2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 313 The peak season is here!

FlashTech, located in the export processing zone, has recently become the focus of discussion among employees of other companies in the park.

This company is doing so well that, due to the peak sales season, they've started encouraging employees to work overtime on Sundays, with the pay being 1.5 times the regular rate.

In addition, they started hiring temporary workers.

Even for temporary workers, the competition is fierce. Their company's treatment in the export processing zone is definitely among the best. Every day, there are long queues at the door, waiting to be selected.

"No need to queue up, we've already filled our quota for today. It's not easy for everyone to come all this way in this heat, so please grab a drink from the styrofoam box next to us, they're all ice-cold."

"Holy crap! What happened? It's already full? It's only 9 o'clock, and it's only just begun!"

"Here's the thing, we only need 50 people today, and some of them will be given priority for those referred by our factory workers, so that's all for today."

"Damn, today's work is definitely going to be easy. This company really favors its own employees when there are good opportunities. It's so damn biased."

"Well, not bad. Getting a free bottle of water made the trip worthwhile."

"Talk to your boss and ask him to urge the construction team at your new factory. Business is so good, the sooner it's completed, the more money you'll make."

"Okay, okay, thank you for your suggestion. I will tell my boss. Everyone, please don't line up here anymore. It's hot, and people crammed together can easily cause heatstroke. That's all for today."

At this moment, a middle-aged man came out of the building and waved to the crowd: "Let's go, everyone disperse. If we need to hire temporary workers next time, we will post a notice at the door. If you are still interested, you can come and take a look."

Someone in the crowd recognized Chen Jinwen, the HR manager of Flashpoint Technology, and immediately called out to him, "Manager Chen, when will you start recruiting employees for your new factory? Didn't you say you would train them first?"

Chen Jinwen smiled and said, "That will have to wait until the second half of the year. It won't be that soon. Please keep an eye on our company's official website for updates."

"Stop having internal employee referrals again. I've heard that you employees are getting kickbacks from the people you refer."

"Yes, yes, please consider us experienced workers more, so we can get started more quickly."

"Okay, I understand what everyone has said. I will report it to our boss. Also, thank you all for your support of Flash Technology. We are closing down. If you have another interview, go for it. If not, go home and rest early. It's too hot."

Since they were no longer hiring, everyone had no choice but to leave, so they all headed to the styrofoam boxes placed nearby, picked out a bottle of their favorite drink, and left disappointed.

No one took more than their share. Although these temporary workers are rather lazy and like to take advantage of others, there are HR staff from Flashpoint Technology watching over the area where the drinks are placed. Even if someone takes more than their share, no one will say anything. But if they remember your face, you can forget about ever working at Flashpoint Technology again.

The temporary worker's wage of 120 yuan a day is quite good, and there is no need to go through an agency, no deductions, and payment is made every 10 days, which is very convenient!
After the crowd dispersed, the new clerk in the HR department said to Chen Jinwen, "Manager Chen, the boss is so kind! He even prepared ice water for the job applicants. What company would do that?"

Chen Jinwen smiled but didn't say anything. You don't know that the boss originally planned to give out travel expenses, but he stopped him. Giving out money directly would make it easy for people to take advantage of the situation. Although it's not much, it's still disgusting to have people lining up every day to collect a sum of money.

Water wouldn't be something that would make someone so bored.

However, when hiring full-time employees, it is acceptable to give the employees who come to the interview a travel allowance; this tactic can win the favor of many applicants.

The boss must have worked in HR before, right? Otherwise, how would he know so much?

Employees who recommend new employees can receive a referral fee of 200 yuan if the employee works for more than three months, and 500 yuan if the employee works for more than six months. However, this money is not something that can be earned casually. If the employee recommended commits illegal or disciplinary violations, the recommender will also have their money deducted.

There were also some strange recruitment regulations that I had never heard of before, and the people involved seemed to know more about them than I did.

However, Chen Jinwen had to admit that in all his years in HR, recruiting entry-level employees has always been the most troublesome thing for factories and HR managers, which is why many factories have to cooperate with intermediaries.

