欣興電子股份有限公司

None

There are hardly any benefits. The bread made by a related company is sold to employees at a very high price. When they want to fire you, they start looking for faults with you, but it is actually all due to the supervisor’s problems. My department used to be heaven—I was happy and stress-free at work every day. After the supervisor changed, it became hell: endless demands and cliques. Recently, they threatened to fire me. That’s fine; it’s not as if I’ve never been fired before. But I won’t just meekly accept being fired either. We’ll see each other at the Labor Bureau then—let’s see who’s more capable, you or me.

The work is simple, most colleagues are easy to get along with, though there are still some assholes.

Yangmei Plant, R&D Engineer

1. A senior colleague said this report needed to be done, but the manager later said it had nothing to do with the previous work. The senior colleague refused to take responsibility.

2. I was given a document for another manager to sign. I misheard and said it had already been confirmed, so I signed it. When something went wrong after I signed it, they said it was my fault.

3. When the manager wants to fire someone, they relentlessly look for ways to make trouble for you.

4. They brought up things that were not mentioned in the PIP and claimed that other things had not been achieved either.

5. Regarding the items they said needed improvement, they only told me to think of other ways to do them without explaining how they should be completed. I could be a manager like this too.

Too big to fail

The salary is padded with a bunch of allowances, and the year-end bonus is calculated based on the base salary, so it isn't very high.

The plant seems to have a very high turnover rate, with lots of people quitting and running away. As a result, nobody wants to join, and the workload keeps increasing.

Many of those who remain are numb and unmotivated, and some people are really difficult to deal with.

Training for newcomers is also poor; many just tell you to learn while doing the job.

Then, if something goes wrong, you get harshly berated. After only a month and a half, I was thrown onto the night shift to work alone.

If you aren't short of money, don't come here.

It seems there were no advantages.

This was a very unpleasant workplace experience. Looking at everyone’s reviews, I realized that they all expressed the same sentiment. I applied to work at the Yangmei plant, on the seventh floor, where the Troy machines were being replaced. There was an older woman surnamed Yeh who behaved tyrannically there. Relying on her relationship with a certain shift supervisor, she constantly bullied and suppressed others. I endured her for three months. Later, when I was about to leave, I reported the situation to the manager, thinking that, because he was young, he would be reasonable and discerning. However, he failed to distinguish right from wrong and believed that I was the problem. The HR representative was very kind and offered to transfer me to another location, but after being treated this way by that older woman, I was too afraid. Perhaps the high employee turnover is due to the presence of people like this, which brings many negative effects to the company.

None

Xinxing appears to be a major industry leader on the surface, but in reality it is a terrible company with no benefits or bonuses.

Supervisors expect employees to work overtime every day and be available whenever called.

The kind of place where people get so bored they wander around the company.

Meetings from morning to night.

They refuse to train newcomers, and the turnover rate is particularly high. New employees are left to fend for themselves. There are mentors, but they are only mentors in name and do not teach people. They also keep saying that newcomers should visit other stations more often and that they will learn just by watching—is there any need to work then?

Newcomers receive very low scores on their handbook evaluations, while mentors directly give themselves scores of 100. That's quite something.

Supervisors form cliques and have their own yes-men. They treat newcomers like strangers, and they also love emotional manipulation. The overall atmosphere and feeling are very poor. It is only suitable for short-term work, not for staying long-term. Team leaders lack professionalism and exploit people by relying on their seniority. Although their job grades are lower than engineers', they always speak louder than everyone else. There are many unwritten rules. Not recommended.

After work, ride to the latter part of Zhongxing Road, where there are many night-market snacks.

The dormitory is close to a 7-ELEVEN.

This company runs like a military operation, while also making people feel like they are in prison.

The office supervisors at the S2 plant are all a bunch of shit-eaters.

Customer audits are like French bulldogs waiting to screw you in the thigh.

Every central quality audit is like Mazu going on procession—kneel and worship to pray for safety.

