Drop age, marital criteria: Foxconn to Indian recruiters

Apple supplier Foxconn has ordered hiring agents, who 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 on 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’s and Foxconn’s anti-discrimination policies.

Days after the story's publication, Foxconn HR executives instructed many of the Indian vendors to standardise 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.