Foxconn must adapt to psychological needs of migrant workers

After a recent series of serious clashes between thousands of workers and the plant's security guards, Foxconn's plant in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, was shut down.

Evidently the Foxconn workers were experiencing high levels of discontent, which could easily be inflamed. Two years ago, a series of suicides among Foxconn workers drew nationwide attention. The latest fight represented yet another eruption of discontent among workers.

Throughout China, migrant workers are concentrated in contract manufacturing plants like Foxconn. Employees at Foxconn earn salaries that are relatively higher than in many other factories, but due to the strict, closed management system used by Foxconn, workers have fewer opportunities to be in contact with society and release pent-up emotions.

Objectively, as increased awareness of freedom and democracy spreads within China, the Foxconn model, which means higher salaries but more mental stress, is being challenged. Foxconn will continue to encounter similar problems in the future.

But on the other hand, it is a fact that China cannot provide all its people with jobs that provide high salaries and job satisfaction at the same time. In China, a country with hundreds of millions of employees, the pressure to ensure every person has a stable job is much more pressing than the pressure to ensure their mental satisfaction with their jobs.

One important reason is that China has been poor for too long. China is still at the lower end of the global industrial chain. Employees in China, on average, work longer hours but have fewer holidays than their foreign counterparts.

Foxconn basically abides by the law in providing workers with benefits. But an obvious problem is that Foxconn's efforts to improve its working environment and benefits still lag behind the demands of the new generation of migrant workers, whose pursuit of benefits is rapidly changing and is more informed than the older generation.

Foxconn, which has drawn public controversy, does make an important contribution to Chinese employment. Foxconn's problems could be seen as loopholes in its factory management approach, but fundamentally, these problems are closely related to China's current stage of development. China needs to survive this stage, rather than simply finding and blaming a few scapegoats.

The nation should firmly strive to raise the benefits provided by all kinds of jobs. This calls for great breakthroughs despite the limits brought on by China's low position in the global industrial chain and the current stage of its domestic market economy. Essentially, it will be a complicated, long-term struggle for Chinese workers to emerge from poverty.

Foxconn does need to reflect on these developments. The growing scale of its employment operations means more potential risks. The development of society has brought about deep changes in public attitudes. Foxconn has to realize this. Its further success on the mainland is also reliant upon its efforts to provide employees with mental satisfaction.