Apple supplier Foxconn offers new incentives to veteran workers after paying some new hires to leave

Foxconn Technology Group, reeling from a crisis triggered by China’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 central Henan province, last month.

The perks are a sign that the Taiwanese company, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, 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 (US$1,672) if they came back and stayed for two months, according to a post on the company’s official WeChat account.

On top of the hourly rate of 30 yuan (US$4.2), relatively high pay for Chinese workers, Foxconn promised a bonus of 3,000 yuan if they stayed for 30 days and another 3,000 yuan if they remained in the “closed loop” compound for at least 26 days in December.

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 January.

Foxconn said in the WeChat post that the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, where the factory is 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 have to be quarantined under China’s strict Covid-19 control measures can still receive the bonuses as long as they work for more than five days after their quarantine.