A Reliable Partner in the Workplace
ESG
Employee Benefits Policy
PChome provides better-than-average salaries and benefits in the industry in hopes of recruiting promising e-commerce talents. These benefits include: More days of special leave than the requirements of the Labor Standards Act, flexible three-shift work hours, incentives for language learning, subsidies for in-service education, and bonuses for festivities. We also make constant improvements and have launched discounts for purchases by employees and Employee Welfare Committee activities in order to retain outstanding talents and create a healthy and happy workplace environment. We seek to grow with our co-workers and share the business results, in hopes of enhancing employee happiness in the workplace.
A Competitive Wage Policy
PChome has always considered employees as the core for the company. In order to attract and retain outstanding talents, PChome is dedicated to providing a salary system that is better than the industry average. In order to protect employees’ base salary, the HR Department regularly reviews on a yearly basis the salary standards against the minimum wage announced by the Ministry of Labor for the current year in order to provide a reasonable and competitive salary system. In the past three years, PChome’s base salary has been better than the minimum salary in Taiwan.
PChome’s remuneration structure primarily consists of minimum wage and compensation. Minimum wage refers to the minimum fixed remuneration employees receive for performing their work. Compensation refers to the additional payments given to employees, such as bonuses (cash or stocks/shares), fringe benefits, overtime pay, and other subsidies (in transportation and childbirth). In 2022, the ratio of the highest compensation for an individual as compared to the median of the other employees (excluding that individual) is 26.47. However, in the post-pandemic era, e-commerce is faced with challenges. The ratio of the percentage of salary raises for the highest-earning individual as compared to the median for the raise percentage of average annual salary is -18.08%. In order to realize the hiring principles of equality and fairness, PChome implements performance evaluation based on employees’ education, experiences, professional knowledge and skills, seniority and personal performance in accordance with the performance evaluation guidelines of the Company and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, race, religion, marital status, or political belief. Over the past three years, the average female-male minimum wage and compensation ratios have stabilized.
Employee Benefits Policy
In line with the Ministry of Labor regulations, PChome has an Employee Welfare Committee in charge of allocating monthly funds and routine handling various fringe benefit-related activities on a regular basis. In terms of employee benefits planning, per the relevant regulations, we encourage employees to bring up improvement suggestions and work with them to design welfare policies and activities, mainly divided into five categories – salary and benefits, physical and mental health, key life events benefits, group perks and incentives for continuing education. We create a supportive work environment that helps our employees achieve a work-life balance and have more opportunities to interact with one another during their spare time.
Flexible Three-shift Work Hours
Continuing from 2021, PChome implements a flexible three-shift schedule in which each shift lasts for 8 hours. Based on their individual needs and the requirements of their department, employees can choose to clock in at 08: 30, 9: 00, 9: 30 after gaining approval from their supervisor. They are also allowed to change their clock-in time once every three months. The implementation of a flexible work hour schedule takes into account employees’ needs to take care of their families and work at the same time, and improves employees’ work efficiency and flexibility.
Employee Remuneration Distribution and Issuance of Employee Stock Subscription
PChome’s employee remuneration distribution and issuance of employee stock subscription gives our employees an opportunity to engage in the Company’s operations, jointly reap the performance outcomes, and integrate their performance with the Company’s business goals. The aim is to retain outstanding talents. According to PChome’s articles of corporation, if the Company has profit after tax, it should allocate 1%~15% of the profits as employee remuneration. Additionally, when new shares are issued via equity capital raising, the Company will allocate a specified percentage of shares for employee subscription; the employees themselves can decide whether they want to subscribe or not.
Language Learning and In-service Training Incentives
Chome encourages our employees to learn foreign languages and take part in the TOEIC and JLPT language tests as well as take up in-service education based on personal interests and needs. PChome advocates lifelong learning and has developed an incentive and reward scheme for continuing education. In order to receive PChome’s language learning incentives, an employee must attain a certain level in their English/ Japanese proficiency test and meet the specified requirements. Employees who apply for continuing education by meeting the relevant policy regulations receive subsidies of up to NT$30,000 per semester. We take action to support our employees to continuously sharpen their language skills and job competences.