And when dealing with technicians or line leaders, all you get are dead-fish eyes telling you to do it, so you do it! They are also extremely rude and use profanity. Some line leaders constantly have “fuck your mother” on the tip of their tongues, which makes people extremely uncomfortable. Complaints to the office ultimately go nowhere. (Clearly favoritism.)

If you take leave for personal matters, the department line leader starts yelling and cursing. Why don’t you call in someone to cover the headcount and let them earn some extra money? Won’t the work just be postponed? (Do you have to wait until someone in your family dies before you’re willing to approve leave? There is no respect at all.)

There are an enormous number of miscellaneous tasks, with relentless night shifts and overtime—12 hours every day.

I have sacrificed both my physical strength and my liver; it would be strange not to get sick.

I live in New Taipei City, and during the interview they said dormitory accommodation was available.

The key points: lots of idiots—day and night shifts mixed together—lots of thieves—people using the toilets are extremely disgusting and filthy, and there are also gangsters and robbers in the dormitory.

The company’s lunches and dinners are, seriously, extremely unappetizing.

Whenever I go home or return to the dormitory, I have to take stomach medicine for relief. Even worse, there are cockroaches and rat droppings in the meals.

No wonder people would want to quit. The company has an inflated sense of self and is beyond saving.

It probably just won’t go under.

As a process engineer, there are several days every month when you work until the middle of the night—around 12 or 1 a.m.—and there is no overtime pay. To avoid being reported, the company simply blocks you from submitting overtime through the system. You may not even be allowed to report 46 hours of overtime each month; sometimes the limit is only 16 hours. What do the company’s peak and off-peak seasons have to do with me? During the off-season, they cut overtime reporting, and the money all goes to the supervisors. There is barely any difference between engineers and operators. Operators can at least leave work and take breaks on time. I’ve never seen such a terrible company. The benefits are poor, the environment is bad, and the food—perhaps because this isn’t the main plant—is barely any different from eating spoiled leftovers. Anyone considering joining should really think twice.

None

The training is very poor. I spent several months wasting my time. The benefits are very poor. Other than being poor, I don't know what advantages there are.

Still willing to conduct interviews

A little over six months ago, I had an online interview with your company due to the pandemic. On the day of the interview, I only spoke with an HR representative. She merely helped me fill in the missing parts of my résumé, and then spent time chatting with me. She said the manager was still in a meeting, so she asked me to speak with her first. After we finished, HR went to speak with the manager, but the response was that the manager was currently unavailable and asked me to wait for news about a second interview. As a result, I ended up waiting for more than six months. If I was not a suitable candidate, you should have made that clear—why simply ghost me like that?

Fortunately, the company I currently work for does not simply ghost interviewees.

1. Interviewees receive bread produced by the company as a gift.

2. Mineral water is available for interviewees to quench their thirst during the interview.

3. The production process supervisor is very young, so there should be less of a generation gap in communication.

4. There is a meal allowance, a restaurant, and a convenience store.

1. The recruitment center scheduled the interviewee for an interview at 13:00, but they were extremely strict about the timing—even 12:59:59 was considered too early—and would not open the door until the bell rang. As a result, the interviewee was told to wait at a restaurant outside, leaving them waiting around outside for no reason!

2. I sent back the personnel information form three times, but HR said they had not received it each time! Strange. Very strange...

The restaurant is delicious.

The section manager of Manufacturing Department 3 is prejudiced against new employees and often suspects that they are slacking off (when in fact they are handling abnormalities with senior employees until early morning, which he knows). He likes telling the engineers under him bad things about other engineers and also makes engineers take the blame for him. He avoids handling major abnormalities at the plant and reporting them to senior managers.

