Things need to be changed in the workplace – (7)

This is Part 7 of this article. Read Part 6 of this article here.

*Note:
1. Throughout the article, the phrase “the business field” or “the business world” means the whole society where people join the workforce. It does NOT only represent people who work in a business-type position, but also every people who work in office jobs.
2. Throughout the article, “Boss” only refers to the CEO or the owner of the company; it does not refer to the “Supervisor” who is not a CEO but manages some employees. “Boss” and “Supervisor” is different in the article as above describes.
3. Throughout the article, “employers” is referred to the boss, hiring manager, and HR. It is NOT only referred to as a boss or an owner of a company.
4. When a situation in the article is not specifically pointed to as a “situation in Taiwan”, such a situation happens in the West, too.

13. Gender equality issue in the workplace

13.1 How to make more women get promoted?

“How to get more women get promoted?” is a common question that is asked when speaking of gender equality issues in the workplace, especially in Western countries such as the U.S. There are many problems that need to be resolved, including discrimination. I won’t discuss all of the problems in this article. Here I want to focus on only two problems and provide my suggestions for the two problems accordingly.

13.1.1 Problem 1: Female role model?

In some cases, women aren’t get promoted not because they are discriminated against, but because their abilities are indeed worse than their male colleagues. One of the reasons behind this problem in such cases is that women don’t have female role models in that position or that field to learn from, as men dominated many jobs and many high-ranking positions because of the more severe gender inequality in the past. How to resolve this problem? Many people will say that just make more women get promoted, then the problem will be resolved with time. This is indeed a good answer that needs to be adopted. However, I want to add one more suggestion for this problem.

My suggestion is this: Women, whether or not you have a female role model in a job or a high-ranking position to learn from, why don’t you learn from men? Many men have already got great achievements in their fields and have a lot of valuable things that can be learned from. Why don’t you learn from them?
First, many Western women have made the point in many articles or speeches that the more women rise to high-ranking positions, the more women will see it and think “I can be like her”. This is indeed a good thing. However, from my point of view, you don’t have to wait until a woman makes great achievement in that position or in that field to say “I can be like her”; you can just pick on your own a position or a field you are interested in and have a goal of wanting to be in a high-ranking position or work in a field where were used to be dominated by men. Have your own goal instead of wanting to be like someone who is also a female.
Second, men’s masculine temperament makes the things they do look different from something that women can do, but that is just the appearance: You still can learn from men and have your own style. Just like there are many men who are actually more meticulous than many women, the way that such meticulous men work has their own styles and doesn’t lose their masculine temperament. You can learn some advantages from men and have your own style without losing your feminine temperament.
In addition, many articles suggest that people can read successful people’s autobiographies to learn from them. To learn from men, I also suggest that you shouldn’t only read Sherry Sandberg ( A female. Former Facebook COO )’s autobiography because she is a female. You should also read the autobiographies of many men who have great achievements.
Women, you don’t have to have a female role model. You just have to also learn from men if you have the desire to be as successful as men in the workplace.
Note: The above has NO discrimination against women’s abilities. I am simply suggesting women shouldn’t only learn from women. Women should also learn from men, too.

13.1.2 Problem 2: Job promotion in gender equality issue

An article discussing why there are so many men being promoted writes a word from a supervisor in the U.S, “We must promote John. His child was just born and he has a wife and a child needs to raise.” ( I couldn’t find the article, but I remember I once saw an article writing similar words. The only difference is perhaps the name in the sentence. ) The words seem to make sense; however, I disagree with this view, and I think the way of thinking a man has to raise his family so must be promoted has hindered the career development and salary of women and young people (either young male or young female) in workplaces.

First, deciding who to promote should depend on who’s ability is better, not who needs money. If a male employee lacks money to raise his wife and child, it’s his wife who should also go out to work to raise this family with her husband, and it’s this male employee who should share more housework after his wife goes out to work. What’s the business with other employees ( including females) who were not selected for promotion and this company when his wife stays at home and doesn’t go out to work? Furthermore, what’s the business with other employees ( including females) who were not selected for promotion and this company when the family is short of money? If there is a clean lady who “doesn’t have professional abilities in the office workplace” and is short of money to support her family, will you hire her for a position that “require professional abilities” in the office? NO, you will not. You will at most hire her for some low-salary and highly replaceable office positions, such as Customer Service, and the subsequent promotion will depend on her performance afterward. Notice, that’s very reasonable because she doesn’t possess the professional abilities to be in a higher-salary position at the moment. Let me reiterate, deciding who to promote should depend on who’s ability is better, not who needs money.
One thing needs to emphasize: Since promotion should depend on who’s ability is better, even if a person does not need to raise a family, she/he should still be promoted as long as her/his ability is better. This will be better for a company as the person who is more capable of doing the job of a higher-ranking position can contribute more to a company when being promoted to that position. In addition, many families have changed their views on family and started letting women be the ones going out to work and letting men be the stay-at-home father. If a woman has been promoted, it may become that women are the ones who go out and work while men are the ones who stay at home to take care of children and do household chores in some families. Changing the way of thinking will promote people who are really capable but didn’t have the chance of being promoted in the past – either it’s women or young people, and it will also improve gender inequality in both workplaces and families.