Maternity Protection Plans
Female employees comprise over half of the PChome workforce. To guarantee the rights of our female employees, we comply with the relevant regulations in the Act of Gender Equality in Employment and the Regulations for Implementing Unpaid Parental Leave for Raising Children. Our employees are given the opportunity to take unpaid leave to raise their children while retaining their position in the Company. This ensures that female employees have time to take care of their career and family during pregnancy, eases employees’ pressure on family care, and encourages employees to return to their posts after their maternity leave is up, so that their career development will not be affected.
In addition, PChome has a maternity protection policy that sets the standard for safeguarding maternity rights. This allows our female employees to maintain their health and work-life balance during their pregnancy, postpartum, and lactation periods. At PChome, once a female employee becomes aware of her pregnancy, we provide a consultation session to inform her about maternity-related rights as well as guiding her on the completion of the Self-Rated Health Status Form for Pregnant and First-Year Postpartum Labors, which serves as a reference for subsequent recommendations on health guidance, management, and hazard control during pregnancy. At the same time, we inspect our workplaces to mitigate and eliminate potential hazards for pregnant employees. Medical experts are also recruited to help these employees cope with complicated feelings and physical discomfort during pregnancy. We have also set up breastfeeding facilities in each office, and the facilities have been certified as excellent by the Taipei City Government Department of Health. We have attended to the maternity needs of and suggestions from our employees by inspecting and revising the relevant measures to improve our maternity health protection program. It is our hope to take better care of our employees so that employees can feel free to have children and be able to take care of their career and family.
Attending to Employees' Lives after Retirement
PChome seeks to be a strong support for its employees, and has established employee retirement guidelines in accordance with the Labor Standards Act and the Labor Pension Act. The guidelines include a pension program with defined benefits (old scheme) and a pension program with defined contributions (new scheme). For employees who qualify for the pension program under the new scheme, the company allocates 6% of the monthly insured amount to employees’ personal labor pension accounts at the Bureau of Labor Insurance on a monthly basis. For employees who qualify for the pension program under the old scheme, the company allocates 2% of the monthly wage as a labor pension fund on a monthly basis. The fund will be managed by the Labor Pension Fund Supervision Committee and deposited in Bank of Taiwan under their name. At the end of each year, an actuary will be appointed to estimate the pension fund liability as of December 31 each year in accordance with IAS19 in order to protect employees’ interests.
In the past three years, PChome always had net assets under pension funds at the end of each year. This shows that the Company has allocated surplus pension funds in the pension fund account at the Bank of Taiwan for protection of employees’ pension welfare.
Social Events with Vitality
PChome encourages employees to establish and participate in social clubs and relevant gatherings in hopes of enriching employees’ lives and creating a work environment full of vitality through participation in club activities so that employees may relax after work and develop diverse interests and expertise. Currently the Company has 11 social clubs encompassing dimensions such as sports, life, learning, entertainment and spiritual growth.
Performance Appraisal and Management
PChome has created an employee performance appraisal system in accordance with our human resources management standards. PChome sets annual work goals at the start of the year and conducts mid-year and year-end appraisals to check the progress toward goal achievement. The appraisal starts with self-evaluation by the employee, then initial evaluation by the direct supervisor, second evaluation by division supervisor, and finally determined by department supervisor. Additionally, an employee’s performance appraisal ratings are linked to their remuneration and bonuses, so they can grow together with PChome.
In terms of appraisal of governance units, PChome has established the Remuneration Committee, which evaluates remuneration policies and systems for directors, supervisors and managers of the Company from a professional and objective angle and provides suggestions to the Board of Directors for reference. The Committee comprises of no less than 3 members, who are appointed by Board resolution. One of them serves as the convener. A Committee member may not participate in the discussion and voting process for the decision on his / her own remuneration and shall recuse himself / herself when a meeting agenda involves conflicts with his / her personal interests or those of the legal person that he / she represents in order to prevent damaging the Company’s interests.
