Apple iPhone maker Foxconn tells recruiters to stop using age, gender restrictions in job listings: Report

Apple supplier Foxconn has instructed its recruitment agents in India to cease using age, gender, and marital status criteria in job advertisements for iPhone assembly workers, according to a report by Reuters. This decision follows a Reuters investigation that found Foxconn's Indian recruiters had excluded married women from job opportunities at its main factory in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai.

Foxconn relies on third-party hiring agencies to recruit assembly-line workers. These agencies are responsible for scouting and screening candidates before Foxconn conducts the final interviews and hiring. Previously, many job ads from these agencies specified that only unmarried women within certain age ranges could apply, a practice that violated anti-discrimination policies upheld by both Foxconn and Apple.

After the discrimination was highlighted in June, Foxconn instructed its recruitment agents to align their advertisements with company-approved templates. These templates removed restrictions on age, gender, or marital status and excluded Foxconn's name from job postings. Foxconn also warned agents against speaking to the media, threatening to terminate contracts for non-compliance.

According to Reuters, several updated ads, which now highlight job benefits such as air-conditioned workplaces, free transport, and hostel facilities, without mentioning the employer or discriminatory criteria. For instance, one ad offered a monthly salary of ₹14,974 (around $177) for smartphone assembly roles but avoided specifying any personal qualifications.

During an October visit to Sriperumbudur, Reuters claimed to have found nine such ads circulating on WhatsApp and posted in local areas. While the ads didn’t directly name Foxconn, recruitment agents confirmed they were for the company’s assembly plant.

Neither Foxconn nor Apple commented on whether hiring practices for married women had changed. Both companies have previously stated that Foxconn employs married women in India. Reuters could not independently verify if Foxconn had increased the number of married women hired since the changes.

Foxconn appears to have enforced strict adherence to the revised recruitment practices. A manager at Proodle, one of Foxconn’s hiring agencies, told Reuters, “Foxconn gives us the ads to run for hiring. We only use those.”