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Yiqi Technology / Yiqi Information / Yiqi Engineering are all owned by the same boss. The company mainly bids on government contracts involving water-conservancy-related electrical equipment, water meters for port companies, and some small-scale civil engineering projects. Different company names are used for bidding depending on the requirements of the contract.
The boss and two-thirds of the employees handle administration and sales, while one-third are engineering staff with limited technical ability. Overall work efficiency is only 25%.
Authority is unclear, responsibilities are unclear, and schedule management is chaotic—it is simply a group of laypeople making a mess.
The company has a very high turnover rate.
Ten employees left within 12 months, including interns, administrative staff, PMs, engineers, consultants, and assistant managers. Some left after one day, others after one week.
The employee turnover rate is higher than that of ordinary companies.
The company owed overtime pay, and former employees reported it to the labor bureau.
The company group chat repeatedly issued notices that salary payments would be delayed.
There were three lawsuits over overdue payments from 2019 to 2021, and the company lost all of them (excerpts are included at the end of this article).
Searching for “Yiqi Information” in the judgments of the Taipei District Court will reveal the boss’s name.
The boss’s basic strategy is to make you leave on your own. At the beginning of a project, when things are busiest, once the work is nearly complete, he pushes you until you leave yourself.
When the people who handled the initial work leave, he does not have to pay them bonuses. Those who take over the mess afterward only receive a small bonus as a token. The boss takes most of the bonuses, so he is not afraid of people leaving.
How project managers are targeted:
During project execution, the boss independently tells subcontractors to change specifications or replace equipment without informing the PM or engineers, making the project difficult or impossible to execute. The resulting problems become time bombs. Work on the current project may have to be interrupted at any time to deal with issues arising from other projects. Everything is handled urgently and casually first, which then creates further problems, forming a vicious cycle.
The company continuously wins many contracts, squeezing their execution schedules together. The technical staff lack sufficient ability, there are not enough of them, and the PMs do not coordinate with one another, with each giving instructions to the technical staff independently. In addition, the boss steps in “at the appropriate time.”
These two tactics are enough to make project managers unable to continue and cause them to leave on their own.
How engineers are targeted:
The company decides from the outset to take advantage of people, so authority and responsibilities are unclear throughout the company, as is the division of work. They do not say that you are the PM, but keep assigning work to you and telling you to “handle it.” In the end, when the project is nearly complete, they appoint whoever they choose as PM, and that person receives the PM bonus.
Those appointed are a female assistant manager at the Kaohsiung office who drives the boss to and from work every day, and the boss himself.
If the PM leaves midway through a project, no replacement PM is appointed. Engineers are simply left to figure it out and negotiate matters themselves. In the end, the female assistant manager is listed as the PM.
There is also a maintenance engineer who is responsible for their own labor and health insurance, but is required to clock in, attend meetings, and work overtime. They bear all the responsibilities of a regular employee, while the company only pays their salary and overtime.
For outsourced hardware and software design work, the boss said, “First tell them about five functions, then add the rest gradually; that’s cheaper.”
This is how the boss takes advantage of subcontractors. Anyone taking work from this company should quote 150–200% of the original price directly, because rework will be necessary.
In the middle of working with an external partner, the boss stabbed them in the back. The partner then threatened to bring down the company.
The company sought to work with a supplier of “black-light night-vision cameras,” while the boss separately found another team to copy the supplier’s product.
As a result, the long-term employees there have all become crafty veterans. They are very good at pushing work onto others and slacking off. Everyone wants to leave, but they are tied down by severance pay. Since the company will not lay them off and their own abilities are limited, they can only continue muddling through.
Employees undermine one another. Those crafty veterans only think about pushing work onto new employees who are willing to work hard but do not yet understand the situation. They themselves can sneak out 15–30 minutes early.
Field staff slack off outside, do not use their brains, and do not learn what they should. Saying “I don’t know how” makes everything go away. They report working overtime outside until 7 p.m. as ending at 8 p.m.
This company survives because the boss has connections through Professor X to obtain government contracts. That boss also has other businesses.
There are only about 12 people in total in Taipei and Kaohsiung—a tiny company. The female assistant manager in Kaohsiung divided the company into four factions.
Later, so many people left the Kaohsiung office under the boss’s management that it was placed under Professor X’s management instead.
This company is suitable for people who dare to slack off, exploit opportunities, take advantage of others, and be selfish and domineering. How much you can earn after joining depends on your own abilities.
It is not a company where you can work diligently, cooperate as a team, or develop a career.
This is a painful personal experience. I hope everyone can avoid misfortune and seek good fortune.
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Taiwan Taipei District Court Civil Judgment No. 183, Summary Appeal, 2021 (19K)\t2022.11.16\tPayment of commission remuneration
Appellant: Yiqi Information Co., Ltd.
Appellee: Chien Ho Machinery Co., Ltd.
The appellee’s claim in the main action, pursuant to Subparagraphs 5 and 6 of Article 2 of the contract in question, seeking payment from the appellant of NT$467,500, plus interest calculated at an annual rate of 5% from November 9, 2019, until the date of repayment, has merit and should be granted.
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Taiwan Kaohsiung District Court Civil Judgment No. 23, Summary Labor Appeal, 2020 (13K)\t2022.05.09\tReimbursement of advanced payment
Appellant: Yang Wen-Yi
Appellee: Yiqi Information Co., Ltd.
Pursuant to the parties’ agreement and Articles 546(1) and 229 of the Civil Code, the appellant’s claim against the appellee for NT$289,000 in reimbursement of advanced payments and NT$11,577 in late-payment interest, totaling NT$300,577, plus interest on NT$289,000 calculated at an annual rate of 5% from October 1, 2020, until the date of repayment, has merit and should be granted.
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Taiwan New Taipei District Court Civil Judgment No. 755, 2019 (22K)\t2019.08.16\tPayment of construction fees
Plaintiff: Gong Quan Enterprise Co., Ltd.
Defendant: Yiqi Information Co., Ltd.
Accordingly, based on the contractual relationship between the parties, the plaintiff’s claim requiring the defendant to pay NT$2,629,123, plus statutory late-payment interest calculated at an annual rate of 5% from October 21, 2018, until the date of repayment, has merit and should be granted.