Foxconn has directed its Indian recruitment agencies to eliminate discriminatory criteria, including age, gender, and marital status, from job advertisements for positions at its iPhone assembly plant, Reuters is reporting.
[Image: Reuters]
This shift follows scrutiny of the company’s hiring practices after an investigation revealed that Foxconn’s Indian hiring agents previously excluded married women from job opportunities.
Foxconn, which operates a large iPhone manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, employs thousands of women on its assembly lines. The company relies on third-party vendors to manage recruitment, from scouting candidates to facilitating interviews.
However, recruitment practices came under fire when Reuters reported that ads posted by these vendors between January 2023 and May 2024 included discriminatory criteria such as an “unmarried women only” requirement.
In response, Foxconn HR executives issued new directives to these agencies in late June, mandating standardized, non-discriminatory recruitment templates. The updated templates prohibit references to age, gender, or marital status and also instruct recruiters to avoid mentioning Foxconn’s name in advertisements.
One recruitment agent disclosed that Foxconn warned agencies their contracts would be terminated if they failed to comply.
Although Reuters was unable to verify whether Foxconn has begun hiring more married women for iPhone assembly roles, evidence suggests the company has made strides in adjusting its advertising content.
In October, Reuters reviewed nine job postings from Foxconn vendors in Sriperumbudur, including some in Tamil. The ads, circulated via WhatsApp and posted publicly, adhered to Foxconn’s revised template.
They described the roles without mentioning age, gender, or marital status and listed benefits such as air-conditioned workplaces, free transportation, a cafeteria, hostel accommodations, and a monthly salary of approximately $177.
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…”a monthly salary of approximately $177”