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 facilities 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 office.

You generally have to visit around 5–8 clients a day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so rapid,

you often end up taking over a complete mess (a cockroach infestation or severe rodent problem). If the previous treatment was ineffective, the person taking over may get harshly blamed for problems left behind by the previous worker.

Reporting the issue to management often gets you a response that you should figure out how to solve it yourself, or they may send a team leader or someone else to assist (although senior management usually just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely devote the time or effort needed to help resolve the problem).

“Night work” is defined as work after 5 p.m. For example, leaving at 5 p.m. to carry out 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 to carry out pesticide spraying at 10 p.m., that counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts are limited to seven days is a matter of luck; when there is a staff shortage, plenty of people work more than ten days of them.

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

At present, the company generally implements a two-day weekend (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also days off) and uses flexible-hours scheduling.

In other words, you may get 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 basic salary used for Labor Insurance contributions is counted.

For example, if your insured basic 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 effectively no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Your days off still have to be scheduled around the work at hand—in other words, coordinated 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 reschedule,

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 plan to change to a duty-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 pay is generally between 30,000 and 40,000. Only a small number of people earn more than 40,000; you get more money only if you are promoted or take on a management role.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management roles, or pay raises; it depends entirely on the boss’s mood. Of course, on the surface, they will always say there is a system.

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 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 be nothing more than a box of snacks for everyone to share, or cash ranging from 600 to 1,000.

Company trips basically do not exist. If taking three consecutive days off is impossible, how could there be a company trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally, and 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 handle clients and pest control on your own (because turnover is so fast that no one is available to take over 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 a time machine?

In my view, pest-control work may look easy to enter and get started in, 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 facilities 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 office.

You generally have to visit around 5–8 clients a day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so rapid,

you often end up taking over a complete mess (a cockroach infestation or severe rodent problem). If the previous treatment was ineffective, the person taking over may get harshly blamed for problems left behind by the previous worker.

Reporting the issue to management often gets you a response that you should figure out how to solve it yourself, or they may send a team leader or someone else to assist (although senior management usually just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely devote the time or effort needed to help resolve the problem).

“Night work” is defined as work after 5 p.m. For example, leaving at 5 p.m. to carry out 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 to carry out pesticide spraying at 10 p.m., that counts as a night shift.

Whether night shifts are limited to seven days is a matter of luck; when there is a staff shortage, plenty of people work more than ten days of them.

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

At present, the company generally implements a two-day weekend (public holidays marked in red on the calendar are also days off) and uses flexible-hours scheduling.

In other words, you may get 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 basic salary used for Labor Insurance contributions is counted.

For example, if your insured basic 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 effectively no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Your days off still have to be scheduled around the work at hand—in other words, coordinated 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 reschedule,

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 plan to change to a duty-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 pay is generally between 30,000 and 40,000. Only a small number of people earn more than 40,000; you get more money only if you are promoted or take on a management role.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, taking on management roles, or pay raises; it depends entirely on the boss’s mood. Of course, on the surface, they will always say there is a system.

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 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 be nothing more than a box of snacks for everyone to share, or cash ranging from 600 to 1,000.

Company trips basically do not exist. If taking three consecutive days off is impossible, how could there be a company trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally, and 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 handle clients and pest control on your own (because turnover is so fast that no one is available to take over 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 a time machine?

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