Second, most people have focused on the economic pressure of raising a family, but ignore that many people have their own economic pressure despite they don’t have families to raise. For example, rent in capital cities is a huge pressure for entry-level employees in many countries. Even if other employees don’t have economic pressures, so what? Why can’t a person want a higher salary simply because she/he wants to buy something unnecessary? The thought someone who doesn’t have economic pressures shouldn’t be promoted is ridiculous. As I said in the first point, deciding who to promote should depend on who’s ability is better, not who needs money. As long as a person’s ability is better, she/he deserves to be promoted regardless of the need for money. Therefore, why an employee wants a higher salary is her/his privacy and has nothing to do with you, the promotion, or the work.
In addition, many people think that men have the pressure of buying a house and affording a house loan. Nevertheless, because of the high house prices in many cities around the world, nowadays many women have to afford house loans with their husbands, too. More importantly, haven’t we been talking about gender equality for a long time? Why can’t a woman want to buy a house on her own, whether it’s for her family or only for herself? The thought that only men need to buy houses disregards gender equality and ignores that many people have their own economic pressures without having a family to raise.

13.2 The job assignment between men and women

To make more women get promoted, many articles in business magazines suggest that women should stop undertaking work that is not important and choose to undertake work that is important and may lead to your promotion. Nevertheless, I have some more points to this view. It’s true that many women proactively choose to do paperwork, but sometimes it’s that women are often assigned non-important paperwork, while men are always assigned important tasks. For example, many women are often assigned with making an Excel report or a PowerPoint that is full of data or ideas from other employees but not hers. I don’t mean making an Excel report or a PowerPoint is not important – Most jobs require doing so, whether men need to do so or women need to do so. What I mean is that sometimes there is some need to have an Excel report or a PowerPoint with data or ideas from many employees; in such cases, women are often assigned such tasks. Because many women are very good at doing that – they make a more beautiful Excel report or a PowerPoint, even if women proactively ask for important tasks from supervisors after reading articles suggesting them do so, such paperwork will still fall onto them. This will create another unfair treatment between men and women.

Many male supervisors suck at doing an Excel report or a PowerPoint: Not because they become rusty in doing that after becoming supervisors, but because they have been never good at that long since they were not supervisors – Women colleagues do those stuff for such male supervisors since such male supervisors were not promoted. I suggest that bosses and supervisors should start to demand male employees to do some paperwork when there are needs, too. Distribute paperwork evenly – Sometimes assign to a man; sometimes assign to a woman. Some male employees won’t make an Excel report or a PowerPoint as beautiful as the one made by a female employee even if they are often assigned such tasks, but you shouldn’t care. As long as the necessary information is clearly presented in the report, why do you care whether it’s beautiful or not? You are not hiring designers. Therefore, this is the thing you should do for gender equality in the workplace: Distribute paperwork evenly – Sometimes assign to a man; sometimes assign to a woman.

13.3 The different pay for the same work between men and women

Another issue regarding gender equality is a hot issue that is often pointed out: The different pay for the same work between men and women. In the old time, there were some arguments about some employers assuming that women’s “real” aspirations were for marriage and family life and therefore declined to pay women wages commensurate with those of men. The well-known Judge Ginsburg was once the victim of salary inequality in the old time. As many people already have the concept of salary equality nowadays, and there are many factors that come into play in the average salary between men and women, I am not sure if there is still indeed the issue of salary inequality between men and women in the “same” job. Still, as I said, this is a hot issue that is often pointed out. So if you have this outdated thought, just change it and fix it.

13.4 Accept criticisms

The last gender equality problem in the workplace I would like to discuss is women’s and men’s problems in listening to criticisms. Both men and women have a problem with being unwilling to listen to criticism. However, apart from not accepting criticism from anyone, either male or female, both men and women also additionally have their own issues to deal with. So I want to particularly discuss the respective issues of women and men here.

13.4.1 The problem of accepting criticisms with the aspect of females

On the issue of accepting criticism, in terms of women, there are also some special problems with the aspect of females. Many women aren’t willing to listen to criticisms. If it’s criticism from a man, because of ridiculous ego issues or so-called “having a fragile heart” ( Meaning: The mind is too fragile and gets hurt too easily), or both, a woman usually expects that man to drop the problem and forgive her without making her admit the mistake she made; this is even sometimes the case with criticism from male supervisors. What’s more, some men often are afraid of getting a woman angry or sad because of the criticism of her work. On the contrary, on the Internet, many men often listen to or agree with the criticism of a current event that may make someone feel hurt, as long as the criticism is reasonable, but I see fewer women often do so. Many men often accept direct but specific criticisms from supervisors and fix their mistakes at work; some women also accept criticisms but tend to feel offended or hurt rather than accepting criticisms outrightly. I am not sure whether this problem also happens in the U.S. and some Western countries or not, but this problem happens in the workplace in Taiwan. However, there are sometimes discussions on social media platforms where Western women aren’t willing to listen to other person’s advice or criticisms, while that advice or criticisms are very specific, clearly conveyed, and obviously reasonable. So I guess it’s a common problem even in the U.S. and some Western countries.

