Taiwan contract manufacturer Foxconn, which makes the iPhone and other consumer electronic products, has tripled its initial pay-rise offer in a bid to draw the curtain on a spate of worker suicides.
Parent firm Hon Hai is now offering to boost wages at Foxconn’s Shenzhen facility by 66% for workers who pass a three-month performance review.
Basic wages will be lifted to 2,000 yuan ($245) per week starting October 1, Foxconn has revealed.
The company had already announced a 20% wage increase last week, then suggested raising that to around 30%.
Prior to last week’s offers, entry-level wages were just 900 yuan a week.
While the company denied that the initial increase was tied to the escalating spate of suicides and attempted suicides at the Shenzen plant, the sheer scale of the second increase leaves little room for doubt as to the motivation behind it.
The pay rise is certain to have an impact on Foxconn's profitability, Gartner analyst Jamie Wang told Computerworld.
But the move was necessary to offset the bad publicity that has arisen out of the suicide crisis, he added.
More wage rises will be announced in the coming months, including for supervisors at the Shenzen plant and for facilities elsewhere in China, Foxconn added.
Foxconn is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, working with big-name brands such as Apple, Nokia, Sony, HP and Dell.