Dedicated to you who accept low pay for your ideals and have been degraded by companies to the point of losing confidence—it's time to wake up.
Have you noticed that many industries require "passion" to persevere, and even list "having passion" as a hiring requirement? But think about it—why can only "passion" work, and nothing else? Because when you assess these jobs, they're literally "so broke all that's left is ideals!"
"Taiwan's average salary is 50,000!" This statement from former Premier Lai Ching-te sparked immediate backlash from young people rushing to say, "Sorry, I'm pulling down the average!" The reason is that this figure includes year-end bonuses, bonuses, overtime pay, and other non-regular wages, which exceeded expectations. If you exclude these, the average monthly salary for workers is actually only 39K, and over 50% of job seekers under 30 earn between 30,000 to 35,000 yuan.
When ideals become chips…(Image source: Visual.hunt)
Imagine if you're already 30 years old and earning only 35,000. After deducting 10,000 for rent, 3,000 for student loans, 4,000-5,000 for insurance and phone bills, and 10,000 for living expenses, you're left with 7,000 to 9,000 yuan. You still need to cover daily expenses or support your parents—you literally can't save money, let alone think about getting married or having an ideal life.
So why do you keep working in low-paying jobs? Actually, thinking about it differently, it's fundamentally because companies are offering too low a price, which makes us mistakenly believe "we're not worth more." For example, in the TV industry, entry-level salary for writers is 25K-28K. If the company "graciously" gives you a raise of +10%, after a year you might reach 27K-30K, and after two years 29K-33K. Does that salary seem reasonable to you?
Of course, some people are better at negotiating or have already job-hopped, and might wonder why anyone would accept such low pay. But for most people, when you're in the worst situation and receive slightly better benefits or slightly better treatment from the company, you mysteriously develop a submissive sense of "gratitude." You even start thinking "this is actually not bad"—others might not get a raise in a whole year. But why are you comparing yourself to worse situations? Why are you denying your own ability?
Take the PR industry as another example. Entry-level salary is around 32K, working until midnight is common, there's no overtime pay because your manager will say "I didn't ask you to work overtime," using this as a way to save company costs. You wouldn't even think to ask for overtime compensation.
Don't think continuous low pay is inevitable—speak up for yourself (Image source: Visual.hunt)
But you should look at salary this way: companies charge clients over 3,000 yuan per hour. That means in 3 hours of your service, the company makes 9,000 yuan. And that's just one person—when an entire team serves a client, they make over 10,000 yuan per hour, which is completely disproportionate to what employees receive, with huge disparities. When companies are making money, they should take care of their employees, but most people easily overlook this and even think "saying anything won't help" and silently accept it. This leads to long-term habituation to "low-wage conditions," and when a high-paying opportunity comes, you question whether you have the ability and worth for it.
If you imagine a company's "low wages" as "violence in a romantic relationship," the sweet talk they feed you creates cognitive dissonance—what communication psychology calls "cognitive dissonance." When behavior and cognition are inconsistent, you change one of the elements.
So when your mind recognizes that low pay is a form of violence, yet you continue tolerating this environment and can't accept your own behavior, you change your thinking, convincing yourself that "I can learn here," "if I persevere, they'll notice me," "anyway I won't stay forever"—and then, without taking action, you might actually stay forever.
I'm not denying that companies truly offer learning opportunities, or that they truly can't provide what employees want. In fact, increasingly more startups offer impressive salaries—so impressive that even people with 10 years of experience wonder if it's a scam.
But don't think accepting low pay is "inevitable." When companies hold ideals and dreams as bargaining chips and negotiate with employees while maintaining this twisted mentality, stop being so submissive! You should ask yourself: "Is my value worth being trampled?" "What comes next after being trampled?" Rather than passively waiting for things to happen, because in the end, all you'll have left is yourself with nothing.
