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 take the Labor Standards Act, workplace safety, bullying, or sexual harassment issues seriously.

When I first joined the company, because I was an “apprentice,” my salary was only NT$20,000. I was told it would be adjusted later based on my learning ability. However, during the learning process, almost no one provided instruction, so self-learning was required.

Although the job title was woodworking technician, most of the actual work involved installing hardware, blowers, rope winches, anchor winches, and other things that had almost nothing to do with woodworking.

Every day, I had to monitor the yacht’s progress and incoming materials myself and determine that day’s work and construction tasks. Working here can improve one’s ability to do the work of three people, because work assignments are based on efficiency. The more efficient a person is, the heavier their workload becomes. It took two years with the company for my salary to increase from NT$20,000 to NT$29,000, and then another three years of enduring the job before it reached NT$49,800.

Normal working hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but overtime until 8:30 p.m. is routinely required (sometimes overtime may continue until 10:00 p.m. or even later). Saturdays basically also require coming in for overtime.

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

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

Most coworkers are uneducated gangsters, “8+9s,” and migrant workers.

When I was an apprentice, some malicious senior workers deliberately taught apprentices incorrect concepts or dangerous knowledge; after an accident occurred, the senior worker would pretend not to know anything.

Senior workers are afraid of new employees learning things. Coworkers often lie, spread rumors, distort right and wrong, and sexually harass others (randomly pinching nipples and flicking genitals). They also frequently yell, insult people for no reason, threaten others, and even steal things and frame other people for it.

Supervisors often make things difficult in every possible way. Besides pressuring employees about work progress every day, they occasionally propose incorrect construction methods and add difficulty to work orders. When materials are out of stock, they rush the schedule or make a pile of unreasonable demands, but provide no assistance whatsoever.

Once, they even arbitrarily deducted wages without giving a reason.

Finally, when I resigned, the supervisor taunted me, saying, “The company won’t hire you in the future. There are plenty of people outside lining up to fight for this job.”