Flexible working hours
Convenient dining options
Frontline colleagues are very easy to get along with
Suitable for taking it easy
Someone who previously served as a group general manager at MSI
was promoted by the new chairman to become a parachuted-in vice president.
He brings his former subordinates from various places and parachutes them in as managers.
I heard he secured a huge budget,
but the products still have not improved and cannot be sold.
A department director underneath him dumps reports on subordinates to complete all day.
After they finish, he has a lot of opinions, demands endless revisions, and berates people loudly in the office without showing them any respect.
He does not let you rest until midnight and keeps pressuring you for progress.
If you submit an overtime form, he makes a note of it (and gives you a terrible performance evaluation).
I also heard that he spends a lot of budget traveling abroad to visit clients,
but never brings back any results?
His subordinates really dislike his management style,
but I do not know why the senior executives above him have never noticed the reason people keep coming and going.
I wasn't scammed—I learned a life lesson. I almost went to heaven.
They made it sound so good; at first, they painted a rosy picture, but what they really wanted was
someone who would say yes, yes, yes; okay, okay, okay—a loyal dog who listens and is also on the same wavelength.
You can't stand out too much, but you can't be too dark either.
In a bureaucratic system, you have to understand how to conduct yourself.
You need to know how to cater to those in power.
The supervisor decides everything.
If you aren't willing to be a dog, they'll force you out.
Colleagues are easy to get along with and have good relationships with one another. Supervisors are willing to teach. The company has a strong reputation. If you’re looking to bolster your résumé, you could consider it, but I don’t recommend staying at this company for long.
Overtime is treated as part of the job, with poor pay and benefits. Department turnover is extremely high, the systems are terrible, and the Notes version is still stuck in 2005. The starting salary for master’s degree holders is ridiculously low. There is a lot of work, and overtime is often required. There are frequently last-minute assignments; if you can’t finish them, you have to take them home to do. I suggest that recent graduates consider other companies and not waste their time joining this traditional industry!! A company that isn’t even willing to invest in updating its systems—how can it possibly make any progress?
Stable working hours.
Zhongli Plant
1. A bunch of senior executives are brain-dead and only know how to look at reports. They run the company like playing a video game: whenever profits are insufficient, they keep cutting working hours and demand that employees complete motors within even shorter and more unreasonable schedules. Many managers at the plant will do anything to meet inventory targets, and quality keeps getting worse as a result.
2. They always think the employees below them are incompetent. Getting promoted is extremely difficult; relying on connections is faster. Everyone with ability has either passed the recruitment exam for Taiwan Power Company or changed jobs, and those who want to stay cannot be retained.
3. A large number of veteran executives all want to climb the ladder. Once they reach manager level, they no longer want to handle affairs and want to quickly transfer to specialist positions, creating a large number of specialists. Combined with the loss of talent and extensive layoffs, this has left no one to take over the next generation of management.
4. The upper management always has this dream: how cheap things are produced overseas, and so on. I’ll leave it at that. How long you’ll be able to keep working here after joining, I don’t dare tell you.
None
It seems the current GM couldn't make it at Delta and was laid off in May 2019, then went to Asia Vital Components, I think. This is based on what I recall a colleague saying, so take it for reference only.
The only good thing is that working hours are fairly flexible.
1. They stuff the company with supervisors who don't need to take responsibility and just collect a paycheck, pontificating from behind a desk while driving away good talent and continuing to let them abuse their power.
2. Once you join, you absolutely have to curry favor with the right people. This guarantees a smooth promotion during your first year: even if you offend a supervisor or senior colleague or make a mistake, someone will take the blame for you. You can bump into people on the road with impunity, and someone will even take care of creating all kinds of “great achievements” for you.
3. Supervisors threaten to fire you all the time, turning the entire department into a complete mess, while still feeling good about themselves and claiming they are working for everyone's benefit.
4. They are constantly fighting for power and changing the organization, to the point that even customers can't figure out what the company is called or where it stands anymore.
5. The company originally had excellent prospects, but improper management and incessant infighting among senior executives continually waste the company's resources.
6. Pay raises are pitifully infrequent. I heard the current one is only the second in 30 years, and it is still just a three-digit amount.
7. Promotions and advancement have nothing to do with individual effort or qualifications; they depend entirely on the supervisor's preferences, because higher-level supervisors cannot conveniently intervene and can only let the people below them do whatever they want.
