Successfully and thoroughly established a corporate brainwashing culture
No overtime pay
They say it is company culture; if you cannot accept it, leave
Before joining, employees are required to sign a voluntary resignation letter in advance
They openly state that the practices do not comply with the Labor Standards Act and frankly admit that they indeed do not comply with it, but say that it is company culture and that those who cannot accept it should leave
Most of my coworkers are pretty nice.
The second-generation successor took over the family business but is very poor at management. They often try to fool employees with ridiculous excuses or spread false information that leaves everyone feeling anxious and unsettled. The workload is extremely heavy, while the pay is absurdly low. Sometimes, right before the end of the workday, they assign tasks that are plainly impossible to finish, then seriously claim that it is for the good of the company.
It is also very difficult to find parking here.
There is a water dispenser where you can fill up your water bottle
In theory, you can still leave and go home when the workday ends
There is an annual bonus, ranging from half a month’s salary to one month’s salary
Management is genuinely quite chaotic. The direction often changes back and forth, and they do not really listen to suggestions from the people actually doing the work. After problems arise, it is usually still the people at the lower levels who have to figure out how to clean up the mess, while management rarely seriously reflects on its own decisions. Sometimes, they even directly question and belittle employees’ abilities.
In addition, the company often treats AI as a universal answer. Some requests are clearly not very reasonable, but they will still say, “We have AI now, so it should be doable, right?” Sometimes it really feels as if AI has become something like a god to them.
For foreign employees, I would recommend paying particular attention to contract renewals and ARC matters. The renewal process is sometimes repeatedly delayed until the ARC is almost about to expire before they start handling it. The whole process can easily make you feel as though they are deliberately playing a timing game with you. For foreign employees, this approach is actually quite stressful, because you do not really dare to confidently look for another job at that point.
However, after staying for a while, you will realize that many of the harsh things they say are actually just bluffing. The things they can really use to threaten you are not as numerous as they sound.
There were several times when they said they were holding a meeting, but it was actually a large-scale PUA brainwashing session. They said that if you could not finish your work, you should take more responsibility yourself and work overtime to complete it; if you could not work overtime on weekdays, you could come in and work overtime on weekends, and the company would not stop you.
After that, they would tell you that work makes up a large part of life and teach you to put your heart into it, saying that you should work hard and grow during the time you spend here so that it would be worthwhile; otherwise, it would be a waste of time. However, there is no substantive salary-increase system—everything depends on the boss’s mood. Working diligently is simply what you are expected to do, while a raise is treated as a generous reward from them. They added NT$3,000 and expected you to take on all the work of a colleague who had already resigned. Overtime pay can only be collected at the end of the year, and every task is both urgent and rushed.
The manager even saves the cost of communicating with other departments. In the middle of a project, they casually let other departments interfere with the development team and editorial department’s schedules, causing the project to fall short of its expected results. After all, the manager has complete freedom; if you do not do well, that is your own problem, and when issues arise, they will simply say that the employees did not properly fulfill their responsibilities.
Honestly, sometimes I am actually quite impressed that they can spend so much time studying how to manipulate employees and play these psychological games. If they devoted that time to proper management, perhaps so many people would not keep resigning every year.
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For a university graduate just entering society, starting a career is always exciting. You enter the workplace with aspirations and dreams, believing that hard work will earn you fair compensation and treatment. Unfortunately, if you happen to join this company… please cherish yourself and your life. After gaining some experience, remember to leave. Once you have worked here, you will understand what a human-centered workplace other companies can offer. If you want to practice learning what the workplace is like and understand what toxic people, PUA, and psychological torment are like—you can come here to be tested. It may make you stronger inside… or it may leave you needing to spend money seeing a mental health professional. Life is beautiful, and there are many ways to make money. Remember: don’t waste all your time here. Being in the wrong place may cause you lifelong pain and trauma, and could even make you unable to trust people again. I hope recent graduates can find somewhere better. Spread your wings and fly forward with all your strength. Don’t stay here—you all deserve better.
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I am a foreigner and a full-time student in Taiwan pursuing a second degree; I had already completed my first degree in my home country. After notifying me that I had been hired, Melody (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) required me to start work within two weeks, so I had to suspend my studies and hurriedly resign from my part-time teaching job. When I was in a difficult position, the Company instructed me to lie to my former employer to avoid offending my former boss. Eager to obtain a work visa, I did as instructed. Even though my job with my former employer was only part-time, I still felt guilty toward them.
