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

The work basically consists of riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or establishments to control cockroaches and rats.

Working hours are from 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 per 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 severe rodent problem). Because the establishment's pest-control results were poor, the person taking over

may get severely berated for problems left behind 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 assign a team leader or someone else to accompany you (although senior management generally just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely invest the effort 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.

After finishing at 5 p.m., you may rest for 2–3 hours and then return to the company for pesticide spraying work at 10 p.m.; this is considered a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck. When there is a staff shortage, many people end up working more than ten days of night shifts.

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.

At present, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (public holidays shown in red on the calendar are also days off), using flexible-hour 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 you cannot be scheduled for three consecutive days off.

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

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 rest day” system and public holidays are shifted, there is essentially no overtime pay for working on days off.

Your days off still have to be scheduled around the work at hand—in other words, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

For example, a supervisor may suddenly tell 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, there will be no one to cover the work.

Pay consists of the base salary + meal allowance + unexplained 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 premiums. Because the insured salary is low, the deduction is generally just over NT$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 NT$30,000 and NT$40,000. Only a small number of people earn more than NT$40,000; you get more money only if you receive a promotion 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, outwardly, the boss will say that there is a system.

The year-end bonus is also calculated based on the base salary, multiplied by a performance ratio (also judged by the boss, ranging from 0.5 to 1).

The actual year-end bonus received is approximately NT$11,250–22,500 (estimated using a base salary of NT$22,500). If you have worked for less than a year, it is further 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 ranging from NT$600 to NT$1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If a job cannot even give you three consecutive days off, how could it offer an employee trip?

Departmental dinners only happen occasionally. If the group eats too much, the boss may complain again, so some employees do not attend the dinners either.

What I find most laughable about this company is that it claims on 104 Job Bank to provide comprehensive training.

The “comprehensive training” consists of applying to the company and being casually handed over to a senior employee or a coworker who is about to resign,

who trains you for 3–5 days and then leaves you to deal with clients and pest control on your own (because turnover is so fast, there is no one to take over the assigned area).

Then the company claims externally that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this a time chamber?

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

The work basically consists of riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or establishments to control cockroaches and rats.

Working hours are from 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 per 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 severe rodent problem). Because the establishment's pest-control results were poor, the person taking over

may get severely berated for problems left behind 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 assign a team leader or someone else to accompany you (although senior management generally just makes a superficial visit and does not genuinely invest the effort 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.

After finishing at 5 p.m., you may rest for 2–3 hours and then return to the company for pesticide spraying work at 10 p.m.; this is considered a night shift.

Whether night shifts stay under seven days is a matter of luck. When there is a staff shortage, many people end up working more than ten days of night shifts.

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.

At present, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (public holidays shown in red on the calendar are also days off), using flexible-hour 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 you cannot be scheduled for three consecutive days off.

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

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 rest day” system and public holidays are shifted, there is essentially no overtime pay for working on days off.

Your days off still have to be scheduled around the work at hand—in other words, in coordination with clients, coworkers, and company operations.

For example, a supervisor may suddenly tell 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, there will be no one to cover the work.

Pay consists of the base salary + meal allowance + unexplained 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 premiums. Because the insured salary is low, the deduction is generally just over NT$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 NT$30,000 and NT$40,000. Only a small number of people earn more than NT$40,000; you get more money only if you receive a promotion 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, outwardly, the boss will say that there is a system.

The year-end bonus is also calculated based on the base salary, multiplied by a performance ratio (also judged by the boss, ranging from 0.5 to 1).

The actual year-end bonus received is approximately NT$11,250–22,500 (estimated using a base salary of NT$22,500). If you have worked for less than a year, it is further 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 ranging from NT$600 to NT$1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If a job cannot even give you three consecutive days off, how could it offer an employee trip?

Departmental dinners only happen occasionally. If the group eats too much, the boss may complain again, so some employees do not attend the dinners either.

What I find most laughable about this company is that it claims on 104 Job Bank to provide comprehensive training.

The “comprehensive training” consists of applying to the company and being casually handed over to a senior employee or a coworker who is about to resign,

who trains you for 3–5 days and then leaves you to deal with clients and pest control on your own (because turnover is so fast, there is no one to take over the assigned area).

Then the company claims externally that you have three years of experience. Three days equals three years of experience—is this a time chamber?

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