The above problem is purely my personal observation. I don’t have data, so I don’t know if more men or more women have a problem listening to criticism in the workplace; maybe the number of men who have this problem and the number of women who have this problem are very close. Nevertheless, many women indeed have this problem – Expecting others to forgive her without having to admit she has done something wrong, so I still want to point out this problem.
Here is my advice for this problem:
Men, please treat the work of female subordinates or colleagues the same way as you treat the work of male subordinates or colleagues. Criticize when it is necessary. It is women who should correct their attitudes.
Women, as I said in Part 3 of this article, as an adult, you should listen to and accept criticisms. Therefore, you shouldn’t expect men or some females to drop the problem and forgive you without making you admit the mistake you made. Also, you shouldn’t expect men to be as mild and indirect as women when it comes to criticism. A woman’s mild and indirect criticism is sometimes too mild and too indirect so that the person being criticized does not understand where the mistake is at all. Direct, not at all tactful criticism is helpful. You are an adult like men are, aren’t you?
( By the way, in terms of Taiwanese, it is common to encounter very direct but non-specific criticism, in which case it is indeed the fault of the person who criticizes, as I said in Part 3 of this article. But what I am referring to in the above is that sometimes the criticism is specific – specifically pointing out where the problem is or what the problem is, but many people are not willing to accept it. )

One thing needs to be emphasized: The women’s problem in listening to criticism isn’t the reason that causes fewer women to get promoted than men, as many men also have the problem of not being willing to accept criticism – Such as ridiculous ego issues and so-called “having a fragile heart” issues, but such men are still promoted all the time. What’s more, in Taiwan, there are even many men who are reluctant to accept advice from female colleagues because of ridiculous masculine ego issues and the concept of regarding men as superior to women. As I said, on this issue of refusal to accept criticism, apart from not accepting criticism from anyone, either male or female, both men and women also additionally have their own issues to deal with. However, although this problem with the aspect of females isn’t the reason that causes fewer women to get promoted than men, this problem with the aspect of females still worth to be considering and improving by women.

( Some women encountered unreasonable male bosses/supervisors which everyone including men hate, so such women indeed often need to apologize to such unreasonable male bosses. Yet, that’s a different story)

13.4.1 The problem of accepting criticisms with the aspect of males

As I said, in Taiwan, there are even many men who are reluctant to accept advice from female colleagues because of ridiculous masculine ego issues and the concept of regarding men as superior to women. I am not sure if this problem still exists in the U.S. or some Western countries where the gender equality mindset is spread into the hearts of more people including men. Still, if there is this issue in the U.S. or Western countries, it is worth to be noted.
To men: If you have this issue, just stop having this both outdated and unreasonable mindset.
To women: Just know you don’t have to be afraid of giving advice or criticism to men; both of you are equal.

14. Unfair treatment toward employees in other countries

A piece of news talks about the collaboration for a song between Jolin Tsai, Steve Aoki, and MAX when interviewing Jolin Tsai, a female superstar in Taiwan. Jolin Tsai described the situation of the collaboration in the interview ( Her description has no particular meaning – Simply a description ) that she usually goes to bed at 11 pm, but to collaborate with Steve Aoki and MAX and cope with the time difference of timezones, she often set her alarm clock to wake up at 2 am or 3 am to discuss with them about the song. Steve Aoki also said, “We were able to work together across time zones, and I think we were able to create something special for everyone,” while MAX learned to sing in Chinese for Jolin ^[1]https://stars.udn.com/star/story/10092/5832742 . When I read this news, I wonder, “Why it’s Jolin in Taiwan have to work around Steve Aoki and MAX’s timezone in the U.S., not all three discuss a coordinated time that put the timezones of all three into consideration?”

This is actually a common but terrible problem in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese who work in the Taiwan subsidiaries of Western organizations have to have meetings at late night to work around the timezone in Western countries such as the U.S. The meeting time of such Taiwanese at late night isn’t at midnight like that of Jolin. However, it’s still around 11 pm or 12 am. Many Westerners who work in headquarters often don’t have to have a meeting with colleagues in Asia countries at a time other than the normal working time in Westerner’s timezone, while it’s a common case for Asia employees in Asia countries who work for subsidiaries of Western organizations. In the past, some Taiwanese who work in Taiwan manufacturing companies even once had regular meetings at midnight with Western clients.

In fact, with discussion, employees in other countries don’t have to have meetings at late night that often. At least, if there is too much time difference in different timezones and therefore it’s difficult to coordinate a good time that is not 11 pm or 12 am for everyone, meeting at late night should take turns – Sometimes Westerners should also work around the timezone of Asia employees as Asia employees do. I don’t know whether Jolin’s team and Jolin have already mentioned the timezones in Taiwan are different from that in the U.S to Steve Aoki and MAX and discussed with them feasible timeslots that no one has to wake up at midnights or not – Maybe they have discussed, but the meeting time of 2 am in Taiwan is an inevitable choice because of the schedule of the three; however, that’s indeed the problem in the workplaces in Taiwan.

