Workplace reviews and discussion: 嘉鴻遊艇股份有限公司

The only advantages are paid annual leave, a five-day workweek, year-end bonuses, bonuses and gifts for the three major holidays, domestic travel, overseas travel, and performance bonuses.

This company does not respect the Labor Standards Act. There are also problems with workplace safety, bullying, and sexual harassment.

When I first joined the company, because I was an “apprentice,” my salary was only NT$20,000. I was told it would later be adjusted based on my learning ability. However, almost no one teaches you during the learning process; you have to study independently.

Although the position is woodwork technician, most of the actual work involves installing hardware and equipment such as blowers, rope winches, and anchor winches—things that have almost nothing to do with woodworking.

Every day, you need to monitor the yacht’s progress and incoming materials yourself and determine that day’s construction tasks. Working here can improve your ability to do the work of three people, because work assignments are based on efficiency. The more efficient you are, the larger your workload becomes. It took two years with the company for my salary to increase from NT$20,000 to NT$29,000, and I then endured another three years before reaching NT$49,800.

Regular working hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but overtime until 8:30 p.m. is routinely required (sometimes you may have to work until 10:00 p.m. or even later). You basically also have to come in for overtime on Saturdays.

Every six months, if the company reaches its boat-launching target, there is a bonus.

The work environment is filled with fiberglass dust and the smell of spray paint, acetone, and resin.

Most coworkers are uncultured gangsters, “8+9s” (local slang for young thugs), and migrant workers.

When you are an apprentice, some malicious senior workers deliberately teach apprentices incorrect concepts or dangerous practices, then pretend not to know anything when an accident happens.

Senior workers are afraid that new employees will learn. Coworkers often lie, spread rumors, distort right and wrong, and engage in sexual harassment (such as pinching nipples or flicking people’s genitals). They also frequently raise their voices, arbitrarily berate people, threaten others, and even steal things and frame other people for it.

Supervisors frequently make things difficult. In addition to constantly pressing you about work progress every day, they sometimes propose incorrect construction methods and add difficulty through work orders. When materials are out of stock, they pressure you to speed up or make a pile of unreasonable demands, but provide no help whatsoever.

On one occasion, they even arbitrarily deducted wages without giving a reason.

Finally, when I resigned, the supervisor taunted me by saying that the company would never hire me again and that there were plenty of people outside lining up to fight for the job.