8. A bunch of redundant employees spend all day wandering around, leave work early, and still get performance bonuses with no real standards.
It's not that you can't join, but for goodness' sake, don't learn these bad habits.
I believe many large companies have similar situations.
Please prepare yourself mentally before joining.
I believe TECO can become a good stepping stone for you.
1. The commuting hours are fairly normal.
2. (Depending on the department) The colleagues are fairly nice.
3. It is easy to take leave.
4. The year-end bonus is relatively generous.
1. It is a listed major corporation with countless affiliated companies, branches, subsidiaries, and sub-subsidiaries, yet it insists on using an extremely awful system. Even the most basic email/Notes system for daily communication fills up the mailbox every one or two days, and its functionality is even worse. The company is completely unwilling to spend money upgrading equipment or systems to improve employees’ work efficiency. As long as it can still be used, they keep using it.
2. The managers always have endless meetings. They spend every day crowded into meeting rooms, and when you occasionally go in, you find that they are just wasting time. The reports are all about stuffing in numbers.
3. The employee turnover rate is high, while the efficiency of replacing staff is extremely slow. As a result, those who remain are often left to take over the work of employees who have resigned. The people who quit are the smart ones.
4. Low pay. The company expects you to take on a pile of work but fails to pay you a salary commensurate with what you contribute.
5. Serious infighting among upper management, with absolutely no concern for the people below them. Support the heir apparent +1. The people at the top only like looking at numbers and refuse to take staffing or quality issues seriously; they have completely lost sight of priorities.
6. The employee cafeteria’s food is unbelievably bad. The company issues NT$1,200 in meal vouchers every month (which are really just your original salary converted into meal vouchers).
7. On the surface, it looks highly structured, but underneath it is chaotic. The systems and procedures exist only for appearances.
8. Young employees have a high turnover rate, but there are quite a few senior employees from the older generation (they have relatively low levels of cooperation and flexibility at work, and are very good at pushing back when there is additional work). Managers can only turn to younger employees in these situations. It is truly pathetic—I am one of those unfortunate people. Objectively speaking, every company has its drawbacks; no company is perfect. But this place is truly astonishing.
Conclusion: If you are thinking about joining, really think twice. I am currently employed here and am preparing to leave after the Lunar New Year when the time is right. Before joining, I had also read the negative posts written by various veterans on the forum. I thought I would come in and see for myself—maybe it wasn’t really that bad.
After joining, I discovered that every word written by those veterans was true. I advise anyone who has not yet joined but sees this post: if you have a better opportunity, do not follow in my footsteps. If you really want to come here to pad your résumé, you can, but this is definitely not a place suitable for staying long-term.
None at all
1. With over 5 years of relevant experience, they won't offer more than 40,000 (I have only worked in relevant positions at listed companies, where my salary was always above 40,000). They said that getting above 40,000 would require the chairman's signature? What the hell?
2. They insisted that I start on Thursday. When I asked why I couldn't wait until the following Monday, HR said someone else from the same department was starting that day, so I would start together with them. In the end, there was no such person at all.
3. Finance staff routinely work overtime until 9–10 p.m.; the interview did not mention this at all.
4. All documents are handled on paper. There is hardly any systemization, and they do not use online banking. Reports are maintained in Excel. Every day consists of manually opening payment slips and maintaining a large number of Excel files.
5. On my third day after starting, the supervisor who interviewed me left. I asked colleagues privately and found out that the department had undergone a major reshuffle: a number of finance managers had left, and almost everyone below them had also left. No wonder they wanted me to start early—to hand over the work before they left.
6. After three weeks, I felt I was not a good fit and resigned. I have degenerative spondylitis and severe dry eye syndrome, and my body could not handle working overtime until 9–10 p.m. every day. My supervisor snapped at me, saying that if my health was poor, I shouldn't come out looking for a job. Then let me ask: did you mention during the interview that I would work overtime past 9 p.m. every day, and often until 10 p.m.? They also said I had not used my influence to change the work processes. What influence is someone in an entry-level position, earning less than 40,000, supposed to have? They also said that finance staff are expected to work overtime routinely. Sorry, but at the listed companies where I worked, finance staff normally did not work overtime, because people at outside companies work much more efficiently.