The problem is that many Taiwanese don’t bring up the timezone difference when Americans or Westerners propose meeting times but don’t think of the timezone issue.
The first reason behind this problem is that many Taiwanese is less confident than Westerners because of the way of family education in Taiwan and the better economic development in Western countries, as I said in Part 5 of the article.
The second reason is that many people over-respect people from the headquarters – I am not sure the reason; probably because they think the abilities of people in the headquarters are better, and that’s indeed true in many cases. Anyway, because they over-respect people from the headquarter, they didn’t think of the fact that everyone is equal and the time of everyone should be respected even if the abilities of colleagues in the headquarters are indeed better.
The last reason is that many Taiwanese have a problem with over-respecting supervisors because of the traditional culture: They are afraid of questioning supervisors or discussing with them; This is wrong.
Because of these reasons, many Taiwanese don’t think of bringing up the timezone difference to their U.S. supervisors when U.S. supervisors propose meeting times but don’t think of the timezone issue. There are even some Taiwanese who are happy with the sacrifices of working around the timezone of the Western headquarters because they pathetically try to prove their values to their Western supervisors/clients with such sacrifices instead of proving their values through their abilities, professionalism, and knowledge in the industry.

Although I said this is a common but terrible problem in Taiwan, such a problem doesn’t only exist in the working relationship between the West and the East. According to Business Insider, the former Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, demanded all of her staff across the world join the call, so executives from New York, where it was 6 p.m., and Europe, where it was as late as midnight would dial in too. However, Mayer herself would show up at least 45 minutes late. Some calls started so late that Yahoo’s executives in Europe didn’t hang up till 3 a.m. their time. This shows that some bosses and supervisors in headquarters disregard the timezone issue when proposing a meeting time with employees in other countries. The behavior of Marissa Mayer is worse: She kept employees waiting when the meeting time was already at a midnight.

Ok. Here is my suggestion to such people who work for a subsidiary of an organization from a foreign country:
To Taiwanese: Why not just raise the problem and discuss it with your supervisor? Your past Taiwanese supervisor may condemn you when you raise a problem because of the traditional culture and their ridiculous ego, but most of the Western supervisors won’t because it’s such a simple issue and the culture in the West is so different from that of Taiwan.
To people in any country who work for a subsidiary of a foreign country: Many supervisors have criticized the behavior of Marissa Mayer that routinely being late to the meeting and keeping employees waiting. However, the arrangement of the meeting time probably also is a problem because of the different time zones. I don’t know if such an arrangement of meeting time at midnight is a common scene for Yahoo’s employees in other countries where the headquarter does not locate. But if it’s a common scene, these Europe employees have faced the same problem as Taiwanese employees have faced, and so do any people who work for companies other than Yahoo but have faced the same problem. Although many Europeans don’t have the issue of low confidence as Taiwanese do, and these Europeans probably are more daring to raise an issue, question, and discuss with supervisors, I guess the reason behind the problem perhaps still includes a bit of not daring to raise an issue to supervisors, and over respecting supervisor and colleagues from the headquarter. I suggest that just raise the issue and discuss it with your supervisors or colleagues.
To Westerner supervisors: You should start to think of timezone issues when you propose a meeting with participants including people in other countries.

Another situation regarding unfair treatment toward employees in other countries is about working on holidays. I once saw a Taiwanese commenting on the Internet. He said, “I am very curious about one thing. I work for a subsidiary of a foreign company. Pay, benefits and very flexible working hours are very good. However, every time Western colleagues on Christmas or any holiday will be ‘evaporated in the world’ (A Taiwanese proverb that means ‘disappear’ ) and can not be found. When it’s we Asians on holiday, we still have to cooperate with Western colleagues by being on call. For example, when I told a Western colleague that I needed his help on a project that would only take up 2 hours of his time, the Western colleague said that he would have a vacation from tomorrow and told me to wait until he returned to work. Then when it was we Asian’s turn of having a holiday, I told the Western colleague that I would be on vacation from 9/1 to 9/8, but the Western colleague said to me, ‘It’s okay, you can finish the work for me on 9/7. Have a good vacation.’ Another example is that I received an email from a Western colleague on Friday asking me to finish work on Monday morning, while the work can not be finished on Monday, which means I have to work on the weekend. My face was full of question marks????? (A trendy phrase in Taiwan which means a person is full of questions in the mind)”^[2]https://www.dcard.tw/f/job/p/239962677?cid=6ed8291e-5c0f-44cd-9bfc-fa6f6db88eb9 

