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Foxconn, an Apple supplier, has ordered recruiting agencies that help hire iPhone assemblers in India to review job postings. Three people familiar with the matter and more than a dozen ads reviewed by the company have information such as gender, marital status and the creator's name to be removed. Reuters move follows a Reuters investigation published on June 25 that found Foxconn bars married women from employment at its main iPhone assembly plant in India but has relaxed the practice during peak production periods. Foxconn, which employs thousands of women at its iPhone factory in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, is outsourcing the hiring of assembly line workers to third-party suppliers. These agents search and screen candidates who are ultimately interviewed and selected by Foxconn. In June, Reuters reviewed job advertisements posted by Indian staffing firm Foxconn between January 2023 and May 2024 that listed only single women of a certain age for smartphone assembly jobs, in violation of Apple and Foxconn's anti-discrimination policies.

Two employees from three recruiting agencies told Reuters that a few days after the article was published, Foxconn's human resources managers had instructed many of its Indian sales representatives to standardize their recruiting materials using templates provided by the company. The company also instructed vendors not to speak to the media, the people said. At a meeting in late June, Foxconn's human resources executives cited media reports about the company's hiring practices and said, "We warned them not to use the Foxconn name in future advertisements, and if they did, their contracts would be terminated.""I told him I was dying,” one of the officers said. The person, who, like other sources, feared a negative reaction from Foxconn, said: “The instructions for this ad did not include mentioning the condition of not being married, age or the fact of being a woman.” Foxconn did not respond to questions from Reuters about his instructions to hiring managers or about lifting restrictions on hiring married women for iPhone assembly work. Apple declined to comment on a similar question. The companies had previously announced that Foxconn was hiring married women in India.

Reuters could not independently determine whether Foxconn had begun hiring more married women for the roles in question. However, recent changes have been made to ad content to tailor it to recruiter accounts. An advertisement for Foxconn's new format seen by Reuters described where the smartphone was assembled, but did not mention Foxconn or its age, gender or marital status. Benefits include “air-conditioned workspace, free transportation, canteen facilities, free accommodation” and a monthly salary of 14,974 rupees, or about $177. In October, Reuters traveled to Sriperumbudur to investigate nine Foxconn vendor advertisements, some in Tamil, posted on bulletin boards and WhatsApp. The text corresponded to the template provided by the seller. The ad did not name the employer, but two of the three supplier sources said Foxconn was hiring workers for smartphone assembly work.

"Faxcan provides us with the recruitment ads, that's all we use," an executive at recruitment agency Prudre told Reuters. Reuters visited the offices of 12 Foxconn recruiting contractors, but eight of them declined to discuss the company's practices. One provider, Groveman Global, hired single women ages 18 to 32 for mobile manufacturing jobs in 2023. That language was missing from three new Globman ads reviewed by Reuters last month. Representatives from Mr. Grumman's office declined to comment on the changes. Amid rising tensions between China and the US, Apple is considering India as an alternative manufacturing location to China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has Foxconn's iPhone factories and Apple's extensive supply chain in India to help the country move up the economic value chain.

According to an earlier Reuters article, the Modi government ordered federal and state investigations into hiring practices at Foxconn factories. Labor officials visited the facility in July and interviewed company executives, but neither the Modi government nor state officials in Tamil Nadu have released their findings. The state government declined Reuters' request for a copy of the investigation report, filed under India's Freedom of Information Act, citing confidentiality. Federal and state officials did not respond to questions from Reuters about the results of their investigation into Foxconn.

Dilip Cherian, communications consultant and co-founder of Indian public relations firm Perfect Relations, said he would not try to change Foxconn's hiring because intense media scrutiny of its hiring practices would tarnish the reputation of the company and its client Apple. Cherian added: “It remains to be seen whether this move represents a genuine change of heart or just an appropriate superficial legal response to the fact that they have been subpoenaed.” Foxconn. . During a visit to India in August, Foxconn CEO Yang Liu said married women "contribute greatly to what we do in India." He also met Prime Minister Modi where he discussed investment plans of Taiwanese companies in India.