繭裹公平貿易有限公司

The colleagues are all kind-hearted, wonderful people—so kind that you can’t help wondering why everyone collectively chose to come in and be subjected to abuse.

It’s truly ridiculous that a company can violate the Labor Standards Act and still hold B Corp certification. I originally trusted the B Corp certification and felt reassured about joining because I believed they would treat their employees well. I never expected that their certification would be nothing more than an empty title.

The male boss often makes emotional remarks and directly criticizes employees’ thoughtful, earnest feedback, with absolutely no intention of listening to it.

The company packages its image very well, carrying the banner of fair trade while showing no respect for its employees whatsoever. It claims not to exploit producers at the source, yet exploits its own employees all the time.

They start docking pay for being one minute late (using a method that violates the Labor Standards Act by not deducting proportionally), but consider staying more than ten minutes late after work to be something employees are simply expected to do.

There are many more awful things. Those who refuse to believe it can consider joining to experience it for themselves, but I still advise anyone thinking of applying to take care of themselves.

The salary is relatively high compared with that of typical sales associates.

The company claims to practice fair trade but violates labor laws and believes there is nothing wrong with management practices from 10 years ago. It claims to have a flat management structure, but the only thing that is flat is the employees: it does not accept employee opinions, and no suggestions are adopted unless management itself is interested. New plans are left idle once interest in them is lost (you can tell by looking at the multiple different versions of the official website). Employees are the most unfortunate: despite going through various changes and reforms, they have never once been asked for their willingness, and are even blamed for not speaking up. When they do speak up, they are ignored and their suggestions are not adopted. The owner and supervisors decide everything in a small room and then issue orders; if employees cannot continue, they are told to resign. If management subjectively decides that an employee is unsuitable, it keeps calling the employee in for meetings until they can no longer take it and resign. The turnover rate is so high that you would think it was a staffing agency. More than 20 people can leave in a year and the company can still pass B Corp certification, while in reality it does not even want to pay overtime.

Answer: The guests and work partners here are very nice.

The management has serious problems. They look down on employees and do not communicate with them at all. The boss is highly emotional (basically acting like Ko P), and whenever business performance is poor, they never reflect on themselves, instead blaming this and that. Employees bear all the blame. The ideals sound very good, but they are written far better than they are put into practice—once you actually join, you will only be disillusioned!!

The employees have more class than the boss. Most outrageously, the boss’s wife is extremely calculating about money and often takes advantage of employees. When there is something to say, she never says it directly and instead has someone else relay the message. Requesting reimbursement from her is like being interrogated, as if the employees owed them money!! It is exhausting having to work according to the bosses’ moods all the time~

It is understandable that the company has a poor reputation externally. Documents and payments are constantly delayed, and there is essentially no care for employees or meaningful training. Supervisors also often communicate with the boss based on their mood; basically, supervisors do not have much authority either. The environmentalism is really just a gimmick!

If it were not for the talented employees being worn down while holding things together, I really do not know how long the company could last~

I hope everyone will not make the same mistake I did by thinking they were joining a good company. In reality, it is merely a BG company trading on an undeserved reputation~

You get to meet many good colleagues and good customers.

1. The company’s internal communication mechanisms are extremely poor, and it is also a company that very rarely keeps its promises. The frequency of meetings is unbelievably low, and many of the agreements and reforms reached in past meetings have hardly been implemented. Despite repeatedly breaking its word, the company continues to ask employees for patience and understanding during the transition period, while rarely showing employees the same level of consideration.

2. Employees are often suspected and scrutinized, and management very often takes out its frustrations on or makes things difficult for employees over trivial matters. They become emotional themselves and end up making everyone feel extremely upset as well.

3. There is a great deal of glossy packaging around the company’s fair-trade work, yet the owner very often makes discriminatory comments about people from other countries, calling partners and producer organizations idiots or garbage. Charity is used as a selling point for some products, but when employees ask about the actual amount donated, they cannot get a clear answer. So how are they supposed to explain this to customers who support the products because they were moved by the ideals behind them?

4. The company constantly talks about equal and transparent communication, but communication has long since been turned into a way of dressing up arbitrary accusations against employees. Even responding calmly and rationally can be treated as talking back and result in being labeled. What kind of communication is that?

The advantage is that there are many very good colleagues, but overall, this really is not a particularly progressive company. If you joined because you identified with the ideals of fair trade, you often have to face the huge disappointment caused by the gap between your expectations and the harsh reality of how things actually operate. You may also end up feeling very upset amid all kinds of inexplicable communication failures. So my advice to passionate people is not to join; otherwise, you will only be making yourself suffer. Keeping an aesthetically pleasing distance is the only way to keep buying their products～That is all I have to say～

They said during the interview that there would be an annual bonus.

Only after joining did I find out that you have to complete a full year before receiving it, and the annual bonus is paid after the Lunar New Year—very special!