I think this is certainly partly these Westerners’ fault in this case. Probably these Westerners get used to the image that Asians often work overtime for them because of their past experience, and have some ego that Asians will and should work overtime for them while they as Westerners shouldn’t and don’t need to do that. Asians indeed often proactively work overtime. However, let me ask you: Why only you “shouldn’t” need to work overtime while those Asians “should” work overtime? It’s ridiculous. Asians indeed often work overtime for many reasons. But now this Taiwanese colleague has already clearly stated he would have a vacation, I really don’t understand why you ask him to finish the work on vacation.
In addition, I once heard that some Taiwanese are chosen to be promoted by Westerners because these Taiwanese are always on-call on the weekends while others don’t, and some Taiwanese think this is a good way to get promoted. It is ridiculous. Westerners, if these employees are American, many of you will promote an employee because of his/her ability, not because he worked hard, and you will wonder if this person has a problem so he needs to work overtime. Why do you change the standard when it comes to Asian employees? This standard of promoting capable employees in the U.S. is good. Instead, you should tell such Asian employees who proactively answer your emails on the weekend or at night that they don’t need to do that, and you simply send out your emails on your workdays in your timezone. Taiwanese, if you are the ones being promoted in such a case, certainly it’s good for you because you are promoted, but you will make such a case as a common situation: Many Taiwanese employees will also need to be on-call on weekends in order to compete with other Taiwanese employees who are on-call on weekends. So STOP being on-call if there is nothing urgent.

Still, on the other side, the comment did not describe the actual situation clearly. In the part that Asians always have to be on call while Westerners don’t, the example this Taiwanese point out is about “finishing a work on a vacation”, not being on call to answer some emails from Western colleagues or work with them because they are still in the workday due to timezone. The Taiwanese who posted this comment seem to be confusing on-call work with working on holidays; sometimes the two are different. Accordingly, it’s possible that this Taiwanese wasn’t forced to be on-call on weekends. Some Taiwanese have a problem of proactively answering Westerners on the weekend while those Westerners do not ask them to answer emails immediately; such Westerners simply send out emails on their workdays while it’s the weekend in Taiwan because of the timezone difference, but they did not require Taiwanese employees/colleagues to reply to emails immediately. To many Taiwanese who have an on-call problem, I suggest you can just stop answering emails or calls on the weekend. Although your Western supervisors and colleagues probably get used to such responses and therefore take such responses for granted, if they have this problem, you can tell them you realize you don’t need to answer emails on the weekend and therefore won’t do that anymore.

Another point worthing to point out is the second example of asking on Friday an Asian colleague to finish work by Monday. Many Westerners get used to asking employees or colleagues to complete work without considering the timezone issue as long as no one mentions the timezone issue. One possible reason is that the Westerner in this case didn’t think of the timezone issue and asked on Friday morning or Thursday afternoon in this Westerner’s timezone but Friday afternoon in Taiwan the Taiwanese subordinate/colleague to complete work. Another possible reason is that many people often ask other people, especially subordinates or vendors, grudgingly undertake something as long as the person they ask does not reject doing that. Many people – either it’s Westerners or Asians – have this problem. Some people have both problems.
Although such Westerners have a fault in not considering the timezone issue, and more importantly, a problem in asking a person grudgingly undertake something as long as that person does not reject it: I suggest people who have either one of the two disadvantages correct themselves, the opponent who is asked to do a work with a tight due date can still do something. In this case, again, as I said, Taiwanese, why not just raise the problem and discuss it with your supervisor/colleague? Maybe you didn’t think of the possibility that your Western supervisor/colleague didn’t think of the timezone issue. But you can still ask him/her this: “Is this urgent? As it’s Friday afternoon now, can I finish it in the next week?” One, you still can think of asking if work is urgent. Two, you still can think of mentioning it’s Friday afternoon without thinking of the possibility that your Western supervisor/colleague didn’t think of the timezone issue)”.
Many Taiwanese have the problem of rushing to complete work that has a tight due date from a Western supervisor/colleague/client without asking why it’s urgent, as many Taiwanese are afraid of asking why because of the same reason: Traditional cultural concepts and family and school education. This is a problem for many Taiwanese and sometimes a root cause of working overtime cases of many Taiwanese.
One reason to ask whether it’s urgent is that many Westerners simply propose a due date – You also often do that, but the due date actually can be discussed.
The second reason is that you need to let people know this tight due date is a condition that you won’t undertake unless it’s necessary, because as I said that many people will ask a person grudgingly to undertake something as long as he/she did not reject doing that. Despite that’s the fault of the person who asks other people grudgingly to undertake something, you still can reject such an unreasonable request by asking “Is this urgent?”.
The last reason is that many people – no matter it’s a Westerners or Asian – lack of considering work a priority and make every work urgent once it comes up. Asking and discussing can help to raise the awareness of the person who assigns the work about thinking whether a work is indeed urgent or not, and help to facilitate the prioritization of work. You need to see if you are forced to be on-call on the weekend and have already rejected on-call on the weekend or checked out if work with a tight due date is indeed urgent with supervisors or colleagues. If you indeed did them, that’s indeed your Western supervisors/colleagues’ problem.
In addition, sometimes for some reason, a request of asking you to work overtime in order to complete a work is inevitable. That’s why I say you need to ask why work is urgent. You need to identify yourself whether a tight due date makes sense or not by case with your brain.