7. During the Level 3 alert for COVID-19, the company had no ability to implement WFH because everything was done manually. Everyone still came to the office, merely divided into separate areas, but people were still interacting privately across areas (as were people from other departments), so it was completely ineffective.
8. Do not go there under any circumstances.
9. I hope the young master successfully takes control of the company's management rights.
Pros: Stable pay, normal working hours, fixed job duties. If you build good relationships with people, it’s easy to get by.
Cons: No prospects; a company living off its past achievements. It isn’t a government agency, yet it’s extremely bureaucratic. Employees do as little as they can, there’s no new technology, marketing is done very poorly, and salaries are rigid with little room for raises. What amazes me most is that the products are utterly terrible....... The failure rate is extremely high, and even I can’t bring myself to praise the after-sales service. I never recommend the company’s own brand to friends or relatives........ I really wonder how it can still remain standing in the market.......
In the Nangang Software Park, there are lots of places to browse downstairs.
The company provides lunch vouchers, although the employee meals aren't particularly tasty.
After working for six months, you get three days of paid leave.
It makes your résumé look a little better.
Having the right supervisor is very important.
Our supervisor was probably parachuted in; they lack even the basic professional knowledge that the department should have.
They only give orders. Even when a report is clearly the supervisor's responsibility, they tell subordinates to do it.
Because of the extra work caused by them, subordinates work overtime every day, while they happily leave as soon as working hours are over.
They even ask why everyone is leaving so late. (Endless eye-rolls.)
The key point is that they are very good at managing upward, so the senior managers all think they are an excellent supervisor. (Cough...)
Putting the supervisor aside, the company started bringing in consultants last year and launched a bunch of projects that only look good on the surface.
The department is understaffed, yet the supervisor keeps taking on new projects. The only ones who suffer are the young people at the bottom.
The old-timers push everything they can far away from themselves.
If the company doesn't make an effort to understand why so many people have left this year,
it can just wait to keep going downhill.
Instead of focusing on cost-cutting all day, it would be better to properly adjust how employees are treated.
As for benefits, the only real advantage is probably that the year-end bonus is somewhat generous; pay raises are very small.
At my first performance review, they said outright that there is an unspoken rule: during your first two years, no matter how well you perform, they won't give you a very high performance rating.
Overtime pay technically exists, but the important thing is that you have to apply for it in advance, and your big boss has to approve it. (Whether they approve it really depends on the department.)
Leaving work on time
Senior management is short-sighted and focused on immediate gains
Salaries grow at a snail’s pace
The equipment is older than the employees
There is virtually no R&D
Your life turns black and white after joining
Miserable, bleak, and sorrowful
Getting off work fairly early
The company has a strong financial foundation, and even though it hasn't made any progress in the past decade, it is still making money
The company is expected to achieve NT$3 billion in savings over the next two years, so it is cutting costs everywhere, including product materials, headcount, and salaries.
Upper management really likes to see good-looking figures, but they never delve into the production lines or visit customers. Everyone always deceives them in reports whenever they can.
There is not much planning for the company's future. Many projects (wind power, electric vehicles, and automation) are just slogans, while the company is completely unwilling to spend money.
TECO Zhongli Plant (small motors)
Many people can leave work on time
You can slack off or keep delaying things and still live quite comfortably
The chairman and general manager come from financial backgrounds. Apart from financial control, they have absolutely no idea about the future development of the products.
The assistant general manager used to be a shop-floor operator and places very little importance on design and development. Almost all of their effort is spent on cost reduction.
The factory equipment and systems are extremely outdated. Processing relies on the skills of veteran workers, and progress tracking is almost entirely done by manually making phone calls to ask for updates.
The design software is extremely difficult to use (it has been in use for nearly twenty years...). It requires drawings to be created directly in 2D and does not support importing drawings from 3D software. It also has no concept of objects—everything consists of lines. Hardly anyone in the entire plant has access to 3D software.
Because senior management is unwilling to spend money updating the design tools and software, many things can only be done through laborious traditional methods, resulting in very poor efficiency.
1. The factory shuttle departs at 16:50, so you can leave work on time.
2. The factory provides dormitories. The quality is mediocre, but the price is very cheap and includes water, electricity, and air conditioning.
