Foxconn offers incentives to woo back former employees
IPhone factory staff who left amid outbreak fears could receive bonuses adding up to 12,000 yuan
Foxconn Technology Group, reeling from a crisis triggered by the country’s strict zero-Covid-19 policy, is offering new incentives to entice back workers who fled its major iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, last month.
The perks are a sign that the Taiwanese company, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronic items, is desperate to get iPhone production back on track ahead of the holiday season, after delays caused by fleeing workers and violent protests. Just last week, it was paying the protesting workers to leave.
Foxconn’s Integrated Digital Product Business Group, the unit responsible for iPhone production, on Sunday announced a “returning geese” recruitment project targeting employees who left between October 1 and November 10, when tens of thousands fled over Covid-19 fears.
This group of former employees could receive bonuses adding up to 12,000 yuan (HK$13,057) if they came back and stayed for two months, a post on the company’s official WeChat account said.
On top of the hourly rate of 30 yuan, which is relatively high pay for Chinese workers, Foxconn promised a bonus of 3,000 yuan if the employees stayed for 30 days and another 3,000 yuan if they remained in the “closed-loop” compound for at least 26 days next month. The hourly rate for January remains 30 yuan, while workers will receive a Lunar New Year “gift package” of 6,000 yuan if they turn up for work for at least 23 days in the month.
Foxconn said in the WeChat post that the Zhengzhou Airport
Economy Zone, where the factory was based, “has been improving in terms of pandemic prevention and control, and the production and living conditions at the plant have been gradually restored”.
The factory promised that returning workers who had to be quarantined under the country’s strict Covid-19 control measures could still receive the bonuses as long as they worked for more than five days after their quarantine.
Over the weekend, many former workers received text messages from the company, along with a survey asking about their employment status and willingness to come back.
“Brothers and sisters at the workplace are looking forward to your return,” the survey said, according to a screenshot shared with the Post by a former worker.
Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, has been on a hiring spree after recent Covid-19 outbreaks in Zhengzhou led to an exodus of workers, and later violent protests, which have disrupted iPhone production in the lead up to the holiday season.
In the United States, many Apple fans had difficulty buying the latest iPhone 14 models during the Black Friday sales after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Earlier this month, Apple warned of delayed shipments of the two iPhone models because of reduced capacity at the Foxconn facility.
The Zhengzhou factory, known as “iPhone City”, usually hires some 300,000 workers at this time of the year, but tens of thousands fled late last month after reports of a Covid-19 outbreak on the campus.
Last week, violent protests broke out at the factory after some new hires arrived back, only to find they had to stay until March 15 to get bonuses, a month later than previously agreed.
However, Foxconn later said there had been a “technical error” during the rehiring process. In an attempt to calm the situation, the company paid each newly-hired worker 10,000 yuan to leave the campus immediately.
The protesting workers who were paid to leave do not qualify for the new incentives under the “returning geese” programme.
Before the latest crisis, Foxconn was paying a standard 500 yuan bonus for returning workers regardless of circumstances, but since losing workers because of the Covid-19 situation, the company has urged local government officials in Henan province to help find new workers.
Two former employees said the new benefits sounded more attractive, but they were still thinking about the offer because Foxconn was very strict about monitoring attendance and performance, so the actual income received could differ.
The Zhengzhou government announced last week that it would impose a five-day de facto lockdown from last Friday to today, calling it “mobility management”, with daily universal polymerase chain reaction testing mandatory for all residents.
Residents in high-risk areas are prohibited from “stepping out” while residents in other areas are urged to leave their homes only with permission.