As many of you know I loved every jobs I had here. I keep hearing how bad it is from others but mostly from people who never worked here (heard it from friends, family or partners) or did minimum wage jobs. So I’d like to hear more perspectives on this.
My personal experience was terrible.
Go to work everyday being told by the boss that I’m a piss poor worker and I should be glad that I’m not fired. Constant cuts to my pay over little things (like shortage in the till, theft of 10,000nt from the store because someone got really friendly with me), and pay cuts over “customer complaints” or factors outside of my control. These are (or should be) illegal. Remember at the time they paid 90nt an hour.
My best work experience was Walmart of all places (in the US), never any pay deductions because of till shortage (I believe this is illegal) and was only “coached” once due to rather serious customer complaint (a Karen got triggered and demanded to see a manager). It paid almost 11 dollars an hour.
Which is why I won’t get another service job in Taiwan unless I have absolutely no other choice.
My general experience is that companies here simply don’t follow the law, because they know it’s difficult to enforce it. If you sue you’ll spend one to two years fighting it, during which time you’ll have likely found another job and any compensation will be minimal at best.
For a culture that seems to pride itself on following rules, they have a very hard time following employment rules.
Not to mention how toxic some of the work environments are, and the total lack of decent management and any notion of “work life balance”.
Small businesses = usually terrible
Large corporations = fine, but boring as hell
I warrant there’s an interesting story behind that.
Biggest semicon company in Taiwan:
Too cheap to pay for nightshift. Expect to fail when cheap labour abuse no longer possible.
TSMC Founder Warns Taiwan’s Chipmaking Edge Will Be Over In 20 Years
The former executive shared that his American friends were often stunned when they heard about TSMC engineers who would rush to the factory in the middle of the night to resolve machinery issues. He believes that this hardwork is behind TSMC’s success as a company, and it will serve it well heading into the future.
That’s more or less my observation at MNC branches in Taiwan too.
It’s not common practice to do that as problems are rare. They get paid for being on call too. They can think of it as night shift if they want, that’s up to them.
I’ve never heard the Taiwanese accused of following rules. Ever.
My impression is that they seem to pride themselves in BREAKING the rules, and you are expected to mind your own business if you catch someone doing it.
Yes, this is how you operate critical services everywhere.
But, if that was all there was to it, then there would be no difference between Taiwan and any other country which is so touted by the founder.
Well, during the whole masking thing they were extremely proactive in enforcing the rules as rigorously as possible.
Also, they get extremely angry with you when you tell them they’re doing something illegal, e.g. firing you without just cause.
Right. They don’t like to be told they’re breaking the rules.
Covid was probably an exception, and I would argue that the Taiwanese were the least strict in following masking and social distancing rules compared to other Asian countries during that time.
Above expectations, non tech. Sorry about your survey
Read the intel job reviews. Everyone bitching about being on call.
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Intel-Corporation-RVW5059683.htm
Why any company is ever dominant in a high-tech sector? Why is Apple on top of smartphones? They made the right decisions at the right time, with the right company culture. TSMC was the first foundry and they never relented. All of this might have turned out differently if another country took foundries seriously. And now? Well now the local semiconductors industry dumps hundreds of billions in annual expenditures. It’s hard and risky to compete.
My experience is mixed but mostly on the negative to boring side (not enough time off in particular), including small and large organisations.
Also many MNC in Taiwan become thoroughly Taiwanezed and lack many international colleagues or English work environment , for instance they enforce petty rules around expenses, however they will at least pay you on time and you get your bonuses.
Some large Taiwanese companies are actually far more generous with bonuses than MNC who tend to be stingy here as they see it as a revenue generation and cost control centre not a place to pay folks big money. So take your pick. At least with MNC you get exposure to more professional training and systems
I had one good work experience with a small Taiwanese company but was constantly stiffed on bonuses and promises of stock etc, until I got dragged into several lawsuits that weren’t anything to do with me , basically a lot of business people lie through their teeth here and they don’t like sharing the wealth, I would say the culture of greed is quite intense.
Very very greedy people out there that truly believe what mine is mine and whats yours is mine too.
Something to behold. Absolutely no shame or guilt.
I haven’t worked for a Taiwanese org properly for 14 years and if I have to again I’ll do it very reluctantly.
The main problem is the lack of time off that most of them offer. They really try to limit your personal leave. There were whole years I barely had any holidays. Every penny I earned in Taiwan…I really earned it. I never encourage people to work in Taiwanese businesses now because of this.
Things might be different in some businesses out there I’m sharing my extensive experience though.
A guy came in and was extremely friendly, and then the change bag was gone. According to the video the guy took it while I wasn’t looking. I was made to pay all of it. And I only made 19,000 a month at the time.
My experience with taiwanese bosses have been nothing but horrible. Just abuse after abuse. I think if they could chain me to the company they would.
Always beware of charming people.
The police couldn’t identify him?
I don’t know, because basically the store owner told me that if corporate finds out, I’ll get fired, and so it’s better for me to pay it than call the police.
I suspect they probably agreed on it just so they can not pay me, and probably split the proceeds with him. Because it was almost like he knew exactly where the money was, and went for it.
Read the intel job reviews. Everyone bitching about being on call.
Yep, I agree (see above). So what was the founder about?
Most likely about seat warmer culture and unpaid overtime. (Asian boomer culture)
I’m a TSMC shareholder. I’m afraid of company future if they think the secret to their success is labor abuse.
They are supposed to be a leader based on their smarts.
If you do not have a good working conditions, you will not attract world class talent. Their competitors will take advantage of that.
This makes no sense at all.