What you need to know
- Foxconn is offering new and returning workers increased bonuses at its Zhengzhou factory in China.
- Workers at its largest iPhone factory are being offered signing bonuses of nearly $1,500 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
- Surging COVID-19 cases in the region has led to quarantine restrictions on people leaving and entering Henan province.
Foxconn is offering new and returning workers increased bonuses to try and offset disruption caused by rising COVID-19 infections and quarantine measures in the region.
According to the South China Morning Post job listings for Foxconn's Zhengzhou campus, the world's largest iPhone factory where the iPhone 13 and all of Apple's best iPhones are made, include a returning worker signing bonus of some 9,500 yuan (US$1,470), more than a month's wages which are set at 6,856 yuan or just over $1,000.
As the report notes this is the same incentive package offered last summer ahead of Foxconn's iPhone 13 ramp up. 8,500 yuan is also being offered to new recruits hired through internal referrals, with 1,000 yuan also going to the referrer. New recruits who apply on their own initiative will get a 9,000 yuan bonus.
However, where last year's recruitment drive was spurred by the annual uptake in iPhone production, current offerings are being doled out to try and prevent disruption caused by COVID-19 and the New Lunar Year holiday. Traditionally, many in China return to their home to be with their families during the holiday, which runs from January 31 to February 6. However, concern about rising cases in Henan province, including just one in Zhengzhou means authorities have started to implement quarantine restrictions on people who enter or leave the region, which could have a big impact on labor levels when staff try to come back to work, delaying their return or even putting them off going back entirely.
SCMP reported last week that despite a COVID-19 outbreak in central China production at the Zhengzhou plant, which employs some 250,000 workers, remains on schedule with employees undergoing rounds of mandatory testing for the virus.
Foxconn is also advertising similar incentives to workers at its Chengdu plant, where the company helps to make Apple's iPad and Macbook, according to a WeChat post seen by iMore on Tuesday.
