Foxconn has struck a deal to hand over management of its staff dormitories in Shenzhen to outside firms, after a spate of worker suicides earlier this year.
According to Reuters, Foxconn has signed up Chinese property management companies Shenzhen CPM Property Management and Kaiyuan Property Management to take over management of 153 employee dormitories assigned to the Longhua and Guanlan manufacturing plants.
Terry Cheng, Foxconn's corporate executive vice-president, said in a statement: "Providing employees with basic necessities including a safe and convenient place to live at the work-site might have been sufficient in the past, but this arrangement no longer satisfies the needs of the young migrant workers of today.
"They also want to have a life in the city in which they work. This is why companies, government and communities need to work together to expand support networks so that employees have a stronger sense of belonging and can better integrate into the community.”
Ten Foxconn employees have died jumped from buildings at the Longhua facility in Shenzhen, with an additional two workers surviving the fall and one attempting to slit his wrists.
The firm, which manufactures products including Apple's iPhone, announced at its shareholder meeting earlier this month that it would make significant changes to its business plan and abandon the ‘factory town’ model that has characterised it in the past.
Chinese authorities, meanwhile, have promised to make the results of an official investigation into the Foxconn suicides public.
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