Foxconn Removes Suicide Compensation For Families

Speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said that they will no longer compensate families of employees who commit suicide. Concerns were raised that employees were attempting suicide in order to receive the equivalent of a 10 year wage in compensation (around $16,000) for their families.

A letter from an employee who committed suicide read: “I’m going to jump off Foxconn, really leaving now, but you don’t have to be sad, because Foxconn will pay a bit of money.”

It is hoped that removing the financial incentive will prevent suicide attempts by employees. This goes along with pay increases that have been introduced over the last month as well as performance-based payrise due in October. Gou also said that the “Werther effect”, copycat suicides brought on by media coverage, led to some of the suicides also.

This is certainly a brute force way to prevent more tragic deaths in the factory, but surely there is a reason other than money that lead people to take their own life? While $16,000 is a hefty sum and there could be an outside reason for employee unhappiness, having such a high number of deaths inside the factory suggests some sort of internal cause.

Via: Engadget