out how to solve it yourself,

or they assign a team leader or someone else to accompany you (although senior management merely goes through the motions and does not genuinely devote the effort needed to help solve 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 at 5 p.m., rest for 2–3 hours, then return to the company for a 10 p.m. pesticide-spraying job, that counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck; when staff are short, 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 implements a two-day weekly rest schedule (public holidays shown in red on the calendar are also off), using flexible working-hour shifts.

In other words, you may get two or three days off in a week (three when a public holiday happens to fall then), 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 insured 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 public holidays are shifted, there is essentially no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Your days off still have to be scheduled according to the workload at hand—that is, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

For example, a superior may suddenly instruct you that you cannot 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 simply goes uncovered.

Pay consists of the basic salary + meal allowance + unexplained bonuses + overtime pay (if any; 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 just over 1,000.

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

Monthly pay is generally between 30,000 and 40,000; only a few people earn more than 40,000. You get more money only if you are promoted or take on a management position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management positions, or salary increases; it entirely depends 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 the boss also assesses personally, 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 less than a year, it is calculated proportionally by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. They could be 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 even 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 boss may complain again, so some employees do not attend the dinners either.

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, 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 that no one is available to take over the territory).

Then, internally, they claim—and tell people externally—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 scooter 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 visit approximately 5–8 clients per day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so rapid,

you often end up inheriting a mess (a cockroach infestation or severe rodent problem). Since the previous pest-control work was ineffective, the person taking over

may get severely chewed out for problems left behind by their predecessor. Reporting the issue to management often gets you a response that you should figure out how to solve it yourself,

or they assign a team leader or someone else to accompany you (although senior management merely goes through the motions and does not genuinely devote the effort needed to help solve 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 at 5 p.m., rest for 2–3 hours, then return to the company for a 10 p.m. pesticide-spraying job, that counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck; when staff are short, 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 implements a two-day weekly rest schedule (public holidays shown in red on the calendar are also off), using flexible working-hour shifts.

In other words, you may get two or three days off in a week (three when a public holiday happens to fall then), 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 insured 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 public holidays are shifted, there is essentially no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Your days off still have to be scheduled according to the workload at hand—that is, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

For example, a superior may suddenly instruct you that you cannot 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 simply goes uncovered.

Pay consists of the basic salary + meal allowance + unexplained bonuses + overtime pay (if any; 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 just over 1,000.

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

Monthly pay is generally between 30,000 and 40,000; only a few people earn more than 40,000. You get more money only if you are promoted or take on a management position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management positions, or salary increases; it entirely depends 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 the boss also assesses personally, 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 less than a year, it is calculated proportionally by month.

Bonuses for the three major holidays are not guaranteed. They could be 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 even 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 boss may complain again, so some employees do not attend the dinners either.

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, 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 that no one is available to take over the territory).

Then, internally, they claim—and tell people externally—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.