3. Junior employees can use the system to purchase annual leave from senior employees (up to seven days).
4. If a supervisor knows how to pass tasks off to others, work can be very easy.
1. In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis on the benefits of reducing costs. Quality has continuously declined, and some projects have even skirted the boundaries of the law.
2. Senior management is focused on seeking glory and making grand achievements. They constantly chant slogans and promote large-scale transformation projects, but are unwilling to provide resources. They often simply assign the projects to one or two frontline employees, resulting in very few projects actually succeeding.
3. Technical personnel are not valued. Except for promotions and similar circumstances, their salaries are almost never increased.
4. Senior management has no understanding of technical matters and only focuses on data and reports. As a result, many supervisors focus on producing data and maintaining appearances, while the facts cannot be properly conveyed or improvements made.
5. There is severe conflict between departments, making cross-departmental work difficult.
The following is a review of TECO’s Zhongli plant.
Working hours are fixed at 8 hours a day. Although overtime is compensated with time off in lieu, the likelihood of overtime is very low, making it highly suitable for people with families and those who want to make good use of their time after work.
The salary is generally just passable, but as long as you are willing to strive for good performance, there are definitely opportunities for salary increases, promotions, bonuses, and employee stock options. For a non-managerial employee with five years of experience, it is possible to earn an annual salary of over one million while working eight hours a day. The cost-performance ratio is quite high.
The employee cafeteria really isn’t suitable for ordinary people to eat at; every meal feels somewhat painful.
During the product manufacturing stage, many things require asking the on-site engineers for help, but their cooperation is generally not very good, so you need to be extremely accommodating.
The greatest breakthrough in learning EQ, optimizing communication skills, and understanding the principles of conduct exemplified by how grass bends with the wind and by keeping a low profile. If you have no goals and don’t need to earn much money, come on in.
No goals, no breakthroughs in work abilities; do odd jobs and be a dog, then do odd jobs again. Do whatever the supervisor says—the supervisor is always right. Don’t question the supervisor.
None
Company regulations state that working overtime on a rest day requires working either four or eight hours. However, the Facilities Affairs Section at the Zhongli Plant also announced that work assignments on rest days must follow the regular working hours (07:50–11:50, 12:40–16:40). On rest days, employees cannot flexibly adjust their schedules to work four hours. The Labor Standards Act does not stipulate this, yet the Facilities Affairs Section at the Zhongli Plant has imposed this unreasonable requirement. The system for calculating working hours could simply be modified, but instead of changing the system, they only impose these unreasonable requirements!!!
You work yourself to death
A ton of overtime
Your supervisor can’t stand you
The projects don’t meet their targets
They dock your performance rating and your pay, with no bonus
Why would you still come to a company like this?
Are you blind or what? I really don’t understand
The old-timers all say TECO is good—it used to be
Now it’s outright exploitation, yet they still expect you to weather the difficulties together
Please, don’t just keep cutting costs
Doesn’t TECO’s 60-year reputation have anything unique of its own?
If you’ve got the nerve, don’t dox people—change, okay? Stop clinging to those old TECO ideas
Clock in for work, but leaving on time is your own responsibility; even annual leave requires reporting and headcount controls.
The workload is never finished, yet overtime cannot be reported. If you leave on time, you may still be watched by your supervisors.
The managers have no sense of responsibility and only give orders. Different departments regularly pass the buck to one another.
Benefits and bonuses are getting fewer and fewer. There are a bunch of long-timers occupying most of the positions and resources, and the food is extremely unappetizing.
However, it’s not without its advantages. The company offers plenty of leave (under certain conditions, you can purchase seven additional days of annual leave, and there are also three days of paid personal/sick leave).
They don’t make it deliberately difficult to take leave, follow labor law standards, and don’t force employees to work overtime.
So, the good and bad are about evenly balanced—I’ll give it an average rating.
The work is broadly divided into two types:
On-site staff:
Spending long hours at the factory, where organic solvents are frequently used in some areas. You need to take good care of your health.
Non-on-site staff:
Whenever there is a problem with a product, everything gets dumped on R&D. They only occasionally go to the site, and the disconnect is huge.
There are still some good supervisors; because they are too capable, they are often sent on assignments to mainland China.
It is an ecosystem of upper management who paint grand visions, middle management who are passing-the-buck champions, and front-line employees who get treated like garbage.
Employee benefits... basically, they still depend on the department (the cost-performance ratio); there are a lot of long-timers.