Before you take the plunge, there's a lot you should know about what you're getting yourself in to. Please note that these are more for observations of corporate Taiwan, but after talking to friends in other Asian countries, could very well apply there too.
1. The pay is shit unless you are a foreigner. I'm in Taiwan as a Taiwanese citizen, which means I get paid a local salary. Not very high at all, but bonuses are structured where you could make almost your entire year's salary with a single bonus. I think that's how they avoid certain taxes, or so I'm told.
2. HR determines the pay, not your manager/director, and they base it on age, a little on degree level, and almost none on experience. Once my contract/probationary period was over, my manager had told me my salary would be reduced a little bit to adjust for a 14 month salary in Taiwan (standard 12 month, plus 2 month bonus for Chinese New Year). I was fine with this. My reviews came back, and everyone thought I did a great job, so my manager told me I was to be bumped up an extra $7k NT (~$240US) a month, not exactly a small amount for Taiwan. I didn't ask for it, but I was of course happy. She signed off, as well as the director. HR comes back and flatly says NO. They said I would have been the highest paid person in the group (not including my foreign coworker). In fact, they weren't going to even offer what they originally offered, they were going to reduce it $2k NT LESS, so it was a total of a $9k NT swing. A coworker who I am about 5 months older than has been with the company for 5 years - 3 years in the UK office before transferring back to Taiwan these last 2. He makes $1k NT more a month than I do. That's a little over $30US.
3. Most people get burned out within 2 years.. It's such a burn and churn mentality, with most people just there for the resume recognition. The company's mentality is if you don't want to work here, you're easily replaceable and we don't want you. What they don't realize is that it costs more money to them in the long run. They have to train these new people from scratch, which takes up time for teaching them not only what they need to do for the job, but the company culture. They could definitely learn a lesson in a proper, non-disposable work force.
4. They expect you to "work" long hours. It's all about "face", or a game of office chicken. Who's the first to blink and leave home early? It's considered bad form to leave before your manager. And if the director doesn't leave before 10-11pm, it has a bit of a trickle down effect. So a lot of times, people are staying in the office for the sake of looking like they're doing something, even if they're just surfing the web. Luckily, my manager is based in the UK, and doesn't care as long as I get my job done.
5. They like to get in to your personal life. Are you married? Do you have a girlfriend? Oh you should meet this one girl, you two would be great together! (this was the first day in the office). This is just culture. Families will always ask if you have a g/f, if you've been promoted, you've lost/gained weight, etc, but that's family. They do it in the office here as well. Some things are better just left unsaid.
6. Not very many think outside the box or creatively. This is more to do with the culture and education system. The education system in Asia is that of forced memorization. That's how the language is learned, through strict repetition and memorization. This carries on throughout college. They're so good at spouting off memorized facts, but don't know how to put what they've learned in to practice. They lack a lot of creativity.
7. The manager (or director/VP/CEO) is always right. Even where they're very, very wrong. Again, this is a culture issue. The Asian culture is that of respecting your elders, and listening to what they say. Learning from their information that they've gleamed from their many decades on earth. This is translated into the work place, and not for the better. If the CEO or VPs suggest something, the directors and managers blindly follow and instruct their reports to do it/get the job done. Then they come to me. Even after I presented them with feedback stating that this is a bad idea/doesn't make sense (they do want a western point of view, and my team and I are it), they refuse to listen and inform the manager. They're too scared to provide bad feedback, and will continue forward until, well, too late.
8. The younger workers are way too coddled. If you think the American Millennial generation is bad, wait until you meet the Asians of the same age. I meet more locals who are my age who live at home with their parents than those who don't. They can barely take direct feedback, and get super emotional if they perceive anything you say to be negative towards them. I'm from Texas. I'm direct, I don't tip-toe around and waste my time and yours with making everything soft and rosy. I tell it as it is, not to hurt, but to be straight forward so we can move on with what we're doing.
9. They have no idea how to budget time properly. I budget my time properly, part of the reason I can leave at a reasonable time instead of staying until 9pm+. Everything they do is so last minute, it frustrates me to no end. Just one of many examples: They got funding/approval to launch the marketing campaign for our 1st tablet 3 weeks before the release date. 3 weeks to write a script, shoot/edit videos, and put together a launch campaign that we've known they've wanted to do and forecasted for over 4 months. Why so late? UGH. For those of you who saw the "commercials" you know how terrible they were. I tried to prevent them, but go back to point #7.
I know all this sounds like I'm hating on Taiwan, but the experience here is really good. I get to be a part of creative branding team for a global company from the beginning, something that's not really possible back in the states. It's definitely a great resume builder. A lot of it is also just venting, as I've been frustrated at work with some of the people I work with. It makes me want to move back sooner rather than later. We'll see. Until next time.