FlashTech is the easiest factory to recruit from in his career, with an extremely high employee retention rate. People like those who like to do part-time work are all thinking of joining the factory. Even before the new factory was built, there was already a large group of people waiting.

This feels amazing! Money really does make things easier.

The reason for the increased recruitment is naturally the arrival of the peak sales season. Apart from some simple tasks that temporary workers can do, FlashTech once again called on employees to voluntarily work overtime on Sundays if their health permits.

Overtime pay is 1.5 times the regular rate. In addition, if you work two or more Sundays a month without taking leave, your full attendance bonus will be doubled from 150 yuan to 300 yuan. There will also be additional subsidies if you work all month without taking a break.

In short, in addition to the existing benefits, the longer you work during peak season, the more benefits you will receive.

Some employees have calculated that during the peak season of three months, if they work 30 days a month and have all the benefits combined, their monthly salary can reach around 6000 yuan, which is comparable to the salary during the Chinese New Year.

That's 18,000 yuan over three months! That's enough to buy four square meters of a nice apartment in Beicang. Why bother resting? There's nothing to do outside in this sweltering heat. It's much cooler inside the workshop.

As long as you don't kill them, keep pushing them to the limit.

Chen Jinwen was downstairs watching the recruitment process, while Tan Jincheng met with Wang Guoxin, the production department supervisor, in his office.

"Have you arranged the production schedule in the workshop? We've got the staff recruited, and we need to improve production efficiency to avoid any problems."

Wang Guoxin replied somewhat reservedly, "Everything is arranged, boss. Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on it every day."

As the head of the production department, he's been under a lot of pressure lately. Flashcar's maximum monthly production capacity is 4.5 vehicles, and the boss requires that 4.5 qualified electric vehicles be put into the market during the peak season.

4.5 is the most basic target. Beyond that, whether production can be optimized to produce more vehicles in a more reasonable way while ensuring quality is his responsibility as the production manager.

Flash is currently expanding rapidly. As one of the earliest people to follow the boss, although he can't be considered the boss's confidant, the fact that the production department was entrusted to him at least shows that the boss trusts him.

Since he spends most of his time in the workshop, he doesn't have many opportunities to interact with the boss. Whether or not he can meet the production targets set by the boss becomes the most crucial test of his abilities.

If you do a good job, you'll rise through the ranks like your cronies Sun Yuming and Zhang Xuhui; if you don't, you'll be fired.

When the boss needed more staff, he had the HR department hire more. When he wanted better benefits, he lavishly increased the pay during peak season, causing nearby Taiwanese-owned businesses to complain bitterly. Some employees even resigned specifically to apply for temporary jobs. As the saying goes, "The tallest tree in the forest catches the most wind," and the boss was under considerable pressure from above. If production targets weren't met, his future would be bleak.

"Okay, the production workload is quite heavy, there's no way around it. But while we're working overtime, we need to pay attention to the employees' morale. Also, the weather is hot now, so we must do a good job of preventing heatstroke and prevent any accidents from happening."

"Ok."

"How's the employee daycare going?"

The majority of the staff are grassroots employees, and more than 80% of them are from other places. Many of them want to bring their children over for the summer vacation, so this matter was entrusted to Wang Guoxin.

It doesn't have the qualifications to run a school; it's just a place for kids to play and doesn't make a profit. Calling it a daycare center seems more appropriate.

"We've already tallied it up. There are 37 children who meet the criteria. In addition, some employees have older children and have asked if they could come over to help take care of the younger ones and earn some extra money on the side."

"Only 37 people? I thought there would be many more. I was worried about where to find a venue." Tan Jincheng asked with some surprise.

Wang Guoxin laughed and said, "Most of the grassroots employees are single. Some are at home with someone to take care of them and are too lazy to bother with anything. Others have older children who need tutoring. 37 people is actually quite a lot, and the space required is not small either."

Tan Jincheng nodded. He had never been a left-behind child; he had only heard of this group, but didn't know much about the specifics. "Do you have any ideas about the venue?"

No, I do know a little bit about it. My own cousins ​​should also be considered left-behind children, right?
"Putting it in the workshop area would be fine, as it would be under constant supervision, but there would still be safety risks. I wonder if it would be okay to put it in the office building?"

