Employee Rewards and Benefits News
Suicides lead to wage rise at iPhone factory
An increasing number of suicides amid staff had forced Foxconn, the iPhone manufacturing plant based in China, to increase salaries by 20 per cent and improve employee benefits.
Company executives maintain that the pay hikes were related to long-established salary plans, in line with dealing with a labour shortage in the southern provinces of China.
However, concerns were raised about Foxconn's labour policies and practices. The company, which is a subsidiary of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, made global headlines when a number of employees killed themselves on site.
Stressful working conditions and long shifts that sometimes lasted for 12 hours were cited as the main reasons that lead to depleting staff morale and the suicides.
An anonymous source from the company told the Associated Press: "Feeling sad is contagious, and so is feeling happy ... We hope the workers will have a positive attitude toward their lives."
Posted by Michael Ewing 
