Toni Bowers (techrepublic) reports about Foxconn (in Shenzhen, PRC) where iPhones are made, there have been 11 suicides – workers jumping out of windows.
They’ve come up with a fix:
To be fair, they’re also upping wages by 50% and that action was accompanied by some long-term changes that the industrial giant’s leaders hope will change the lives and well-being of its employees before they get to the point of suicidal thoughts as well: They’ve also set up a ‘round the clock counseling center staffed by some 100 trained workers. I can’t tell whether there are psychologists in the center or not, but I’d think that would be appropriate.
Honestly? Wouldn’t you think they’d start getting active after the first or second? Can you imagine what the working conditions were?
“Foxconn made matters worse with a slow and initially clumsy response. In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Gou conceded that he didn't immediately grasp the significance of the suicides. "I should be honest with you," he says. "The first one, second one, and third one, I did not see this as a serious problem. We had around 800,000 employees, and here [in Longhua] we are about 2.1 square kilometers. At the moment, I'm feeling guilty. But at that moment, I didn't think I should be taking full responsibility." After the fifth suicide, in March, Gou says, "I decided to do something different." – Terry Gou
Here’s some more inspiration from Mr. Gou:
Although drab and utilitarian, the campus is a fully functioning city, with fast-food joints, ATMs, Olympic-size swimming pools, huge LED screens that flash public-service announcements and cartoons, and a bookstore that sells, among other things, the Chinese-language translation of the Harvard Business Review. Prominent on display are biographies of Gou, one of which collects his many aphorisms, including "work itself is a type of joy," "a harsh environment is a good thing," "hungry people have especially clear minds," and "an army of one thousand is easy to get, one general is tough to find."- ibid
I guess he likes his folks to be really joyful.
They’ve also engaged a firm (Bursen-Marstellar) to do PR work…. guess the image doesn’t sit well in the West. Mr. Guo amassed his estimated $9.5 billion dollar fortune from a $7,500 loan from his mom.
Link to the follow up article to this post.
Update (5.24.11): Plant Closed For Safety Inspection