"Employee Care"

Provide Employment Opportunities

As of December 2015 the Ta Ya Group had 1,020 employees in Taiwan (under Ta Ya, Cuprime, Ta Heng, Ta Ho, UEI, AD and Hengs). We hire most of our employees under indefinite contracts so that they may commit to long-term service with comfort. We offer starting salaries irrespective of gender difference. Employees' promotion and education are arranged entirely based on individual capacity. If there is a need for overseas assignment, we communicate with employees in advance and offer incentives such as salary increment and promotional opportunity upon return.

The group has more males than females in all its companies. This is because most of the works are physically demanding and take place in a hot, humid environment or require rotating shifts. Females account for a percentage of 14.29% among Ta Ya's managerial staff. This is slightly higher than the percentage of the general female employees (12.9%). We support the employment of persons with physical or mental disabilities and apply higher standards than what the law requires. In 2016, we hired 13 people with disabilities and 6 people with an indigenous background. Except for the 11 (12.22%) foreign workers hired by Ta Heng, all the employees in Taiwan were of R.O.C. nationality.

Both plants in Vietnam hired a total of 427 employees (as of December 2016). The ratio of local employees in Dong Nai and Hai Duong is 97.1% and 96.69%, respectively. The percentage of female employees in Dong Nai and Hai Duong was 15.22% and 25.17%, and the percentage of females among the managerial staff in both plants was 19.05%, and 25%, respectively. These indicated that promotion was made without consideration of gender. The government of Vietnam does not establish laws to impose any requirements on hiring persons with disability or indigenous people.

Human Rights Protection

The group has implemented a “Human Rights Statement” that supports “UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” “UN Global Compact”, and “Convention of the International Labour Organization.” The statement ensures that every person within and outside the Company is treated fairly and with dignity. We promise:

1. To support, respect and protect human rights, while at the same time ensure that the same requirements apply to our business partners and suppliers.
2. To refrain from hiring child labor or prisoners in our business operation or by any of our business partners and suppliers, and to prohibit against forced labor and use of physical punishment.
3. To respect employees' rights to join unions and rights to collective bargaining according to local regulations and customs.
4. To accept diversity among employees, and refrain from discriminating employees or job seekers for any reason that is prohibited by law. This may include: gender, skin color, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, age, marital status, sexual preference, gender identity and expression, disability, pregnancy, military service status, and political preference.
5. To comply with occupational safety and health policy, and correct or report any possible threats.
6. To refrain work behaviors that are considered rude, hostile, violent, intimidating, threatening, or harassing.
7. To build a work environment that is free of harassment. To enforce zero tolerance for sexual harassment, including: unwelcomed sexual gesture, request for sexual favors, or other unwelcomed sexual remarks or physical behaviors.
8. To protect personal information of existing and former employees, board members, customers, job seekers, and business partners. Access and use of personal information are limited only to legitimate commercial purposes.

Gender equality is protected in accordance with law in all Taiwanese operations. All employment contracts are drafted with a clause that specifies the advance notice period the Company has committed to serve for all major changes in operation.We have defined the Complaints and Disciplinary Measures for the Prevention of Sexual Harassments in the Workplace policy and periodically promote awareness of it. The balance between work and life is one of the most important values at Ta Ya. We provide flexible choices for employees, such as parental, family and childbirth leave. In the case of radical changes in business operations that may affect labor rights, we inform employees who have served at the company for more than three months but less than a year 10 days ahead of time; for employees who have served for more than one year but less than three years, 20 days ahead of time; and to those who have served for more than three years, 30 days ahead of time.

The group respects employees' right of association and their legal entitlement to assemble unions and engage in collective bargaining. Ta Ya and Cuprime both have worker unions created within them. Ta Ya organizes regular labor-management meetings, places dedicated hotlines and emails, and engages unions in collective bargaining negotiations on an ongoing basis. In 2016, the group received no complaint and encountered no occurrence of employment dispute or violation against freedom of association in any of its offices, affiliated enterprises or suppliers thereof.

Welfare and Care

The Group’s employee welfare includes: year-end, profit-sharing, and long-employment bonuses; uniforms and safety shoes; marriage/funeral cash gifts/celebratory curtains/garlands applications; educational training, language, lunch, and employee travel subsidies; Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival gifts, parties and dinners (organized by the welfare committee); club activity subsidies; birthday gifts; employee insurance (extended to employee family members, paid by the members at a discounted price); and employee accident condolences. The company also holds physical examinations annually, organized by the Occupational Safety & Health Office. In addition, employees have voluntary marriage/funeral/celebration subsidies and employee mutual assistance funds on the death of the employee, family members, spouse, or children.

Employee welfare committees have been formed at Ta Ya, Cuprime, and Ta Heng. Their main responsibilities are: the examination, implementation, and supervision of employee welfare affairs; the planning, custody, and withdrawal of employee welfare funds; the allocation, auditing, and budgeting of employee welfare funds; and other relevant employee welfare affairs.