15. The work overtime problem

One problem with working with clients or higher-ranking supervisors

It’s a common scene: An American client told an American representative who is a vendor, “We want this product to be delivered by XXX (a specific time).” Then the American representative went back and told the corresponding person who should be responsible for preparing this product, “This has to be delivered by XXX because the client said so.” Then everyone who is involved in preparing this product for the client becomes busy and sometimes works overtime in order to get the product delivered on time as the client requested. This common scene happens not only in the U.S. but also in many countries. I am simply using the U.S. as an example to let you understand it’s a common scene even in the U.S., so it probably happens in your country, too.

There is a problem that many people don’t realize: Sometimes it’s just a proposed delivery date; the delivery date can be discussed and adjusted. If the delivery date that a client request is tight, why not ask the client if there is any reason to ask for the product to be delivered on this day? Why not just raise the problem and discuss it with your client? Since you are a representative, that’s one thing you should do for your colleagues and supervisors working internally. If you ask, many cases of working overtime can be prevented. You should also propose a new delivery date with a proper reason to your client if you want the delivery date to be changed.

Sometimes the client himself/herself doesn’t know the reason, either. He/She will think this in his/her mind: “Because my supervisor told me this delivery date. I don’t know why, either.” If you are such a client, I suggest you should ask your supervisor why the delivery date is this tight before telling your vendor the delivery date, or when a vendor asks why, go back to ask your supervisor why instead of just demanding the vendor must deliver the product on that date, so you can discuss with your vendor and your supervisor based on the answer to that “why” when your vendor has a need to postpone the delivery date.

That said, this is not a cure-all for every such case that a client requests a tight delivery date. Sometimes a client has a reasonable reason and therefore needs a product to be delivered at a tight timeline. You may still need to meet a client’s demand for a tight delivery date. But this solution can resolve many cases where the delivery date actually can be discussed.

The problem of working overtime intensified by digital tools

Many issues cause the work overtime problem. Here I want to particularly discuss the working overtime problem that intensified by digital tools.
I once saw an American writing on the Internet about how technology has made people not able to actually “get off” after work. Many people still need to answer emails with their phones at night or on the weekend. Although I mentioned in the last topic that many Taiwanese in subsidiaries of Western companies are “on-call” on the weekends while Western employees aren’t, judging from this situation described by this American, there are still some Westerners answer to supervisors or colleagues’ emails as there is no timezone difference between them. Here is a speculation: I guess some Westerners are aware of the timezone issue and therefore don’t answer emails from Asian colleagues on the weekends, while they often answer emails from their Western colleagues who are in the same timezone.
Anyway, no matter whether this speculation is right or not, people regardless of whether Westerners or Asians do often answer emails on nonworking time and feel there is no “get-off” time because of technology. As I previously said in the last topic, the solution is actually simple: Just stop answering those emails or messages during non-working time unless it’s urgent. There are many reasons that people work and send you emails at a non-working time. In many cases, that’s simply some people’s choice out of some reasons, but the reasons do NOT include that they expect to receive your reply at a non-working time. If your supervisors or clients did ask you to answer their emails right away at the non-working time when it’s not urgent, that’s indeed their problem. However, if they simply send out an email or a message, you actually don’t have to answer it right away. You can just put it away and wait until working time to answer it. It’s night and weekend; I am sure some people can understand the message that shows “Read” but wasn’t replied to until normal working time. If you are worried that some other people may don’t understand this, you can also say “I am sorry that I read your message but didn’t reply to you immediately last night/last day as this was the night/weekend” before you start your discussion about that work. I also suggest people stop to worry about messages you sent out that are read but unanswered at night or on the weekends unless there is something urgent. Many people, maybe including you, have a tendency of opening messages even if it’s work-related at whatever time it is but probably actually don’t want to deal with the work-related matter right away at the non-working time.

The situation in Taiwan

The working overtime problem is more severe in Taiwan than in the U.S. and in some Western countries, so I would like to particularly talk about the situation in Taiwan.

Although I mentioned that a lot of working overtime problems in Taiwan, especially in Western subsidiaries, are because the Taiwanese are afraid of asking why and discussing with Western supervisors and colleagues, which should be corrected by the Taiwanese themselves by proactively changing the concept in the minds, the problem of working overtime in Taiwan still exist in other ways. There are two other ways. One is that Taiwanese employers indeed often demand employees work overtime. For this problem, Taiwanese employers, as I said, employees don’t get a salary as high as you get. So just stop asking employees to work overtime. The other one is that some Taiwanese doing work in the wrong way, therefore causing the problem of working overtime. Let me talk about this problem of working in the wrong way and my suggestion.

(1) Many Taiwanese have the problem of incapable of identifying whether a work is indeed urgent or not, and the problem of impatience. Why not wait until tomorrow? Although I said even some Westerners have the problem of identifying the level of urgency of work, many Taiwanese, do tend to be more impatient. In some cases, Taiwanese supervisors, STOP being impatient and calmly identify whether the work you assign is urgent or not. In some cases, you as the person who has a work should identify yourself whether a work is urgent or not. In some cases, as I said in an earlier paragraph, you should ask your supervisors and colleague whether a work is urgent or not and why it’s urgent.