When project reports are delivered, he pays no attention. He spends all day suspecting that engineers are doing nothing, when in reality they are working extremely hard. He also uses various excuses to block legitimate overtime claims. He boasts that he is the manager of the department with the highest turnover rate. Human Resources has known about this for a long time but has chosen to ignore the fundamental cause, resulting in frequent staff turnover. This company's notorious reputation is not unfounded; job seekers are advised to think twice.

1. The company pays half of the meal cost, so each meal only costs NT$25.

2. There is an OK Mart on-site with a 15% discount.

3. Payday is on the first of each month, but the calculation period runs from the 21st of the month before last to the 20th of last month.

1. You have to write a three-month counseling manual, but basically no one reads it seriously.

Especially the shift leaders and supervisors—they simply don't care what you wrote or what issues you reported.

2. The smoking area is incredibly stinky, and the dock's garbage and recycling area is also very smelly. It's filled with exhaust fumes from forklifts and recycling contractors' trucks.

The facility's air intake is right next to it, so inside you end up inhaling plenty of exhaust from those diesel vehicles.

3. Whether you become a regular employee depends on the shift leader's mood. If you don't flatter them, you have no chance of becoming a regular employee.

1. The company covers half the meal cost, so each meal only costs 25 yuan.

2. There is an OK convenience store on-site offering 15% off.

3. Salaries are paid on the first day of each month, but the calculation period runs from the 21st of the month before last to the 20th of last month.

1. You have to write a three-month guidance manual, but basically no one will read it seriously.

Especially the team leaders and supervisors—they simply don't care what you wrote or what issues you pointed out.

2. The smoking area is extremely smelly, and the areas at the dock where garbage and recyclables are discarded are also very smelly. They are filled with exhaust fumes from forklifts and recycling company trucks.

The facility's air intake is right next to these areas, so while inside, you end up breathing in plenty of exhaust fumes from those diesel vehicles.

3. Whether you become a regular employee depends on the team leader's mood. If you don't flatter them, you won't have a chance to become a regular employee.

...........

Interview, waiting for notification

They said that if I wasn't notified of acceptance within 3 days,

then I had not been accepted......

The interview only asked about my work experience

and whether I had any questions for them.

Afterward, they said they would show my résumé to the supervisor.

If I was accepted, they would notify me within three days.

Learn professional skills; there are quite a lot of internal training courses.

They don't tell you what you need to improve. When they plan to lay you off, they pick people off one by one and don't notify you in advance about the layoff.

Of the approximately 13 people I met during the same training cohort, 11 were gone before I was laid off after two years. I strongly suspect that the people they recruit are all just being hired to be laid off.....

There is also a cost-cutting month every year, during which every department has to propose cost-saving measures.

Most of the time, it just means not spending money for those few months and spending it later. Instead, why not close down the loss-making investment companies...

During the annual cost month (several months), overtime cannot be claimed for overtime pay, and nothing that needs to be purchased can be purchased.

First, I’m not HR or a manager. I’m simply a survivor who escaped from the gorillas.

I saw someone claiming to be a fellow employee of Unimicron share their thoughts, so I’ll also offer my two cents.

Let me give you the conclusion first: it’s absolutely terrible!

My background: bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from national universities.

When I had just graduated in 2011, there were many things I didn’t understand, so after posting my résumé on 104, I applied everywhere at random.

Luckily, I got into N. At the time, they offered me NT$50,000/month (IC design had not yet undergone structural salary adjustments).

Since I was unsettled at the time and wanted to see more, I thought working at a chip-design house was boring,

so I resigned after working there for only a short while, haha.

Because my family lives in Taoyuan, I thought I’d look for a company closer to home!

I opened 104 and saw that the company claiming to be the world’s number-one PCB manufacturer—the gorillas! I figured I’d submit my résumé and see what happened~

Little did I know that this was the beginning of my nightmare...

First! With the same educational background, N could offer NT$50,000, while you gorillas could only offer NT$40,000. The starting salary for new hires was already NT$10,000 lower = =

N’s monthly salary structure was NT$48,200 base salary + NT$1,800 meal allowance = NT$50,000.