All employees of the group are covered by a retirement plan. For those who are covered by the new scheme, the Company contributes 6% of their monthly salary to the retirement fund; for those who converted from the old scheme to the new scheme, the Company contributes 4% ~ 15% of their monthly salary to the retirement fund. Ta Ya assembled and implemented its Labor Pension Fund Supervisory Committee in August 1984 as a means to provide assurance for employees' retirement. Since then, the Company has been contributing 15% of employees' salary into a pension fund account held at Bank of Taiwan. As required by the Labor Standards Act, the Company estimates the balance of its pension fund account before the end of each year and reimburses differences before the end of March the following year. All calculations and actions are reviewed by the Labor Pension Fund Supervisory Committee. For employees who opted for the new pension scheme introduced under the "Labor Pension Act" since July 2005, the Company contributes 6% of their monthly salary into their individual pension fund accounts held with the Bureau of Labor Insurance.

Following the 2015 amendment of the Labor Standards Act, employers are now required to make adequate contributions no later than March each year to the old pension fund for employees who will be qualified to retire in the current year.As a result of this amendment, Ta Ya make adequate contributions into the pension fund account held with Bank of Taiwan annualy.

Ta Ya (Viet Nam) provide their employees with benefits including end-end bonuses, uniforms, safety shoes, transportation allowances, language allowances, launch subsidies, cash gifts for marriage, funerals and joyous events of the employees and their children, consolation money, and so on. The companies arrange physical examination for their employees and provide drivers and the employees who often travel for business with additional personal accident insurance to the amount of VND 50 million. All the employee benefits are dealt with by the Administration Department.

The companies support the labor associations with gifts for the Dragon Boat Festival. They also arrange irregular dinner parties and trips for the employees to help them mitigate work stress, increase their affections, maintain good physical conditions, and create more cultural atmosphere. Many venues are set up for the employees to held recreational activities. The companies organize internal sports tournaments every year and provide prizes as an encouragement and create better recreational living quality for the employees

The law of the Vietnam government requires the employer to share 18% of the social insurance (pension) premium while the employee must share 8% of the premium. This is applicable to all the laborers of Ta Ya (Viet Nam) after the probation period. Premium share of other insurances: Medical insurance: company 3%, employee 1.5%; Unemployment insurance: company 1%, employee 1%.

Retirement age: According to the law, retired workers can receive their pension under the social insurance if the following conditions are satisfied: at the age of 60 (male) or 55 (female) if the social insurance premium has been paid for more than 20 years; at the age of 55 (female) or at the age of 55-60 (male) or 50-55 (female) if the worker who has paid the premium for 20 years and worked in toxic or dangerous environment for 15 years. Retirement wage: For the workers who have paid the social insurance premium for 15 years, the retirement wage is 45% of the average monthly wage during the period when the premium was paid. An additional 3% is counted in if the premium is further paid for one year to an upper limit of 75%.

Occupational Safety and Health

The process of manufacturing wires and cables involves approximately 100 types of chemical substances. We therefore practice checkpoint inspections, gather statistics on the usage of emission quantities, and implement control procedures on the chemical substances to prevent them affecting the eco system or cause pollutions. We also exercise control over the source, implemented green procurement of materials that do not contain any harmful substances, and Ta Ya obtained the IECQ/QC 080000 certification in 2007, Cuprime in 2008. In addition to caring for the health of the employees, we provide safeguards for consumers, too.

To mitigate the effect of dust caused by PVC granules used in cable manufacturing, we have installed dust collectors at locations that are prone to such hazards. In addition, these work areas are partitioned while workers are given protective masks to limit the effect of dust. The PVC components of all marketed cables are free of lead. We have changed our formula and switched to the use of non-lead based stabilizer to avoid contact with even the smallest trace of lead, and thereby mitigate hazard to employees.

Magnet wires are made from copper rod and various types of coating, the latter of which comprise mainly of "organic solvents." To avoid harm to workers' health and the environment, we add "catalysts" into our production process so that organic solvents can be incinerated at high temperature and turned into vapor and carbon dioxide, which cause no harm to workers' health or the environment.During the production of copper bonding wire, we use ultrasound to clean wires; to prevent noise hazard, workers are issued earplugs as a form of protection.

In addition, in consideration of the work environment and the safety of the workers, our factories are completely non-smoking areas. A periodic maintenance is scheduled for the office air conditioning system and the cooling water towers to protect the health of our office personnel. A periodic maintenance and check-up is performed on the lighting system of the factory and offices; the lighting maintains a value above 300 lm for the employees who are performing visual operations. Furthermore, periodic physical check-ups and follow-ups are also performed for our general, noise, dust, and lead operations staff. To further improve the workplace and its safety, Ta Ya established specialized environmental protection units, and safety and health units. Other than discussing the workplace environment, safety and health-related issues at the health and safety committee conferences every season, we also implement safety education and safety drills.

