At the end of April, there were rumors that some employees at Foxconn's Shenzhen facility were asked to take a four-month vacation, starting in May and running until September 1.
In response, its parent company Hon Hai Precision recently responded that at present, the operation of all factories in mainland China is normal, there are no so-called large-scale layoffs.
It is true that some of the current employees are still maintaining their regular jobs. A Shenzhen Foxconn worker told Jiemian that he had not received a holiday notice, that production was normal on the line, and that there was overtime on May 1. His GIS business group is responsible for the assembly of touch displays such as iPads.
Jiemian contacted another Shenzhen ICGE business group worker, surnamed Zhang, who is responsible for screen assembly for Apple phones.
He said that some departments that produce Apple phones adopt a system of voluntary leave, during which they get 30 percent of their base salary. At a base salary of $2300, a worker would get $690 per month during a vacation.
He also mentioned that another business group, IDPBG, also associated with Apple phones, has workers "on vacation for two or three months." Exactly at the time of the leave, this worker said it was not clear.
And if they choose not to take time off, workers will only get a base salary of more than $2,000 because orders are down, and employees no longer work overtime. "Products can't get out, foreign components can't get in," said the above worker.
Shenzhen and Zhengzhou Foxconn had been hiring vigorously when they resumed work in early February, offering more than $7,000 in incentive money to recruit new employees.
Since April, or as a result of the exacerbation of the outbreak abroad, Foxconn has suspended recruitment and even begun disguising its employees.
According to the Zhengzhou Foxconn public number "Gangchengbang", Foxconn encourages employees in some business groups to leave early.
In simple terms, workers who leave early will be paid on a daily basis. In addition, the allowance, which would have taken three months of work to arrive, will be paid on a daily basis. This is mainly for workers recruited in the early stages of the return to work.
In view of the above, Foxconn's current policy on employees can be summarized in three lines: one is to take long leave voluntarily and keep the job with a reduced salary; two is to stay in the factory, but only receive the basic salary; three is to leave voluntarily.
Foxconn's policy leaves workers room to maneuver compared to other plant initiatives to force furloughs or close plants for vacation.
In fact, factories in the mobile phone industry chain are often affected by a variety of factors, and there is also a difference in the recruitment season, for example, the second half of the demand and orders than the first half of the strong, so more recruitment.
In the past, when hiring, the factory side was able to predict manpower needs, but this year there are so many factors of change that it is difficult to predict.
A recruiting agent told Jiemian, "this year's employment anomaly is normal."
As for Hon Hai Precision's claim that "there are no mass layoffs or vacations," the reality is that factories such as Foxconn generally employ a large number of dispatched workers. A dispatcher is an employee who is placed in a factory by a labor agency.
The agency handles payroll, benefits, and legal issues with employees, and the dispatcher is not legally a Foxconn employee.
Therefore, Hon Hai Precision's claim is indeed true, except that a large number of dispatchers may not have been counted.
On the demand side, Apple released an official statement in March that the company will close all Apple Store retail stores worldwide outside of Greater China by March 27, affected by the outbreak, with employees working from home. The closure will continue until May.
And this move will naturally lead to Apple sales taking a hit as well.
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