Foxconn Ditches Discriminatory Advertising for Apple iPhone Assembly Workers
In a major shift, Foxconn, the Taiwanese chipmaker and Apple's largest supplier of iPhones to India, has ordered its hiring agents to remove age, gender, and marital criteria from job advertisements for assembly-line workers at its main Indian factory, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move follows a Reuters investigation published in June that foundFoxconn had excluded married women from jobs at its main iPhone assembly plant in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. Despite relaxing this practice during high-production periods, Foxconn was still seen as discriminating against women who were married or single with children, with ads limiting eligible applicants to unmarried women aged 18-32.
However, days after the Reuters story was published, Foxconn HR executives instructed many of the Indian hiring vendors to standardize recruitment materials in accordance with templates provided by the company. These templates no longer mention age, gender, marital status, or even the requirement for assembly-line work experience but instead highlight benefits like working conditions, transport, and a low monthly salary.
One new Foxconn template ad reviewed by Reuters described smartphone assembly positions without any mention of the employer's name, age requirement, gender restrictions, or marital criteria. This marked a significant departure from the previous ads that were posted on walls and circulated on WhatsApp in Tamil.
Sources close to three hiring agencies revealed that during a meeting in late June, Foxconn HR executives told vendors not to use the company's name in job ads going forward and threatened termination of contracts if they did so and emphasized that "there should be no mention of unmarried requirement, nor age, nor male or female either."
Foxconn on Monday declined to comment about its directives to recruiters and whether it had dropped restrictions on hiring married women for iPhone assembly roles. Apple also didn't respond to questions, although both companies have previously maintained that they hire married women in India.
According to Dilip Cherian, a communications consultant who spoke with Reuters, changes were made in response to media scrutiny of Foxconn's employment practices but whether it signals a genuine shift remains unclear.
Follow-up reporting on this developing story would be required.