Foxconn Technology Group implemented a number of new work policies this week in a bid to control the spread of a fresh COVID-19 outbreak in the city of Zhengzhou, China.
Foxconn's Zhengzhou location is home to the world's largest iPhone factory, and the company is desperate to keep production running there while also adhering to the Chinese government's strict Zero-COVID policy. That's a difficult task when you consider the campus is home to around 300,000 workers, many of whom live in dormitories together.
COVID-19 can spread very rapidly within groups of people, so Foxconn is aiming to limit interaction as much as possible among its employees. Each worker is being provided with three meals a day for free, but are only allowed to eat them in their dorms. "Eating in" has been banned by the company, so no communal meals are allowed for the foreseeable future. N95 masks are required to be worn, even in dorms, and workers are tested daily.
Those departments specifically responsible for iPhone production are also being offered transport subsidies to get them to and from their dorms with as little interaction as possible, and a small pay bonus for always being at work on time.
Where workers are allowed to travel on campus is being restricted to specific routes, and any workers who live away from the campus are being asked to move into dorms. A number of entrances to the campus are now closed as a further measure to limit travel.
The strict new measures were only implemented this week, but a Foxconn spokesman told the South China Morning PostSouth China Morning Post that, "Production in the Zhengzhou campus remains normal, without a notable impact [from the COVID-19] situation."
So far, seven cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Zhengzhou, which is home to 10 million people. However, if Foxconn is able to confine its workers to the campus, it may avoid a wider outbreak in the city and Apple can continue to receive the iPhones it ordered.