衍序規劃設計顧問有限公司

The company values design thinking and research, and offers exposure to a diverse range of spatial types and scales, from interior design and architecture to urban space and landscape design and planning. The company’s projects are not limited to traditional “architecture.” Overall curation often involves many opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration depending on the characteristics of each project, including art, music, theater, visual arts, traditional culture, education, food and agriculture, and more. We work with professionals from many different fields, making the cross-disciplinary nature of the work very interesting.

The company is conscientious: it provides legally required labor and health insurance and overtime pay, and observes a five-day workweek (except when particularly urgent projects require weekend work, which happens approximately once every two months). It offers bonuses for the three major holidays, year-end bonuses, transportation allowances for overtime work (reimbursed based on actual expenses), overseas employee trips, occasional group meals and birthday celebrations, year-end parties and spring banquets, holiday gifts, coffee, tea, and afternoon snacks, performance bonuses depending on the project, company vehicles for official business, and courses taught by experts in the relevant fields depending on the nature of the project.

It’s a little far from my home, so the commute takes 40 minutes (the company is near Shilin MRT Station).

1. There are many young employees who have recently graduated, full of ambition and talent, and most people are easy to get along with

2. Free coffee and snacks are provided, and when working overtime for business reasons, dinner is ordered for everyone to eat together

3. The company has received many awards, has extensive connections and abundant resources, and is skilled at marketing the company and senior management’s image

4. You can gain exposure to all kinds of interesting projects; for fresh graduates entering the workforce, it is an opportunity to build up their work experience

1. They may accidentally forget to enroll full-time employees in labor and health insurance and the labor pension program, violating the Labor Standards Act requirement that employees must still be insured during the probationary period

2. Overtime is part of everyday life. During busy periods, working hours start at 10–12 hours a day, and there is no overtime pay

3. The company lacks clearly documented policies and procedures and does not proactively communicate them. To learn about the company’s policies, you have to ask around yourself

4. The open-plan office has insufficient seating and space. Loud-voiced managers often make phone calls in the same space, causing severe noise that interferes with work

5. Working hours are often used for inefficient meetings, creating a vicious cycle in which employees can only work overtime or stay up late to complete their work

6. Managers and senior colleagues habitually arrive late, causing shared work to be delayed and making it necessary to work overtime to finish it

7. The handover process for new employees is very strange. Colleagues are also reluctant to share or provide access to the company information needed for the job, or they claim that they do not have permission. They always share information little by little, as if squeezing toothpaste, leaving new employees feeling excluded and helpless because it is difficult to understand the company. As a result, during meetings, they are always completely unfamiliar with the past company projects mentioned by managers. It is unclear whether this is simply the company culture—being highly guarded toward newcomers—or whether there are other factors, because I have never encountered a similar experience at companies I worked for in the past.