Foxconn, one of Apple's main partners, has a job opening for 200,000 employees. This massive recruitment was announced to meet the needs of employees ahead of the launch of the iPhone 13 next month.
The 200,000 new employees will be placed in the world's largest iPhone factory in the city of Zhengzhou, China. This factory can accommodate 350,000 employees on the assembly line and produce 500,000 units of mobile phones in a day.
The factory's head, Wang Xue, said finding additional workers was the biggest challenge for the factory, commonly referred to as the 'iPhone City'. Wang said he was confident Foxconn could meet the target because it had the support of the local government.
Several local governments in Henan Province participated in mobilizing prospective new employees at the iPhone factory. Some of them even rented 100 buses to take job seekers in their area to the factory area.
Foxconn's eagerness to find new employees shows how prepared they are to anticipate the high demand for the iPhone 13. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said Apple is targeting shipments of 130 million to 150 million iPhone 13s in the second half of this year.
Ives estimates that Apple's supply partners in Asia could produce between 90 million and 100 million units of the iPhone 13 to meet initial demand, as quoted by the South China Morning Post, Monday (28/8/2021).
But the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Henan Province is affecting Foxconn's production and recruitment process. Henan Province imposed mobility restrictions after reporting 167 cases of COVID-19 from July 31 to August 25. Foxconn itself implements COVID-19 tests and other health protocols in factories to ensure the safety of job seekers.
To attract the attention of job seekers and meet its targets, Foxconn also provides massive bonuses for new employees. The integrated Digital Product Business Group (iDPBG), Foxconn's iPhone assembly division, is offering a bonus of 12,700 Yuan for all new employees in the assembly department.
In addition, the bonus offered as of August 15 was 2,500 Yuan higher than the bonus offered three weeks earlier. Each new iDPBG employee will also receive a subsidy of 2,000 Yuan for transportation and a bonus of 8,500 to 9,500 Yuan after working for 90 days. Employees who succeed in attracting new workers will also receive a bonus of 1,200 Yuan.