Okok Management - Research Assistant MLResearch Consultants Employee Review

Received good learning experiences from projects that I handled. I also received good support from immediate supervisors. The work environment is professional, friendly and helpful.

I can’t think of any.

Located in Central. Pay comes in on time (except one time)

I worked here for 4 months, and it was a very painful 4 months. I do have a lot of feedback for this company. Before I start, I want to bring across this crucial point. There is no proper onboarding, I worked 2 days before getting my proper full time contract and I had to remind the MD repeatedly before it was given to me. I HAD TO REMIND HER for my contract. Ridiculous. 1. The company is old fashioned and management is very rigid. For example, they are still using typewriters, full time employees who are on probation requires to sign their physical timesheet, and write down specifically what time you reported at, despite being paid full-time. Management pays attention to how many times you go to the restroom. They expect you to do things their way and you are not allowed to provide feedback, if not frowned upon. Does not accept e-consult MC, even though it is MOM-approved. MD said "its the company policies" which I was never presented with, not mentioned before joining, no documents to prove that. Research team does not have any official online communications, no whatsapp, only communicate through the office telephone. I got my pay in cheque for the first month, and there were others that I know who got their pay in cheque for few months. Lunch time is fixed for one hour. TURNOVER RATE IS VERY HIGH to the point the GM does not even introduce new people to the company. Everyone sits at their desk quietly. New people coming in and people leaving almost every month. 3 people left ever since I came in for 4 months. 2. 0 EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. If you work here, you have to be prepared to slave for this company. NO HR for the staff, employee benefits are lacking, no employee insurances. NO PANTRY, only one water cooler. Restroom requires a key. Charging your phone through their plugs is not allowed, you need to bring your own portable. They give last minute deadlines and expect you to follow through it. 0 work life balance. Everyone is scared to take annual leaves or medical leaves. Career opportunities are very limited as well. The only advancement is a senior researcher and who knows how long you have to work to get there, probably 10-20 years? They are understaffed in this company, so be prepared to handle few jobs. NO paid overtime. 3. Importantly, the management. The person i was under only speaks English half fluently. Mostly Mandarin speaking, and there were many miscommunications, and I do not understand her half the time I was working with her. This came as a shock to me, since I mainly speak and communicate in English. Said person speaks unprofessionally to the staff (raising her voice) if something cropped up (but not due to our faults), or just a minor disagreement during discussions. Specifically, on my last day of employment, the said person kept pushing me deadlines and new work to finish, despite that day used for handover, and made me stay after office hours to clear up as much work as possible. She told me "if cannot clear, come back tomorrow or Monday to finish it". I quote word for word. When I was on medical leave for 2 days, the first day I had to phone call her to let her know I was not coming for work and I had 2 days of MC. She said "we have so much to do, can you try to come back tomorrow?". At that time, I was very sick. MD, on the other hand, is unprofessional and is not knowlegeable of employee policies (leaves). I was entitled to paid leaves, but on my last day, she told me I had no paid medical leaves and annual leaves despite working for more than 3 months, because every month I had taken medical leave, so it was an "incomplete" month I had to settle it with her privately on whatsapp and screenshot the MOM leaves policy on their website to prove that I am entitled to my leaves, if I had kept quiet, and did not fight for it, they would not pay me a single cent for those leaves. It shows that the MD is also unprofessional when managing her staff, and such basic employee policies are also not known to her. She scolded me on several occasions when it was just miscommunication and lack of specific instructions for the task. In this company, the management can just throw their tantrums at their staff in any way they wanted. Toxic. 4. Co-workers. I had made a few friends in this company (thank God if not I would have lost my sanity). Though, one specific person was very rude and would shout and raise her voice if anyone stepped on her toes. Even if it was a minor mistake. She runs personal errands for the bosses and "spys" on the employees for them. I was afraid to talk to her, even to pass her my MC. She complains about others taking medical leave infront of them and embarrasses people openly, which I felt was a toxic behaviour from her. 5. You honestly don't learn much here in this company. In 4 months, I was taught only 1 function in SPSS, and to merge files. The computers there are slow, and I was supposed to be working with SPSS, but I was only taught one function in the whole of 4 months. Then they changed my computer since it was slow, and the new computer did not have SPSS. What a joke. I had to switch between the new and old computers, and move seats physically because they didnt install SPSS in my new computer. It was excrutiating because the old computer was extremely slow. When I brought it up to the said person, she just gave me the "what to do, just accept it" attitude. My work was unproductive and frustrating. I am pretty sure I can learn more in an internship than this job. During the interview, the MD talked a lot about the kind of projects I will assist in and the many things I can learn. It was all big words and fluff. You don't actually learn a lot here. I was even made to courier a delivery which was meant to be the receptionist's job. This was a whole lot of experience just for 4 months. Never again.