弘益生態有限公司

1. Two-section gift + birthday gift

Both are NT$1,000 and are available after passing the probationary period.

2. Employee dinners

Twice a year, with a subsidy of NT$1,000 each time. Each team chooses the restaurant.

3. Employee trips

Once a year, either domestic or overseas depending on the decision of the Employee Welfare Committee. A certain amount is subsidized, and two days of leave are provided (any additional days must be taken as personal leave). Employees must arrange their own transportation to the destination or airport. Those who do not participate must work.

4. Year-end banquet

The restaurant is chosen by the Employee Welfare Committee; there may not necessarily be a lucky draw.

5. Business-trip allowance

NT$50 per meal is provided, with partial accommodation reimbursement. There is a bonus for offshore trips.

6. Annual leave

3 days after six months of service, 7 days after one year, and 10 days after three years. Supervisors receive additional leave. Leave is valid for one year.

7. Flexible start time

15 minutes

1. Low pay

Salary

During the probationary period, bachelor's degree holders earn NT$30K and master's degree holders earn NT$32K. After passing probation, there is a NT$2K increase. There is little opportunity to negotiate raises.

Overtime pay

It does not comply with the Labor Standards Act. The calculation is monthly salary/30/8*1.33. Overtime on holidays is compensated only with time off in lieu, valid for one year, with a maximum accumulation of 40 hours.

Performance bonuses (paid twice a year, before Lunar New Year and in August; the amount is monthly salary minus NT$2K. If you take parental leave or occupational-injury leave, even for just one day, you will be disqualified.)

No perfect-attendance bonus

In the past, employees who took no personal or sick leave received NT$5,000. Since 2023, the boss decides who receives it. At the year-end banquet in 2023, the boss's special assistant received NT$50,000, while the deputy manager of the acoustics team received “NT$500,000.”

Small raises

Raises are given every March, usually around NT$1K. In the past, the increase was only NT$500. The maximum salary has only reached NT$38K; after that, you must be promoted to earn more.

2. Many projects, no SOPs

The workload is very heavy, with many miscellaneous tasks. You have to deal with unreasonable clients, and sometimes even your own colleagues will stab you in the back.

3. High turnover, difficulty retaining new hires, and many returning employees

You can always see urgent-hiring posts on job websites. New hires generally do not last six months. Some leave after gaining experience they can put on their résumés. Since the company provides no training, newcomers must fend for themselves. Everyone is already too busy with their own work to invest time in training you, partly because they assume you will not stay long.

You cannot learn any particularly special skills at the company; the work mainly relies on the professional knowledge you learned at school.

As a result, work pressure has been increasing in recent years. The boss does not take on fewer projects because there are fewer employees; instead, the company takes on even more.

People who return can obtain higher salaries, but this causes other colleagues to be undervalued.

4. An entrenched culture of overtime

No one dares to leave when working hours end.

Of course, trying to claim overtime pay dishonestly is impossible.

5. Poor promotion system; departments receive different levels of attention

Promotions are not based on seniority, and there are few management openings.

The boss only values the departments currently engaged in bird radar and underwater acoustics; other departments are ignored.

6. Poor cooperation between departments; rules are repeatedly changed

New rules frequently appear, and cooperation with colleagues depends heavily on the person involved. If you get caught in a mess, you can only consider yourself unlucky.

7. It is miserable if the supervisor does not like you

Those favored by the supervisor will not be scolded even when something major happens, and will receive plenty of assistance.

Those not favored by the supervisor will be ignored. When something goes wrong, the supervisor will push you forward to be scolded by the client and will not show you any consideration.

Naturally, forming cliques is also normal.

8. Pay attention to safety when traveling for work

Whether going into remote mountains or out to sea, you must take your own safety precautions. If company equipment is damaged, you may be required to pay compensation.

Advice

When recruiting, the company often says that the department you applied to has no openings (although it actually does), and asks whether you are interested in applying to another department—a terrible position.

Those interested in ecology or who love animals are not advised to apply; you will be extremely disappointed.

If you do apply, it is best to choose the radar or acoustics department, where you will receive more attention.

