Foxconn rallies to ease stress on workers
By Gillian Wong |
01:27 UTC+8 August 19, 2010
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Print Edition
Print Edition
YOUNG workers who normally spend their days assembling iPhones and other high-tech gadgets packed a stadium at their massive campus yesterday, waving pompoms and shouting slogans at a rally to raise morale following a string of suicides at the company's heavily regimented factories.
The outreach to workers shows how the normally secretive Foxconn Technology Group has been shaken by the suicides.
"For a long period of time I think we were kind of blinded by our success," said Louis Woo, special assistant to Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn's parent company. "We were kind of caught by surprise."
The Taiwan-based company has already raised wages, hired counselors and installed safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers. Other changes include job rotation so workers can try different tasks and grouping dorm assignments by home province so workers don't feel so isolated.
However, Woo acknowledged there will be challenges in preventing such tragedies in a work force of 920,000 spread across 16 factories on Chinese mainland, all of which are to have morale boosting rallies.
"No matter how hard we try, such things will continue to happen," he said.
Yesterday's rally took place at Foxconn's mammoth industrial park in Shenzhen, which employs 300,000 and where most of the suicides have taken place. The latest suicide - the 12th this year - occurred on August 4 when a 22-year-old woman jumped from her factory dormitory in eastern Jiangsu Province.
Twenty thousand workers dressed in costumes ranging from cheerleader outfits to Victorian dresses filled the stadium at the factory complex, which was decorated with colorful flags bearing messages such as "Treasure your life, love your family."
"In the past, from the time we started work until when we finished, we would not really have a break. But now we've been given time to rest," said 18-year-old worker Huang Jun. "If I can get off work early enough and have a little time for fun, then I feel a bit better and less stressed out."
Other workers said they wanted Foxconn to organize more recreational activities such as sports or karaoke.
Woo said it was common for workers to have 80 hours a month of overtime, but Foxconn was aiming to become the first company in the industry to limit overtime to 36 hours a month, as required by Chinese law.
Foxconn has built itself into the world's largest contract maker of electronics by delivering quality products on thin profit margins for customers including Apple Inc, Sony Corp, Dell Inc, Nokia Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co.
The outreach to workers shows how the normally secretive Foxconn Technology Group has been shaken by the suicides.
"For a long period of time I think we were kind of blinded by our success," said Louis Woo, special assistant to Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn's parent company. "We were kind of caught by surprise."
The Taiwan-based company has already raised wages, hired counselors and installed safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers. Other changes include job rotation so workers can try different tasks and grouping dorm assignments by home province so workers don't feel so isolated.
However, Woo acknowledged there will be challenges in preventing such tragedies in a work force of 920,000 spread across 16 factories on Chinese mainland, all of which are to have morale boosting rallies.
"No matter how hard we try, such things will continue to happen," he said.
Yesterday's rally took place at Foxconn's mammoth industrial park in Shenzhen, which employs 300,000 and where most of the suicides have taken place. The latest suicide - the 12th this year - occurred on August 4 when a 22-year-old woman jumped from her factory dormitory in eastern Jiangsu Province.
Twenty thousand workers dressed in costumes ranging from cheerleader outfits to Victorian dresses filled the stadium at the factory complex, which was decorated with colorful flags bearing messages such as "Treasure your life, love your family."
"In the past, from the time we started work until when we finished, we would not really have a break. But now we've been given time to rest," said 18-year-old worker Huang Jun. "If I can get off work early enough and have a little time for fun, then I feel a bit better and less stressed out."
Other workers said they wanted Foxconn to organize more recreational activities such as sports or karaoke.
Woo said it was common for workers to have 80 hours a month of overtime, but Foxconn was aiming to become the first company in the industry to limit overtime to 36 hours a month, as required by Chinese law.
Foxconn has built itself into the world's largest contract maker of electronics by delivering quality products on thin profit margins for customers including Apple Inc, Sony Corp, Dell Inc, Nokia Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co.
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