The gorillas’ monthly salary structure was NT$32,200 base salary + NT$1,800 meal allowance + NT$6,000 bonus = NT$40,000.

At the time, I thought it was strange: this NT$6,000 bonus was paid every month!

Why not just make it NT$38,200 base salary + NT$1,800 meal allowance = NT$40,000?

Later I learned that it was because their labor-insurance and retirement contributions were calculated based on NT$32,200...

Next, regarding the supposed guarantee of 14 months’ pay:

I don’t know whether the operators on the production floor really have the two options mentioned in the previous article.

But engineers definitely are not guaranteed 14 months’ pay!

At year-end, you “might” receive up to two months of year-end bonuses. Of course, “might” means it isn’t guaranteed = =

And they don’t give you the two months all at once at Lunar New Year!!

They pay one portion around New Year, and delay the other until April...

Supposedly, this is to prevent a bunch of people from resigning after the New Year! But I think the effect is extremely limited.

Of course, the bonus base is still calculated using NT$32,200....

Don’t fantasize about having it calculated using your full salary. Otherwise, why would they bother labeling NT$6,000 as a “bonus”?

When I was at the gorillas, I received NT$32,200 in the payment made around New Year, and only NT$25,000 in the April payment.

Does this system meet what ordinary people define as 14 months’ pay?

If you think these figures are fine, have you really worked at other companies?

The three holiday bonuses are just NT$1,000 gift vouchers; recently, they’ve evolved into bread vouchers...

As for profit sharing, you have to stay for three years before becoming eligible.

And if you want to receive profit sharing, you first have to give up the NT$6,000 monthly bonus!

That means your monthly salary must first be reduced by NT$6,000.

I’ve honestly never heard of a system like this at any other company.... Too incredible.

Next, let’s talk about working hours.

I stayed at the gorillas for a little over a year, and I found the level of suffering comparable to military service.

Every day, I didn’t get off work until after 10 p.m. to eat dinner. There were endless customer complaints and emails to handle, as well as never-ending meetings.

Want to claim overtime pay? Don’t even dream about it, okay? We didn’t even have a five-day workweek, okay!

When I interviewed, I thought a five-day workweek and 14 months’ guaranteed pay were common sense in the tech industry.

It turned out I was simply too naive...

That’s how I worked more than 12 hours every day. The extra hours were simply accumulated as unseen virtue.

If you want to report overtime, just wait to be torn apart.

My friend’s older brother worked as a process engineer at the gorillas. His supervisor told him that when 6 p.m. arrived, he should clock out first, then come back and keep working...

During my time at the gorillas, I thought more than once that leaving N on impulse had been an idiotic decision...

Leaving N for the gorillas was like breaking up with Tofu Girl and then dating Ferrari Girl...

I found that most managers and senior colleagues who had stayed at the gorillas for a long time had made it their first job.

So they had never compared it with outside companies and didn’t know what good or bad compensation was like.

Or perhaps their education and work experience were not competitive, or they had reached a certain age and couldn’t leave, so they had no choice but to stay at the gorillas and comfort themselves.

When I submitted my resignation, my supervisor asked me why.

I told him that I had attended a class reunion and discovered that my annual salary was the lowest—only about NT$550,000.

The second-lowest annual salary was NT$700,000.

Working until 10 p.m. every day while earning only NT$550,000 a year—I thought it was ridiculous.

(Actually, I made up the class reunion. The NT$700,000 figure was roughly calculated by multiplying N’s monthly salary by 14.)

My immediate supervisor asked me, “Why do your classmates earn such high annual salaries?” (My inner voice: WTF....)

I said, “Because we graduated from electrical engineering, and most of them work in IC design. Compensation in IC design is naturally better than in factories.”

Damn, do you know what he said to me?

He looked very displeased and said:

“Oh, then let me tell you: that’s all they’ll amount to in the future!”

