What sort of ‘culture shock’ have you experienced since moving from SME to MNC company, and vice-versa?
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Asking because I’ve been experiencing many ‘suaku’ moments since starting work at an international corporation. I’ve worked for 5 years at a few SMEs; only a few MNCs want to hire fresh grad diploma holders anyway.
I was jobless after the last SME did a layoff exercise (jokes on them, they had to replace my role with 5 workers – that’s a story for another time) but I quickly found employment at a new company.
Here is a list of what I was surprised by when I started working at an MNC:
- No clock-in or clock-out practices. Previous workplace demands clock-in/out even for lunch. edit: SME: 30-45min lunch. MNC: 1-hour lunch.
- You don’t need to come to work on time, but you can leave work as stated in the employee handbook. My previous workplaces will deduct a few cents and dollars even if it’s just a second late.
- Snacks. A lot of free snacks. The previous companies only had drinks vending machines, or they would demand $1 per Nescafe pod/capsule.
- No need to wait 3 months before taking AL. Also, no need to explain why you need to take AL (omg, I explained to my boss I need to take AL for private matters, and he said, “That’s private info, you can keep that to yourself”, so paiseh.)
- So many tech freebies. The HR said if we left the company, we could keep all the accessories and return the laptop. My previous workplace demanded everything be returned even though they were visibly worn out.
- Gym membership discounts, shopping discounts etc. if I show my staff pass.
- Allowance to play (book tickets, hotels etc) to encourage workers to take leave.
- 22 days of AL. All are available the moment I start work. SMEs will stagger them so workers will have to accumulate leaves, like 1-2 months for 2 days. I was surprised to see all 22 days available in my HR portal.