Will pay raises prevent suicides? iPad factory hopes so

After 10 suicides in a year, the people in charge of a Chinese iPad factory decided it was time to make some changes.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which goes by the trade name Foxconn, employs nearly 300,000 workers at a factory in Shenzhen. And the wave of recent employee suicides could be putting an end to business-as-usual at the company.
Hon Hai is one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, and its Shenzhen factory produces Apple iPads in addition to goods for Sony, Nintendo, Dell and Nokia.
Workers’ well-being ignored?
Critics of the company’s assembly line work say the system has pushed people to work excessively long hours in high-stress jobs that leave them physically and emotionally drained.
And after the recent suicide of a 19-year-old worker, the company admitted it had paid “insufficient attention” to the well-being of its employees.
So what’ll it do now? The company recently announced that it’ll hire 2,000 therapists and double the minimum wage for some of its line workers.
Company officials had originally said that the pay increases were meant to fend off labor shortages — but recent news about the suicides has put them in a different light.
A recent statement released by Hon Hai said the pay increases are designed to reduce overtime work by giving employees a more comfortable base income.
Beginning this fall, monthly wages for assembly line workers will increase to 2,000 yuan (about $293).
The current minimum wage in the area where Hon Hai’s factory is located is 900 yuan (about $132) per month.
Recent reports about employee suicides have once again raised questions about the sustainability of China’s manufacturing model, which often requires workweeks of seven 12-hour days.
Can China continue to run its manufacturing operations this way? Share your thoughts in the Comments Box below.