At that moment, all I could do was remain speechless = =

If you’re too old to jump to another job, is sarcasm all you have left?

My senior manager had a better temper. He said to me very kindly:

“number89757, stay here and work hard. In the future, you’ll also earn NT$700,000 a year.”

Me: “......”

For crying out loud... That wording does sound like an attempt to encourage a subordinate, but aren’t the numbers a little strange?

Since when can an annual salary of NT$700,000 be used as an unrealistic carrot = =

After hearing that, I was truly certain that my decision to resign was correct...

I’ve now moved to an IC design company. I leave at 5:30 a.m. every day. The work isn’t merely relaxed—it’s so easy I’m practically catching a cold from it,

but my annual salary is twice what it was at the gorillas.

To the colleague who generously shared in the previous post:

Thank you for sharing what you saw. I’ll share what I saw as well.

There’s absolutely a reason a company ends up being condemned so harshly on a tech-industry forum.

People aren’t just bored and looking for a company to attack for no reason.

There have already been news reports online about Unimicron being short-staffed.

Here is an excerpt:

===========================

Unimicron Chairman Tzeng Tzu-chang frankly stated that, under the influence of declining birthrates, “having orders but still being unable to recruit workers” will become the industry norm. This is especially true because PCB-industry standards and manufacturing schedules vary, and automation requires further customization to match process equipment. Unimicron has established a project team to address the challenge.

===========================

When have you ever seen a similar news report whose subject was Chairman MediaTek’s Ming-Kai Tsai or Chairman Morris Chang?

Why don’t those companies have labor shortages, with countless people practically crawling to get in, while only you gorillas are short-staffed?

If you think you should be satisfied as long as the company pays your monthly salary on time, then I think this forum might as well be shut down.

Pros:

The salary is a little better than average.

A large company is unlikely to go under, though some plants have suspended operations before.

Turnover is high among lower-level employees; after working for half a year, you’ll already be considered a veteran.

Newcomers have to do every dirty job, so you learn things very quickly.

Cons:

Bureaucratic language and a severe internal political culture.

Those who can do the work are worked to death; those who can talk get to enjoy themselves to the fullest.

Most lower-level employees are treated worse than animals, while most middle managers conceal problems from their superiors and nearly all senior management turns a blind eye.

Recommendation: Go in and gain experience for a few years; when you leave, you’ll be practically impervious to anything.

The company has many plants, and the culture and management are genuinely different at each one. Some are very lean, while others are very old-school PCB.

Overall, the plants whose names start with S are more worth considering.

The company calls itself a department store for the PCB industry, with every kind of product line—it's just that they are distributed across different plants. As a result, some plants produce products that are not profitable, so the benefits and year-end bonuses are terrible, while plants making profitable products have astonishing benefits and year-end bonuses. For example, one year, the grand prizes at the year-end parties of Plant H and Plant S differed by two scooters versus two cars. The difference was enormous.

The boss is considered keen on innovation in terms of the management system. If you cannot get into a first-rate system manufacturer or design house, this company is worth coming to observe and learn from. It falls short compared with the best, but is still far better than many companies below it. Personally, I even rate this company higher than hTC.

In addition, this company is basically better to its operators than to its engineers. However, if you endure long enough to get your turn in line, an engineer's salary and bonuses will still vastly exceed those of an operator. The mental pressure and time required may simply not be proportional to the compensation.

This is a company that falls short of the best but is far better than most alternatives. Although the bread coupons are genuinely something to complain about, it is not a completely worthless or terrible company.

A really shady company. Experienced workers train newcomers, then openly sleep on the production line. As for the newcomers, they work until they’re more exhausted than a dog. The supervisors see it but pretend they don’t—like they’re blinded by ghosts…

Senior and middle management require junior engineers to answer production-line calls 24 hours a day. If a call is missed, they repeatedly make sarcastic remarks (such as “living too comfortably”). If you miss more than three calls, they imply that you have no future.

A very dark company.