"No problem at all. You can find two rooms in the office building. There should still be some vacant rooms. If all else fails, you can use my break room."

"Will this affect everyone's work? Especially the R&D department, I heard they need a quieter environment."

"Forget it, their R&D department is noisier than anywhere else, it won't affect anything. Playing with some kids might even boost your inspiration. Go ahead and choose, try to pick the first floor, it'll be more convenient."

“If the boss has no objections, then I’ll go ahead and choose.” Wang Guoxin nodded.

Tan Jincheng laughed: "What objection could I possibly have? I was the one who brought this up. Since we've given everyone something to look forward to, we have to do it well. If it doesn't work out, we can just clear out the main conference room; it's big enough there."

"Okay, I'll try my best to get it done for him in the next couple of days. I'll also ask Manager Chen to expedite the recruitment of kindergarten teachers, as some of the children should be arriving next week."

Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "Yes, we should pay more attention to this. His parents are working hard to earn money for me so that I can buy a new car and a house. The company should help as much as it can."

Wang Guoxin smiled too. Apart from having extremely high standards for work, this boss was really impeccable and very humane.

Which company would do something so thankless and exhausting?

After doing such a good deed, they still put on a mercenary face, acting as if they were thinking of themselves and the company's interests. They even asked employees not to publicize it, especially the heads of various departments, who were strictly forbidden from revealing it to outsiders.

In this era of information overload, some self-media accounts often push short videos or articles about things like not being too good to employees, or bosses talking about how high employee salaries are not conducive to hard work.

In Tan Jincheng's view, this is pure nonsense. Human desires are limitless; once you have money, you'll only want more money.

Admittedly, some people are easily satisfied and are content with just enough to spend, but many more are forced to lie down simply because they have no money to spend!

There's nothing wrong with treating employees well, especially in this era before the information explosion and when job opportunities are limited. Employees cherish a stable factory job with good benefits.

No matter the era, there is never a shortage of people-oriented entrepreneurs, nor is there a shortage of people who can give their opinions and suggestions.

Tan Jincheng didn't want to be a people's entrepreneur, nor did he claim to be a good person. He was simply doing his job according to his conscience, and what his subordinates thought was their own business.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, go and prepare. It'll be tough these next three months, but things will get better after that."

The Flash and Wind series electric vehicles sell well; the real test is production capacity. Unfortunately, current technology is not yet sufficient to build the kind of smart factories of the future, and cannot automate multiple processes.

I recall that Yadi has a similar smart factory that can produce several million electric vehicles a year, and if all the facilities are completed, it can produce tens of millions of electric vehicles a year.

With an annual production capacity of tens of millions of electric vehicles, it seems there are only fewer than 2000 employees? This is the power of automated production.

Technological advancements are absolutely crucial.

After Wang Guoxin left, Tan Jincheng stayed in the office alone for a while. After a while, he said to Zeng Jixiang in the outer room, "Xiao Zeng, is Xiao Zhao in the purchasing department? Tell her to come over with Sun Yuming."

"Okay." Zeng Jixiang eagerly went to inform them.

The first assistant, Zhang Xuhui, is now in charge of management at Hangxin New Energy. The second assistant, Zhao Xinyi, who arrived a little earlier than him, has already taken on the role of head of the purchasing department.

Currently, all companies within the Flash Group are facing a severe shortage of management talent, including Orange Technology, which is not part of the Flash Group.

Graduates like Gu Yanning, who have almost no work experience, are now being forced to take over the management of the company in place of Gu Qingqing, who is preparing for the exam.

Zeng Jixiang, who knew this all too well, was eager to make progress! He knew he couldn't afford to miss this opportunity.

Tan Jincheng also noticed this problem. In fact, he had taken too big a step. Although he had broken away from the makeshift structure, as a group company, it was still not formal enough.

A true business owner should have an overall vision and formulate the company's development plan, rather than worrying about specific matters such as production and marketing.

I'm busy visiting relatives, so there might only be one chapter today.

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(End of this chapter)