(2) Many people have a problem with arranging work, so they deliver the work to colleagues at a time that is close to the time of getting off, but saying “This work has to be done by today.” If that’s the work that needs other colleagues (especially colleagues from other job functions) complete today, it’s your responsibility to arrange your work and deliver the work to your colleagues earlier, so your colleagues can complete the job within one day instead of working overtime. ( Sometimes the work can’t be arranged. However, very often, the work can be arranged but no one thinks of arranging their work or actually do that. )
This suggestion is particularly for the type of work that everyone works on “different parts” of work. For example, A needs to do Work X, and after finishing Work X, A needs to deliver the work to B and ask B to do Work Y. This suggestion is not for the other type of work that everyone works on “one single” work simultaneously together. For this type of work everyone work on “one single” work together, it’s certainly impossible to deliver the work earlier to your colleague who works on the same “one single” work together with you.

Administration jobs in Taiwan

Many Taiwanese think that someone who looks for an administration job that doesn’t need to work overtime with a $NT 40K salary is asking too much, as they as administrators often work overtime with a lower salary. I disagree with this thought.

First, many people think such a person is asking too much because the amount of salary she/he wants is paid for an administration job. However, as I said in Part 5 of the article, the cost of living in Taiwan has increased. I think NT$40K should be a basic salary no matter which city in Taiwan you live in. Jobs in Taipei even should have higher salaries.

Second, an administration job is a highly replaceable job with few career prospects, and the salary of an administration job is generally low, compared to other jobs. Because of that, bosses, supervisors, and employees in other job functions, stop exploiting administrators in Taiwan by asking them to work overtime. It’s people who are not administrators should stop exploiting administrators. I saw there are some administrators in Taiwan who need to do administration work on other job functions ( or other departments). One, if an office administrator is already busy with office administration work, stop asking an office administrator to do administration work for your job function; that’s your business, not hers. Two, some cases are about that an administrator is available to do administration work of other job functions ( or other departments ), but sometimes she still needs to work overtime, because employees in other job functions will have urgent matters that need to deal with after the time of getting off. Many Taiwanese employees take this for granted because everyone works overtime and they work overtime, too. Let me repeat: An administration job is a highly replaceable job with few career prospects, and the salary of an administration job is generally low, compared to your job. Your job such as sales or marketing has a better career prospect, even if your salary may be close to hers at the moment. So stop exploiting administrators.
What’s more, although some people will think, “But I just have an urgent thing” that needs the administrator to deal with”, this is wrong. Here is my suggestion:
(1) As I said earlier, improve your ability to identify whether it’s indeed urgent or not and stop being impatient. Why not wait until tomorrow?
(2) As I said earlier, whether it’s work that needs to be completed a few days later or within one day, arrange your work and deliver the work to your colleagues earlier, so your colleagues can complete the job within the due date requested ( including the due date that is within today ) instead of working overtime.
(3) Suppose it’s the case that there is indeed urgent work which is not because of the above two reasons, since an administrator shouldn’t work overtime, do those administration work on your own instead of exploiting an administrator by asking her to work overtime.

The solution of preventing factory employees from working overtime in Asia

As I previously mentioned, Taiwan’s working overtime problem is more severe. Another major reason that causes this working overtime problem in Taiwan is that Taiwanese bosses often demand employees work overtime. For instance, many entry-level factory workers in Taiwan have to “often” work overtime. I also said, Taiwanese bosses and supervisors, employees don’t get salaries as high as you get. So what you should do to solve this problem is to just stop asking employees to work overtime. In addition, many jobs that are demanded to often work overtime such as entry-level factory workers are highly replaceable jobs. As I also said, such highly replaceable jobs have fewer career prospects. So stop demanding such employees work overtime simply because you need. The behavior of demand such employees work overtime is exploitation. Whether you did pay the overtime pay or not (Some Taiwanese companies do not pay that), the point I am making here is that do not demand employees who do highly replaceable jobs work overtime even if you pay the overtime pay.

Here is my first advice: If you have the pressure of delivery time, you should either ask your clients ( no matter whether it’s a Western client or Taiwanese client ) to wait or hire more employees by increasing the fee you charge from your clients. If you choose the latter option, tell your Western or Taiwanese clients that this is the price that they have to pay at the current time if they want to meet this tight delivery date, as you have to hire more long-term employees to prevent employees from working overtime and enlarge your factory with more assembly lines. People are used to taking advantage of vendors; as long as the working overtime or exploitation problem doesn’t happen in those Western companies themselves, how would these Western companies care? Nevertheless, that is because you choose to please your clients by exploiting your employees, which you shouldn’t do.

