Apple Supplier Foxconn Offers Record Cash Bonuses To Workers In Bid To Ramp Up iPhone 13 Production: Report

Apple Inc AAPL supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Ltd HNHPF, better known as Foxconn, is offering record-high cash rewards to workers ahead of the launch of iPhone 13, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.

What Happened: The rewards are being dished out by the innovative Product Enclosure Business Group (iPEBG) — the Foxconn unit which makes mechanical parts for the iPhone, as per SCMP.

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Former workers returning to Foxconn’s Zhengzhou production line for the peak season are reportedly being offered RMB 8,000 ($1,237) as a signing bonus. Last month this bonus amounted to RMB 5,500 ($848.69) and the amount was RMB 5,000 ($771.53) in 2020.

New iPEBG workers who are hired on the referral of an existing employee will receive RMB 7,000 ($1,080.15), while in April they were given RMB 4,500 ($694.38).  Workers who applied by themselves will receive an RMB 7,500 ($1,157.30) bonus.

At the Taiwan-based Apple supplier’s integrated Digital Product Business Group (iDPBG) — which assembles iPhones at Zhengzhou — returning workers and new referrals will get an award of RMB 600 ($92.58) for each month they stay. 

The reward comes with a cap of RMB 5,400 ($833.26) for nine months and is on top of a monthly base salary of RMB 2,100 ($324), SCMP reported citing recruitment posts.

Why It Matters: Will Wong, a research analyst at tech research firm IDC said that the bonus pay initiatives for the Foxconn facility at Zhengzhou that employs as many as 250,000 workers indicate preparations for the new iPhone coming later this year, reported SCMP.

Foxconn purportedly raises bonus amounts for new as well as returning workers ahead of peak season when it manufactures the latest iPhones.

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This year’s bonus for returning workers has touched the highest level since the world’s largest iPhone manufacturing facility at Zhengzhou became operational in 2010, as per an SCMP review of past recruitment advertisements.

Foxconn’s May revenue fell 9% on a month-on-month basis amid the slowest monthly sales growth in six months on a year-on-year basis as COVID-19 ravages Taiwan.

The Apple supplier reported revenue of $16.38 billion in May, while in April it had reported revenue of $17.83 billion.

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