On my first day at the Company, the position was not the one I had applied for and interviewed for in two rounds. Even the salary had changed from 40,000 + bonuses to just 40,000. The Company said I had started too late and that, because I was not Taiwanese and had an accent, I was unable to perform the position they had originally offered me. But I had gone through two rounds of interviews—didn’t they notice my accent during either of them?! The Company assigned me to another position, which I accepted, but a week later said I was not capable of performing it. They assigned me a third position, reduced my salary to 33,000, shortened the validity period of my work visa from one year to three months, and had three senior managers at a round table jointly pressure me to sign an undated “resignation agreement.” I refused. The Company said that I had to either sign immediately or get out immediately, claiming that they could hire someone to replace me right away. They also said I was incompetent and unable to work across fields, which was why I could not perform work in a position that I had neither applied for nor been offered initially. I signed while crying, hoping to find a new job within three months.
The Company said it was checking whether another position might be more suitable for me, but for three consecutive days it kept making things difficult for me. I worked overtime every day and was still required to shoulder the responsibilities for which I had previously been accused of being “unable to perform,” while there was still no news about the “other position.” On the morning of the fourth day, I completed the final procedure for changing my residence permit at the National Immigration Agency. My supervisor then continued to make things difficult for me on LINE, so I returned to the Company in the afternoon to resign. I had been there for ten days in total and worked overtime every day. Even if I resign without another job lined up, I will not become a cheap laborer. I discovered the deception on my first day of work, so I did not suspend my studies. Otherwise, both my student visa and work visa would have become invalid; unless I resumed my studies, I would have had to leave Taiwan within ten days while undocumented—a fact the Company knew.
I have worked for companies in the United Kingdom and mainland China, with both good and bad experiences; but Melody is the most despicable and poorly managed company I have ever encountered.
Hello, I'm the graphic designer Takeshi Kaneshiro. I don't know why everyone says this place is terrible, but I think it's absolutely amazing!
Although I work overtime every day, with my monthly overtime reaching as much as 38.5 hours, I'm such a hardworking and ambitious employee that I still think it's too little. My dream is to dedicate myself to the company every day!
The second-best thing is the workload here. They ask you to complete a mountain of work within a week, and I absolutely love this kind of challenge. How can you improve without pressure?
The third-best thing is my salary. I take home less than 26K, and I have to think for a long time every day about whether I can afford a boxed meal with a braised egg. It makes me so happy. My goodness, I must have done a lot of good deeds in my past life to be able to join this company!
The very best thing here is that overtime pay isn't provided according to the Labor Standards Act. Why should every employee care about that tiny bit of overtime pay? I don't care at all how much they pay me, because who can blame me when I'm such a competent and handsome employee?
I dreamed that Mazu said the advantages here are that there are lots of places to eat nearby and that it’s close to an MRT station.
I also dreamed that Mazu and the Bodhisattva came to tell me that if you work here, you’ll learn many techniques for passing the buck. No one here likes to take responsibility; instead, they love shifting the blame. In the end, you’ll discover that you’re the one left holding the bag.
In the dream, the Bodhisattva also earnestly said that there is no overtime pay here. And you’ll work overtime entirely because the people here suddenly remember that they need this or that, then come to tell you they need it today/tomorrow/the day after tomorrow. It never ends, so your overtime never ends either. The Bodhisattva said: “They love this kind of surprise-work approach the most.”
Finally, Mazu and the Bodhisattva said to me simultaneously in the dream: “Don’t wrong yourself by staying in a place with so many treacherous people. There are even more jobs out there with better benefits and higher salaries.”
After that, I woke up from the dream!
Please have Ye Pei-wen come here to whitewash this.
Today is February 28, a day when ordinary companies usually take a long weekend. Yet someone actually took the time to specifically look for “Job Search Clairvoyance” and come here to post a “positive review.” By my rough calculation, the probability seems as low as 1%. On top of that, there appear to be far too many coincidences in the volume of these posts, so cutting the probability in half brings it down to just 0.5%. I’ll boldly hypothesize that the company hired the well-known celebrity “Ye Pei-wen” herself to write these posts~
This company is very good at brainwashing employees and emotionally blackmailing them. All the negative comments above are absolutely true.
1. A large number of positive reviews suddenly poured in. Were employees forced by the boss to leave them?
2. Employees would not know each other's salaries, so how would they know that “the starting salary is considered quite competitive locally”?
3. “There are many long-serving employees who have worked at the company for more than 20 years.” Who would know this so clearly?
4. “You often need to sacrifice your own time.” This seems to have appeared in previous comments too!
5. Are you living under a White Terror? Is freedom of speech not allowed, or are you writing essays praising the company?
6. What people do is seen by heaven. So many positive reviews suddenly appeared—what are you trying to whitewash?
7. A good company isn't afraid of what others say, but this company seems to be saying it all by the boss himself?
You can definitely learn a lot of things~ including things unrelated to your own field~~!
After reading today’s article and some of the comments...
Melody, your esteemed company is so efficient that even when trying to fabricate positive reviews for yourselves, you had to carry out the whitewashing within these few hours on the same day...
All I can say is that your company is really efficient~ but you could be a little lazier. You couldn’t even be bothered to come here at different times on different days to put on an act...
