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. They said it would be adjusted later based on my learning ability. However, almost no one provides instruction during the learning process; you need to learn independently.

Although the position is for a woodworking 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 the 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 greater your workload. It took two years at the company for my salary to increase from NT$20,000 to NT$29,000, and after enduring another three years, it reached NT$49,800.

Regular working hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but you are routinely required to work overtime until 8:30 p.m. (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 meets its boat-launching 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 hooligans, “8+9s,” and migrant workers.

When I was an apprentice, some malicious veteran workers would deliberately teach apprentices incorrect concepts or dangerous techniques, then pretend they knew nothing if an accident occurred.

Veteran workers are afraid of newcomers learning things. Coworkers often lie, spread rumors, distort facts, and engage in sexual harassment (randomly pinching nipples and flicking genitals). They also frequently raise their voices, curse at people arbitrarily, threaten others, and even steal things and frame others for them.

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 through work orders. When materials are out of stock, they rush progress or make a bunch of unreasonable demands, but provide no assistance.

There was even one time when they deducted my pay arbitrarily 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.