Still, the vicious competition in the manufacturing industry in Taiwan or Asia is the problem. In the early time, before China and Vietnam become big manufacturers, the manufacturing companies in Taiwan already conduct a price war to compete with each other and attract clients. This is a malignant competition. The behind-the-scene of such low prices among many Taiwanese manufacturing companies is exploited factory workers who often work overtime and have a low salary. As decades go by, the price in Taiwan rise, and the low salary becomes fucking ridiculous. A similar scene happens in China. What’s more, as many factories move to Vietnam, the factory workers in Vietnam will have to work overtime, too. Western clients will definitely choose the manufacturing company in Vietnam that can deliver products at the time they want. Many Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturing companies move factories to Vietnam to cut costs. Does this action solve the working overtime problem of factory workers? Despite many companies’ purpose is only cutting the cost and having no intention to fix the working overtime problem, the answer to this question is NO. Moving the factory may be a solution to cutting costs, but not a solution to working overtime, as you are still exploiting employees – You simply change the person you exploit.

So here comes my second advice: Establish an association of manufacturing companies globally, especially in Asia. Reach a consensus that no company in this association of manufacturing can demand employees work overtime or exploit employees by other means (Many Chinese factory workers have been severely exploited by other means). In terms of the malignant competition of the price war issue, this can be ”partly“ solved by establishing an association in Taiwan. Any manufacturing company in this association in Taiwan has to charge clients at least the lowest standard price that this association in Taiwan agrees, and the pay to the different levels of employees including factory workers have to meet at least the lowest standard salaries varied by job categories and rankings which this association in Taiwan agrees, as well. Although such an association that runs only nationally in Taiwan will make the price that is more difficult to compete with manufacturing companies in Vietnam, the currently ridiculously low salaries you pay to Taiwanese employees are already difficult to compete with the lower salaries in Vietnam. Aren’t you already moving factories to China or Vietnam currently? This suggestion is simply for protecting Taiwanese factory workers. I also suggest Chinese or Vietnam manufacturers do so to protect the right of their local factory workers.
Whether it’s an association that runs globally or an association that runs nationally, why will manufacturing companies want to join such associations instead of malignant cutting prices to receive more deals? I suggest that the association should tell clients that any company which doesn’t join the association has the possibility of exploiting employees by demanding often work overtime or other means. Having the mark of this association is evidence that a company doesn’t exploit employees. In addition, many Western companies care about the problem of exploitation of laborers in China; Western companies or any company including Taiwanese companies who are the clients of manufacturers, it’s time to also view the often working overtime problem as exploitation. Grow up instead of being spoiled by Asian manufacturers (Although many Asian manufacturers chose to do so on their own). If you don’t want your Western employees often work overtime, why do you want the employee from your manufacturer vendors to work overtime simply because of your request? Stop requesting a seemingly difficult tight delivery time.

Such an association can create not only rules for preventing companies’ demand for employees who often work overtime, but also rules about the environmental safety of factories or measures of preventing climate change, which many Western companies have cared about. For example, during the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan, when the government already suggest companies conduct remote work, there is a Taiwanese company asked employees to go back to the offices for the demand of deals, according to a review on Qollie, a job review website in Taiwan. It’s unclear whether the company asked too many employees to go back to the office at the same time or it’s only a few employees, nor is clear whether such a demand violates the law in Taiwan or not if there are “many” employees are required to do so at the same time. However, such an association can create rules to forbid companies from demanding employees from demanding too many employees go back to offices at the same time ^[3]https://www.qollie.com/comments/6161a1fea9c7c2004e1f9ab2 . ( I skip and don’t comment on the third paragraph in the job review here, as even if the employees from other departments are asked to enter the factory, it seems to have no violation as long as the number of people in the same place isn’t a lot and maintains social distance. If there are too many people in the factory which makes social distance difficult to be maintained, the problem can be considered.)
In terms of the exploitation of employees by other means, this may also prevent Chinese female factory workers from being raped and killed by Taiwanese or Chinese supervisors if the rumor is true ^[4]https://www.epochtimes.com/b5/12/7/22/n3640648.htm . Such an association needs to regularly examine each factory, receive sexual harassment complaints from employees in each manufacturer, and do proper action. According to EpochTimes and some other websites, Chinese female factory workers in Foxconn was raped and killed by supervisors and “disappeared” for good. When the parents came to look for their daughter, Foxconn simply claimed that they never hire this employee. Whether this rumor is true or not isn’t validated. However, if it’s true, despite the local police having some problems hiding such a horrible event for the “big” Foxconn, such an association can do the things that the police should do but didn’t do: Demand the Foxconn factory to have proper record of employment. Accordingly, when a suspicious circumstance arises, the family member of the employee can ask the relevant government agency for the employment record such as the labor insurance record which is supposed to be stored in a government agency but wasn’t checked out by police. The family of the employee who disappears and such an association can understand with this evidence whether the factory lied – Maybe this evidence can help to uncover the truth. In addition, if the rumor is true, the clients of Foxconn such as Apple should reject working with Foxconn, and customers including you and me should stop buying Apple products as they are created with the sacrifice of raping and the blood of Chinese female workers. Having such an association can forbid manufacturing companies from doing such horrible behaviors and have a clear mark that represents upright businesses for companies to choose manufacturers.

Read the next part: Part 8 of this article by clicking the link.

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Chrissy Slora

The articles published in this website are all written by Chrissy Slora. Chrissy Slora aims to make people learn about how the world can be better and provide her intelligent and wise insight by writing about various topics from technology to issues happening in the world. Follow her on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin