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 locations 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 a day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so high,

you often end up taking over a mess (a cockroach explosion or severe rodent infestation). Since the previous treatment was ineffective, the person taking over

may get severely chewed out because of the 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 may assign a team leader or someone else to accompany you (although the senior managers also just make a superficial visit and do 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.

After finishing at 5 p.m., you may rest for 2–3 hours and then return to the company to do 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 staffing shortage, plenty of people work 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.

Currently, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (including national holidays that fall during the month). It uses flexible scheduling,

which means you may get two or three days off in a week (if there is a national holiday), 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 and one flexible rest day” system and national holidays are shifted around, there is basically no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Your days off still have to be scheduled according to the work at hand—that is, 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 you to change the appointment time,

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 your 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 calculation is for reference only).

Monthly pay 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 management position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, becoming a manager, 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 (also judged solely 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 less than a year, it is calculated proportionally by month.

Bonuses for the three traditional festivals are not guaranteed. They might be just a box of pastries for everyone to share, or cash anywhere from 600 to 1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If a job does not even allow you to take three consecutive days off, could there possibly be an employee trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally. However, 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 Job Bank to provide comprehensive training.

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

who trains you for 3–5 days and then sends you off to deal with clients and perform pest control on your own (because turnover is so rapid that no one is available to take over the assigned area).

Then, within the company, they claim that they tell people outside 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 appear easy to enter, but without 1–2 years of training, it is difficult to become fully qualified.

The job basically involves riding a company motorcycle or car to various restaurants or locations 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 a day. This is not difficult for people with pest-control experience, but because employee turnover is so high,

you often end up taking over a mess (a cockroach explosion or severe rodent infestation). Since the previous treatment was ineffective, the person taking over

may get severely chewed out because of the 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 may assign a team leader or someone else to accompany you (although the senior managers also just make a superficial visit and do 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.

After finishing at 5 p.m., you may rest for 2–3 hours and then return to the company to do 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 staffing shortage, plenty of people work 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.

Currently, the company generally implements a five-day workweek with two days off (including national holidays that fall during the month). It uses flexible scheduling,

which means you may get two or three days off in a week (if there is a national holiday), 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 and one flexible rest day” system and national holidays are shifted around, there is basically no holiday overtime pay to claim.

Your days off still have to be scheduled according to the work at hand—that is, 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 you to change the appointment time,

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 your 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 calculation is for reference only).

Monthly pay 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 management position.

There is absolutely no system for promotions, becoming a manager, 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 (also judged solely 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 less than a year, it is calculated proportionally by month.

Bonuses for the three traditional festivals are not guaranteed. They might be just a box of pastries for everyone to share, or cash anywhere from 600 to 1,000.

Employee trips basically do not exist. If a job does not even allow you to take three consecutive days off, could there possibly be an employee trip?

Department dinners only happen occasionally. However, 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 Job Bank to provide comprehensive training.

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

who trains you for 3–5 days and then sends you off to deal with clients and perform pest control on your own (because turnover is so rapid that no one is available to take over the assigned area).

Then, within the company, they claim that they tell people outside 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 appear easy to enter, but without 1–2 years of training, it is difficult to become fully qualified.