Assembly line suicides raise questions over work, life in technology giant
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Mental suffering
There has been no evidence indicating Foxconn operates sweat shops, but the company has faced criticism over the welfare of its employees. Others say workers should be psychologically stronger in facing difficulties.
More than 8,000 young people, mostly aged under 30, wanting to work for Foxconn, queue every day at recruiting stations in Shenzhen, says company spokesman Liu Kun.
Foxconn has psychological counseling rooms or recreational centers for workers. Free psychological counseling is available to workers and the company is training about 100 consultants to improve the services, he says.
Recreational activities, such as dance clubs and singing contests, are held to encourage communication among the staff.
However, it's impossible for a big company to care for the emotional needs of every employee, he says.
"I think the problems lay with the workers," says Zeng Hongling, a workmate of Lu Xin, 24, who was the seventh person to kill himself.
"Lu was too eager to be successful and lost his way later after seeing how hard it is to get rich quickly," says Zeng.
"The company and the government should intensify efforts to enrich workers' leisure time and help them to enjoy life," says Liu Kaiming of the ICO.
Shenzhen-based Foxconn's company profile on its website says it's the world's top electronics manufacturer and ranked 109 among the Fortune 500 companies in 2009. Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai Group is Foxconn's parent company.
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