Pros
Free snacks and drinks
Some colleagues are nice
Cons
1/ The boss and two managers are close friends with equal authority. Offend any of them, and you’ll be targeted or fired.
2/ They suddenly changed the contract—turning the guaranteed 13th month pay and bonus into “discretionary.” Refuse to sign, and you have to quit. They took away the only decent benefit, treating employees as nothing but money-making tools.
3/ Extremely high turnover: Within just the first few months, 4–6 people left, most quitting after only a week or two.
4/ Zero systems in the whole company: They ask you to work on things before anything is confirmed. Sometimes even after sampling and getting approval from the licensor, the whole project gets cancelled—wasting designers’ and merchandisers’ time and effort.
5/ Unlimited overtime, no work-life balance: Working hours are already 15 minutes longer than most companies (e.g., 9 am–6:15 pm), and everyone OT daily. Designers have worked until midnight—leaving at 7 pm is considered lucky. Tasks can be given at 6 pm with same-day deadlines, so you can’t even plan after-work meetings.
6/ Insanely tight deadlines create constant high pressure. The company loves taking on urgent projects, expecting fast, perfect designs that licensors approve in one go.
7/ High stress leads to poor health. Many colleagues get sick often; some break out in eczema as soon as they return to work, only recovering after a vacation.
8/ Too many responsibilities: Besides designing, designers also have to write product comments, compile licensor feedback, and liaise with factories—might as well do the merchandiser’s job too.
9/ Overloaded workload: New tasks pile up before you finish current ones. Sometimes multiple samples or licensor comments arrive all on the same day.
10/ Some merchandisers are irresponsible—they won’t admit mistakes and shift blame to you. They also have poor taste, can’t judge samples properly, or pass unchecked samples to designers.
11/ Payday is unpredictable. No one knows when (or if) the 13th month pay or bonus will come—everything depends on the boss’s mood.
12/ Managers and a certain merchant head shout loudly, love scolding people, and act arrogantly while being incompetent. They often forget what they said and blame you for not following instructions. Be careful—that merchant head may backstab you, which could get you fired or make your work life miserable.
*If you enjoy being micromanaged by someone who takes zero accountability, this might be your dream job. Otherwise, stay far away