
Apple contractor Foxconn offers 5,000 yuan subsidy to retain workers at world’s largest iPhone factory
- Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant is offering a 5,000 yuan subsidy for employees who keep working in key roles from January 1 to March 20
- The plant is still struggling to resume full capacity after workers clashed with guards over draconian Covid-19 controls last month
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou facility is still struggling to resume full capacity after workers clashed with guards over draconian Covid-19 controls last month, in scenes that shocked the world. Since then, the sudden relaxation of China’s zero-Covid policy by Beijing has led to a surge in infections across the country.
Apple’s stock price has also hit its lowest level since the summer of 2020, partly due to concerns about supply disruptions. Apple said in early November that the exodus of workers at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory had caused “significant” disruptions to its iPhone shipments.
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According to a WeChat post published by Foxconn’s integrated Digital Product Business Group, the division responsible for iPhone production, the Zhengzhou plant is offering a 5,000 yuan subsidy for employees in key manufacturing department roles from January 1 to March 20, a 4,700 yuan subsidy for those in non-key roles, and 4,500 yuan for workers in other departments.
The Zhengzhou facility also extended its “show up” bonus payments for employees. Workers are entitled to a 6,000 yuan bonus if they work more than 23 days in January 2023, according to the factory’s notice.
Those protest prompted Foxconn to offer newly-hired worker 10,000 yuan to immediately leave the campus, in a desperate move to end the unrest. Foxconn then began offering new incentives to get workers who had left earlier, but were not part of the protests, to come back.
Last month, China made a dramatic U-turn on its three-year zero-Covid policy, but now the country is struggling to handle a wave of infections and a shortage of medical supplies.

Separately, market research firm Trendforce slashed its estimates for iPhone 14 series shipments this year to 78 million units, based on the disruptions in Zhengzhou, according to a research note on Wednesday.
Additional reporting by Iris Deng
