Foxconn Told Hiring Agents to Remove Age and Marital Criteria from iPhone Assembly Worker Advertisements
Chennai, India - In a move aimed at addressing concerns over its employment practices, Foxconn, the Taiwanese tech giant that manufactures iPhones for Apple, has instructed its hiring agents in India to remove age, gender, and marital criteria from job advertisements.
The changes follow an investigation by Reuters last month, which found that Foxconn excluded married women from jobs at its main iPhone assembly plant in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. The plant employs thousands of women, who are mostly unmarried, according to the company's claims.
Reuters reviewed over a dozen job ads posted by Foxconn's Indian hiring vendors between January 2023 and May 2024, which stated that only unmarried women of specified ages were eligible for smartphone assembly roles. However, since the publication of the story, these requirements have been removed from the ads.
Foxconn HR executives had instructed the vendors to standardize recruitment materials in accordance with templates provided by the company and warned them not to use Foxconn's name in any ads going forward.
"Standardize the content and we will standardize the ads," one of the hiring agency sources quoted Reuters. "The instructions for ads were: Don't mention the unmarried requirement, don't mention age, nor male or female either."
One new template ad reviewed by Reuters described smartphone assembly positions but made no reference to Foxconn or the previously-cluded criteria. It listed benefits including an air-conditioned workplace and a monthly salary of 14,974 rupees.
The changes in ad content align with the recruiters' accounts, who claimed that Foxconn had relaxed restrictions on hiring married women for iPhone assembly roles during high-production periods.
However, it remains unclear whether Foxconn has begun to hire greater numbers of married women for these roles. Apple declined to comment on similar questions, while Foxconn also did not respond to Reuters' queries.
The changes come as part of an ongoing effort by the Indian government to attract more investment in the country's manufacturing sector. Apple has positioned India as an alternative manufacturing base to China amid tensions between Beijing and Washington.
In October last year, Reuters visited Sriperumbudur and reviewed nine Foxconn vendor ads that were posted on walls and circulated on WhatsApp. The text matched the template provided to the vendors.
The move is seen as a response to media scrutiny of Foxconn's employment practices, which has had a reputational impact on the company and its client, Apple.
"We need to be transparent about our hiring policies and ensure that they align with Indian laws and regulations," said Dilip Cherian, a communications consultant and co-founder of Indian public relations firm Perfect Relations. "Whether this move represents a real change of heart or just a cosmetic response remains to be seen."