This type of ad is presumably aimed at holders of working holiday visas or Taiwanese who hang out in English forums (or foreign students who already have work permits – it’s not an automatic thing).
If it’s not, I’m genuinely interested in what the story is.
Yeah lol we know Taiwanese slavery working culture is well famous. Thought we already offered a quite acceptable bargain, but we’d like to hear from people and adjust our policy
I’d like to find someone who’s studying or working in Taipei, like some designers or editors who don’t need to go to office. Offer you a place to stay, in exchange of helping in my place. Sorry for the rules up there might be suspicious like we are going to “enslave” the applicants. The truth is we find it would be more interesting to have working exchange applicants staying here, feel free to offer the deal.
Yeah, we do offer free food in our fridge lol. sorry about the slavery image but we don’t intend to be like this, just checked a few working holiday deals on Facebook of local hostels and decided to offer a reasonable one. if this is unacceptable, we’d like to hear from any applicant’s deal. We wanted to find students who is learning Chinese, because these courses won’t take too much time per day, so they can work here for hours and then go to class and come back to have a air conditioning room to sleep
Yeah, if consider Taiwanese’s working pay, we already offered a reasonable one ( not bragging we hope it could be better and we looking forward to hear your suggestions) As I said before we think it’d be fun to have someone to live here for days. It’s not like we are trying to find someone to fill HR gap or something haha
I mean we hope the applicant could stay at least 15 days or to be honest it would be a problem for us that someone leave right after just spent time to teach. The “help” itself is not complicated at all but hope you understand we don’t want someone who just looking for 3 days to stay in taipei and then has to leave.
and yeah, that is the deal, averagely 20 hours per week, fit into local working schedule would be like 2 day offs per week and work for 4 hours per day. (of course you can offer equivalent deal.
‘traveler’ doesn’t sound like someone who would have a working visa to me. sounds like you don’t really mind to employ some backpacker…illegally.
that’s just a bit shady…
i mean who else would be in taipei without a place to stay and for such a short time and poor and desperate enough to co-operate with your slave labour program? traveler/ backpacker are the only ones that fit the bill…very shady…
A similar room in Taipei is what, NT$1500? $1500 x 7 nights is NT$10500 per week. At 20 hours per week, that’s about NT$525 per hour. A lot better than working at McDonald’s or another restaurant for minimum wage NT$120 per hour.
Even if you could get a room for $1000 per night it’s still NT$350 per hour almost 3 times minimum wage.
Or a room at $500 is still NT$150 per hour and more than minimum wage.
I know there are some suitable people around Taipei that aren’t fully employed but want to be and could fit in well.
I forget when it was supposed to come into effect, maybe Oct 1 or Jan 1, but a few months ago they announced the Basic Wage would increase to $128/h. The OP specified a bunk bed, not a private room, so $1500 sounds a bit steep. I would assume a minimum of $500 for a shared room in a hostel in Taipei, with the kitchen etc. thrown in for free. 4 x 128 = 512.
I realize the offer seems “fair” by Taiwanese standards, and people who don’t live in Taipei may be interested in it for legitimate reasons. But there are some reasons for the negative responses:
Of course we welcome all nationalities, but people here at Forumosa tend to be westerners and Taiwanese who have lived in western countries. Right now there are serious protests in the US to raise the minimum wage to $15/h, about $480 NT. Australia’s federal minimum wage for casual work is $22.13(?)/h, about $530 NT. Most people reading this are either language teachers who would hesitate to work for less than $600/h or professionals in other fields who laugh at the wages teachers are willing to accept.
Most foreigners do not have open work rights. Those who do are mostly permanent residents who can easily find better paying work or foreign spouses who, even if they’re unemployed, would probably not accept this kind of offer. Holders of working holiday visas may, but if they’re westerners, they’re more likely to look for teaching work in order to earn more per hour, and westerners tend to have higher expectations of privacy and personal space due to both cultural differences and population density differences. Foreign students do not automatically have the right to work. They must apply for work permits and obey the government’s restrictions on how many hours they can work.
If I were in your position OP, I would place the ad in Forumosafieds instead of here in Living in Taiwan. I would also clarify the value of the offer e.g. “Normal price $600 per night, but free in exchange for 4 hours of work, so the nominal wage is $150/h”. And very importantly, I would include a disclaimer: “This offer is only available if you already have permission to work in Taiwan. Sorry, we cannot provide a work permit or ARC.”
I haven’t looked into the legal requirements for this sort of job, but I hope you follow all the relevant laws and regulations, including the Civil Code and, if applicable, the Labor Standards Act and so on. If you’re not sure, please consult your local labor department, the Ministry of Labor, or a lawyer.
Wow, I thought I had low standards… but $310 per night in Taipei? What kind of room is that?
Actually the OP has a website and so on, so anyone interested can check it out. The price is indeed $600 per night (according to a third party website), for a windowless 40m2 room with 14 beds, plus the amenities. Or splurge on a private room, starting at $1300.