Judging from the wording and punctuation, it is very obvious (if this is true, it is purely speculation)... that this was done by the company’s senior management personally + employees who were coerced and forced to do it. I estimate this may even be one of the items on their daily work reports~ pfft~ The good article posted today and the other whitewashing replies really are “trying to cover up the truth and only making it more obvious.” Did you really think carefully about your actions today..... Do you think people online are all idiots.... I’m dying laughing!
Comparing myself now to who I was a year ago, I’ve grown a lot. The colleagues at the company get along harmoniously, and everyone is very nice. There’s also a study group. If you want to improve your work skills, you can come here—there are many opportunities for development.
You often need to sacrifice your own time.
During the interview, I gave a demonstration lesson based on the beginning of the course.
The supervisor who reviewed the course content was very attentive and gave me many suggestions.
Although I had been teaching for a long time, I had not noticed these issues at all.
Although I was a little discouraged that I ultimately did not join the company, I am still very grateful for the supervisor’s suggestions at the time.
I had to wait for about 10 minutes.
Because the company has a relatively large organizational structure and many departments, you can interact with many different types of colleagues in your daily work. This allows you to observe different types of work and saves you the time and effort of interviewing for jobs that are not suitable for you. At the same time, there are opportunities to participate in project collaboration, which can help you discover your strengths and weaknesses in different fields, retain your strengths, and fine-tune your weaknesses. It is more suitable for people who hold themselves to high standards and are willing to put in the effort.
It is suitable for proactive learners. Most of the managers and colleagues are willing to teach and help others make adjustments, and they generally do not put on airs.
It is suitable for people who enjoy growing. Every year, you can see a significant improvement in your abilities, and your market value outside the company also increases year after year.
There are many employees in the company, so you need to learn communication skills and respect differences. Everyone has a different background and upbringing, and completing projects successfully requires honing your communication skills and empathy.
This company places great importance on human connections. Whenever something comes up, everyone is willing to help one another, so it doesn’t have the heartlessness often found in ordinary corporate workplaces.
The starting salary is quite competitive for the local area!
If you have the ability, you can indeed develop your career to the fullest at this company. There are many long-serving employees who have worked here for more than 20 years. Employee identification with the company is extremely high.
The company does not provide free lunches or free accommodation, so employees from other counties or cities have to rent housing at their own expense.
The colleagues are very nice
The salary offered is even lower than 104, taking advantage of newcomers
They often treat people like idiots
Today they tell you to do something one way; after you finish, someone else tells you to change it. There is absolutely no one accountable, and the people who suffer are always the implementers
When a client says they want something done a certain way, they do not discuss it with the staff at all. The boss orders it, and you have to completely overhaul it within two days
Anyway, with this wave of cram-school bans, there is no hope left. If you want to become unemployed early, everyone is welcome to join Melody's warm family. Be proactive and enthusiastic ❤
The interview was conducted in English, though I'm not sure whether that counts as a pro.
1. They said they would get back to me the following week, and then never responded at all. That's a breach of their word.
2. They don't respect job applicants' time. When sending the interview invitation, they didn't mention that there would be a coding test. Then, at the interview, they asked me to implement a certain feature on a computer I wasn't familiar with. It was very unpleasant and time-consuming, yet they insisted that it was to understand the applicant's process of building something from scratch.
3. The hiring manager's ambitions are huge, but the salary offered is very low.
The only pro… it’s close to the MRT!
The company culture is terrible! Exploitative boss culture! Most importantly… the manager~ the manager~ the manager—it’s important, said three times. If you don’t believe me, give it a try!!
For me, after trying so many jobs after graduation, Melody provided me with an excellent learning platform. The company is very warm and welcoming, but also highly challenging. The interview standards are high; you need good English skills and the ability to respond effectively to changing situations. Here, I often take on challenges that I normally would not. Every manager is someone worth learning from. Melody is a work environment that encourages self-challenge and sets high standards for oneself. The company is also constantly innovating. I have had many firsts here: speaking in front of a hundred people for the first time, learning about the process of creating an app for the first time, going on a company trip to Japan for the first time, attending the Shanghai Book Fair for the first time, and traveling to New York to obtain a certification for the first time. There have been so many firsts. These challenges have once again proven that young Taiwanese graduates are not “strawberry generation” employees!
At times, you really do have to sacrifice some of your personal time.
Close to the MRT station
The second generation runs the company, creating a chaotic and unpleasant environment. They are extremely stingy and harsh, both in their words and with salaries. The overtime is excessive, and there is 【no overtime pay】. Employees have to sacrifice their weekends and holidays to work overtime, and when they take compensatory leave on Monday, they are still subjected to endless nagging... and so on—the grievances are too numerous to list. In short, anyone considering going for an interview should think twice.