iPhone factory in China offers bonuses for workers to return to work

One of Apple’s biggest suppliers is trying to strike a delicate balance in China.

Foxconn has to comply with some of the toughest Covid rules in the world, ensuring Apple’s shipments aren’t severely disrupted before the all-important holiday season begins.

The Taiwanese company, which is racing to control a Covid outbreak at its sprawling campus in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, has begun recruiting for the facility once again and is offering bonuses to employees who have recently left, according to a statement published in a press release. of the company’s WeChat accounts.

Foxconn’s statement came just a day after Apple said it expects iPhone 14 shipments to be hit by China’s Covid restrictions, which have “significantly reduced capacity” at the Zhengzhou facility, the world’s largest iPhone factory.

“The epidemic has disrupted our work and our lives, but…the company has achieved remarkable results in current epidemic prevention measures,” Foxconn said on its Zhengzhou recruitment WeChat account on Monday.

“The park’s production and order of life were gradually restored to normal,” the statement added.

Anxious workers reportedly fled the closed facility. Videos of many people leaving Zhengzhou on foot have gone viral on Chinese social media in recent days. Foxconn is now stepping up steps to get its staff back.

If they return, employees who left between October 10 and November 5 will receive a one-time bonus of 500 yuan ($69), according to the company. The new workers will be paid 30 yuan ($4) an hour, according to the post.

Last Wednesday, Chinese authorities imposed a seven-day lockdown on the production zone that houses the Foxconn factory.

Workers will be able to begin their work once the “district-level lockdown is lifted”, Foxconn told WeChat, when workers will be picked up and taken to the factory for a closed-loop system – where they will work and live on site.