Exclusive-Foxconn tells India recruiters: Nix marital status in iPhone job ads

By Munsif Vengattil, Praveen Paramasivam and Aditya Kalra

SRIPERUMBUDUR, India (Reuters) - Apple supplier Foxconn has ordered the hiring agents that help recruit iPhone assembly workers in India to remove age, gender and marital criteria as well as the manufacturer's name in job advertisements, according to three people familiar with the matter and almost a dozen ads reviewed by Reuters.

The moves follow a Reuters investigation published June 25, which found that Foxconn excluded married women from jobs at its main India iPhone assembly plant, though it relaxed the practice during high-production periods.

Foxconn, which employs thousands of women at the iPhone factory at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, outsources recruitment of assembly-line workers to third-party vendors. These agents scout for and screen candidates, who ultimately are interviewed and selected by Foxconn.

For the June story, Reuters reviewed job ads posted by Foxconn's Indian hiring vendors between January 2023 and May 2024 which stated that only unmarried women of specified ages were eligible for smartphone assembly roles, contravening Apple and Foxconn anti-discrimination policies.

Days after the story's publication, Foxconn HR executives instructed many of the Indian vendors to standardize recruitment materials in accordance with templates provided by the company, two of the three hiring agency sources told Reuters. They also told the vendors not to speak to the media, these people said.

At a meeting in late June, Foxconn HR executives cited media coverage of the company's hiring practices and "warned us not to use Foxconn's name in any ads going forward, and told us our contracts would be terminated if we did," one agent said.

"The instructions for ads were: Don't mention the unmarried requirement, don't mention age, nor male or female either," said the person, who like the other sources spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of backlash from Foxconn.

Foxconn did not respond to Reuters questions about its directives to recruiters, nor whether it had ended restrictions on the employment of married women for iPhone assembly roles. Apple declined to comment on similar questions. Both companies have previously said that Foxconn hires married women in India.

Reuters could not independently determine whether Foxconn had begun to hire greater numbers of married women for the roles in question. But recent changes to advertising content aligned with the recruiters' accounts.

One new Foxconn template ad reviewed by Reuters described smartphone assembly positions but made no mention of Foxconn, nor age, gender or marital criteria. It listed benefits: "Air conditioned workplace, free transport, canteen facility, free hostel" and a monthly salary of 14,974 rupees, or about $177.