If you have ever wondered what its like being a vacuum cleaner, then try working here - Anonymous employee TouchPal Employee Review

1.0
Jun 20, 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nice office space and location New office equipment

Cons

Working at TouchPal you aren't necessarily really cleaning or sucking up dirt, but like any vacuum cleaner, whether cheap, high-end, or has a special function, it has one general purpose and that is to maintain the cleanliness of the house. When the vacuum cleaner has a minor malfunction, you typically try to fix it yourself. But usually when a vacuum cleaner makes funny noises or is quick to lose power, you don't really want to put any effort into fixing it and quickly throw it away and buy a new one. Its typically left in the corner of the closet and isn't given much thought or care until its needed to do its duty of cleaning the house. Sounds like any vacuum cleaner right? Now imagine just for a moment that you were the vacuum cleaner because thats exactly how it feels working at TouchPal. Working at TouchPal, all the focus is on keeping the company, stocks, and products moving upwards, which isn't wrong. However, there is zero emphasis on employee development and well-being. If you do not add any value to what you are working on or if there has been a change in company direction, you will be transferred or let go. If you speak up or go against management, like a vacuum cleaner making unusual noises or inability to suck up certain objects, you will be let go as well, usually through devious methods. The performance evaluations are pointless and make you feel like trash afterwards. All in all, you won't feel very valued here unless you are a special brand or shiny pink vacuum that is mainly used for looks rather than function. In addition to being treated like a vacuum cleaner, other turnoffs in working at TouchPal that I have experienced include no transparency whatsoever with leadership on company direction and plans, extremely unprofessional work environment especially with HR and Finance, office politics, not much privacy and separation between work and personal life, unrealistic targets and working hours, isolation, being underpaid, extreme lack of job security and no honesty from management. TouchPal is not a company and work environment for anyone with even a little bit of western culture, background, or beliefs. The only people who can enjoy and thrive working here are individuals who embrace and come from a Chinese background and culture. You are expected to work late at night with teams in China since 97% of the company is based in China and communication can be very unprofessional and challenging. The most frustrating and infuriating part about working at TouchPal is with the HR team in China. This was before we got a HR person in the US office. They are unprofessional and a lot of your benefits are super unclear. They originally promised to give me X based salary, which is even stated in the contract, but tried to screw me over afterwards by saying I can receive my X salary IF i performed well and got the yearly one-month bonus. If thats the case, its not called "base salary" anymore so be aware of that!!!! The funniest part about all of this is that management doesn't even realize, understand, or acknowledge these issues because they aren't open to listening to employees, even though they say they do. I was afraid of bringing these issues up with them because of my fear of losing this job. Many of these issues were not present when I first joined but has gotten severely worse as time has gone by. I wouldn't recommend anyone working here at this point, not even my enemies, unless you are truly desperate to have a job. If i gave my honest review a year ago, it would have been 4 stars honestly.

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TouchPal Response
6y
Thank you for providing your feedback and we want you to know we are listening and have made some adjustments to our policies. We want to see our employees learn and grow within our company, so we are working on training and development programs to ensure employees that want to develop in their career have the opportunity. In addition, we realize that diversity is important and are striving to create a well- diversified U.S. office. We are listening to your concerns and working on creating new policies to provide the best working environment for our employees.

Explore other reviews about TouchPal

5.0
Nov 30, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Collaborative co-workers & seasonal team-building events. Really nice culture - Good benefits and flexible working environment - Growing opportunities & down-to-earth leadership, a lot of learnings, good for career development

Cons

- Nope. So far it is one of the best career decisions I've ever made.

2.0
Nov 11, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some of the people are pleasant. It's a start up so *in theory* you have the opportunity to test out ideas and improve processes if you take the initiative. You can work remotely from anywhere.

Cons

Bonus-based pay structure is a scam. In theory you can make a lot if you meet your goals, but goals were unclear and the goal posts are always moving. You can find much better pay at other start-ups for way less unnecessary stress. Communication is very poor both within and outside of departments. Some programs and training materials are not in English which can be confusing if you don't speak or read Mandarin. Start time is flexible BUT you are expected to work late, particularly since your work will overlap with the team in Shanghai. This could mean having meetings at 10 or 11pm if you're on the East Coast. Everyone is in a constant state of harried confusion, scrambling to hit impossible targets on impossible timelines. It's easy to get caught up in that urgency. But if you stop and think about it: Why? This company doesn't offer anything that is time sensitive or life-saving or even life-changing. It's mostly just (really, really bad) content. Managers are too busy (or wrapped up in their own bs) to actually manage. Bottom line: If you have options, go elsewhere. The average pay and benefits are not worth the rest of it.

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