Health Care

Ta Ya is committed to the promotion of tobacco control and health in the workplace and has been certified by the Health Promotion Administration with a “healthy workplace certification - health initiation conformance” (valid from January 2014 to December 2016).

In accordance with the age of the employee and the work environment, Ta Ya provides adequate health plans and check-ups for early detection of potential health hazards and virulent factors. Special medical personnel are sent to implement annual physical check-ups and also conduct evaluations of items needing improvement according to abnormal proportions, annual trends, and ethnic trends. We prioritize items requiring improvement in accordance with its level of urgency, plan full intervention programs, understand individual needs, assist in follow-up check-ups at the hospitals, engage in health-care tracking, and provide complete health-care measures.

1. A beetle nut and smoke-free healthy workplace: Starting on June 1, 2008, all factories prohibit the chewing of beetle nut and smoking; relevant punishments are defined and signs are established at prominent locations throughout the factories;
2. Promotional health conferences: Organizing urinary system health and healthy diet lectures with 60 people participating;
3. Blood pressure measurement: Conducting blood pressure measurements every three months at each department for early diagnosis and treatment.
4. Blood sugar measurements: Health education is provided to employees with higher-blood sugar levels based on physical examination, and they are listed for tracking and care;
5. Sports clubs: Yoga, motor bike, badminton, hiking, and cultural studies clubs are available and events are held periodically;
6. Signs in stair cases that encourage employees to use the stairs, encouraging exercise in the workplace;
7. The Ta Ya Hiking Track: A 0.9 km hiking track is made available to encourage colleagues to walk ten thousand steps every day to prevent and improve chronic disease conditions;
8. Promoting fitness exercise routines: Instructions for routine exercises are provided to each department on site, encouraging employees to exercise regularly;
9. New breastfeeding room: One breastfeeding room has been newly installed in the medical room for employees; and
10. Healthy diet: An employee cafeteria has been established to provide lunches and dinners.

Educational Training

Human resources are a critical factor to a company's sustainability and successful transformation. In order to standardize internal training programs for more effective results and greater competitiveness, Ta Ya adopted "Taiwan Talent Quality-management System" (TTQS) in 2012 as a means of enhancing training results. The Company received a bronze award during the 2015 TTQ assessment, which prompted it to further improve its existing training policies and commitments.

• Training policy: Support employees' training and development to provide the group with the drive to accomplish its missions and growth.
• Training commitments: The Company will provide employees with the proper training to advance in their career and develop the competitiveness needed to accomplish more complex tasks. In return, employees shall also accept the Company's training arrangements and plans where appropriate. Both the Company and employees shall abide to the above commitments.

Ta Ya’s internal educational training system implements training in accordance with the types of profession. The training content includes management, general, and professional skills, as well as self-motivation. The various business groups provide the annual training requirement lists at the end of each year for the following year. HR then compiles these into the annual execution plan. Professional skills training requirements are issued by each of the business groups in accordance with their business strategy plans or current situations. HR then collects relevant training classes and lecturer lists for reference and compiles the training requirement lists for each business group.

For new employee training, courses are prepared by HR and training sessions are provided by each of the business groups. The contents of the training emphasize organizational overview, history, business philosophy, personnel systems, benefits, insurance, salaries, work safety, labor health and safety, the ISO system, quality policies, and field internships.

As international business communications is required for operations, Ta Ya initiated the Application of Foreign Language Job Training for Employees in 2010. In addition to providing subsidies for training, we also provide salary increases in accordance with learning results, and take language abilities as a priority in promotions and mobilizations. In 2011, we further defined an even more complete Employee Job Training Application, which covers all tuition fees for Master’s and Doctorate student-employees who choose to pursue management-related studies or studies that have a potential future for development in the company.

Succession Planning

In view of the group's 60-year history, Ta Ya has initiated Succession Planning since 2014 to nurture capable successors for the sustainability of the business. The group's Succession Planning comprises of two main systems, "Job Rotation" and "Learning Passport"

Shift-Rotation System: In line with the company’s long-term plans and reserve personnel requirements, rotation allows for the understanding of work details of each department to be managed in the future. The company’s competitive strength and cultivation of future talent is achieved through systemizing projects, allowing manpower allocation to be more systematic so as to provide a comprehensive horizontal experience and to develop vertically to improve organizational efficiency.

Learning Passport: The Learning Passport is a plan derived through analyzing the requirements of a job, and establishing the learning modules and basics required for evaluations. The content of the plan is discussed with the current job holder and the potential successor and uses the job-related abilities of the employee as the basis to find the direction of learning. Results of the plan’s execution factor in the performance evaluations for discussion and feedback to ensure effective control.

Ta Ya continued its Succession Planning and arranged a series of advance management courses to expand the knowledge and thinking process of its candidates. Through a combination of classroom teachings and mentorship, succession candidates were able to apply their learning in practice and keep up with the program as planned. Affiliated enterprises, on the other hand, adopted the Learning Passport system and utilized training courses to develop the capacity needed to deliver the group's missions, visions and business philosophy.