Recently (2024), the company has been seriously short-staffed. The boss has not taken on fewer projects as a result, so work pressure continues to rise.

Employees are highly obedient to the boss. For example, when the company moved, the boss did not want to hire movers, and employees did not dare object; they could only move everything themselves.

Finally, do not let your ecology major limit you to this company. This is a warning to everyone in the ecology field.

1. Money is pretty easy to earn

Besides the salary (not counting base pay, perfect-attendance bonuses, and the like separately—it’s one complete salary, adjusted every year, and only ever goes up)

Performance bonuses (paid twice a year, about one month’s salary each time)

Three-holiday bonuses (NT$1,000 red envelopes each)

Work bonus (NT$5,000 if you take no personal or sick leave during the year)

Unused annual leave can also be exchanged for money

Colleagues on business trips receive travel expenses and the difference in accommodation costs

Offshore work comes with an offshore-work bonus

Overtime is also very easy to apply for, and is paid in full

There are also health checkups and employee trips—the benefits are plentiful~

2. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t know how

The more you slack off at the company, the happier you’ll be

Those who work hard work themselves sick; even using overtime pay to see a doctor isn’t enough

I suggest coming in, doing the bare minimum, and just keeping up appearances

Among employees at the same entry-level position with the same seniority, the salary difference between doing a poor job and doing a good job is at most two or three thousand [NT dollars],

But the workload can differ greatly, even by more than twice as much

The boss says everyone works eight hours a day

If you do more, you still can’t accomplish that much more

It’s like an air conditioner that can’t run cooling and heating at the same time—the price won’t be twice as high either

3. Values boomerang employees

Because the company is so easy to make money at (and slack off in), people who can’t get by elsewhere all come back; the rehire rate is extremely high

People curse the company to death when they leave, but still come back in the end—and can even get a higher salary than before

Meanwhile, the people who quietly worked hard inside and cleaned up after departing colleagues are treated like they’re nothing

4. No entrenched culture of working overtime

People don’t stay late just because no one dares leave when the workday ends

So once 5:30 p.m. arrives, you can bravely walk out

Of course, those who work hard as mentioned above, or who want to trick the company into paying overtime, will keep working under the lights

1. Promotions are very puzzling

The company always says promotions aren’t based on seniority

Some people never get promoted no matter how long they work there, while others move up after one or two years

Put nicely, it’s based on (the ability to cling to a powerful superior); in reality, it’s pretty baffling

Some people get promoted without having any team members under them (Who are the managers supposed to manage?)

Or their responsibilities don’t change after promotion (it’s simply a way to raise their salary)

They also love parachuting in senior executives, especially deputy-level positions

Everyone complains, yet they still do just fine at the company

The only thing the managers have in common is that they’re irresponsible, haha

They spend work hours ordering drinks, organizing McDonald’s group orders and group buys, and clipping their nails

When something goes wrong, they push entry-level colleagues out to be criticized

2. Seniority is not valued

If you have been there a long time but aren’t in a management position,

there are basically no benefits at all

Of course, if you’re just looking to coast, it’s an okay job with a stable salary

3. High turnover

It’s a company where you can’t learn any skills

Many people leave after roughly two or three years, once they have experience they can put on their résumé

An absolutely correct decision

When you go outside to look for a job, you’ll discover that the experience here isn’t very useful—you really don’t need to stay too long

So when people discover that other companies are easy to coast in, they come back here (and then earn an even higher salary—how wonderful!)

4. No systems; poor cross-functional communication

Every friend who hears that an 80-person company has no systems and still manages things with Excel is amazed

Many things can only rely on colleagues’ memories

But for the company to still not value veteran employees under these circumstances—I’m speechless, haha

In summary,

Remember to put on a good show for your supervisor regularly, and cling to your supervisor as much as possible

In reality, just do the bare minimum; coast whenever you can

That way, you’ll love it here

But if you don’t plan to stay until retirement,

the longer you stay, the worse it will be for you, because once you leave, you’ll be starting from zero

Finding a job will be very difficult