Four months after facing allegations of discriminatory hiring practices, Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that assembles Apple’s iPhones, has reportedly instructed its recruitment agents in India to eliminate gender, age, and marital status criteria from job advertisements. The move follows reports that the company had been excluding married women from employment at its iPhone assembly plant in Tamil Nadu.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Foxconn has directed recruitment agents to update their job advertisements to remove any reference to marital status, age, or gender, as well as to avoid mentioning the company’s name. The revised advertisements now focus solely on the benefits of the job, without specifying the employer or any potentially discriminatory criteria.
Reuters, citing anonymous sources, reported that in June, Foxconn’s human resources team issued standardized recruitment templates to vendors. During a meeting with these vendors, Foxconn officials reportedly warned that using the company’s name in advertisements would lead to contract terminations. The updated recruitment guidelines emphasized not mentioning requirements such as “unmarried” status or age and instructed that no distinction be made between male or female candidates.
The changes come amid ongoing scrutiny of Foxconn’s hiring practices at its massive iPhone manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur. Earlier this year, a Reuters investigation revealed that Foxconn had been excluding married women from job opportunities, with company executives citing the belief that married women would have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts. This practice prompted investigations by local labor department officials, who visited the facility in July to examine Foxconn’s hiring policies.
In response to the allegations, Foxconn’s chairman, Young Liu, addressed the issue during a visit to India, stating that the company hires employees regardless of their gender. Liu also emphasized Foxconn’s significant investment in India, with the company having committed approximately $10 billion to the country’s manufacturing sector. During the same visit, Liu claimed that Foxconn employs about 70% women at its Tamil Nadu factory, refuting the claims of gender discrimination.
However, Foxconn’s assertion that it employs a substantial proportion of female workers at the facility has been met with skepticism, particularly in light of the earlier allegations. The company also denied the specific claims that married women were being excluded from hiring, noting that 25% of their new hires were married women.
Foxconn’s workforce in India currently stands at around 48,000 employees. While the company has taken steps to revise its hiring advertisements and address concerns about its recruitment policies, it remains to be seen whether these changes will have a lasting impact on the company’s public image and its relations with both employees and regulators.
The case highlights growing scrutiny over labor practices in India’s burgeoning manufacturing sector, particularly in light of the country’s push to become a global hub for electronics and other high-tech manufacturing. The changes to Foxconn’s recruitment process signal a potential shift in its approach to talent acquisition, but the full extent of the company’s efforts to address the discrimination claims will likely continue to be monitored by labor groups and industry observers alike.
