In order to keep the employee boss to help find a partner
According to a report on December 4, British media said that rapidly rising wages, changing demographics, and the different needs of millennials are forcing foreign companies in China's manufacturing heartland to rethink how they manage their employees.
According to a report on the website of the British "Financial Times" on November 30, Ivan Gornik, the Shenzhen-based general manager of the Italian air freshener and pesticide manufacturer Sabigao, has extensive experience in manufacturing. His factory makes goods for demanding multinational companies such as Reckitt & Gamble and Procter & Gamble. When he was hosting a "talent management" seminar for executives in China, the hit dance song "Infinity" of the 1990s suddenly began to play, and the 20 or so European factory managers gathered in their seats moved uneasily, afraid to look up.
"Don't worry, I won't sing... I just want you to understand that the only limits are the limits we place on ourselves," says Gornick, who argues that plant managers should not see employees as an endless supply of easily replaceable resources, but "need to have a clearer understanding of who they are, what they need and how to make them more efficient".
Unlike their parents, who saw factory work as a rare opportunity to get ahead, young Chinese workers now have more options, especially in the rapidly expanding service sector, and want more control over their lives rather than being forced to work long shifts. Moreover, as China's population ages, the flow of migrant workers into factories in Shenzhen and other parts of Guangdong province has begun to decline in recent years, giving employees greater bargaining power over pay and working conditions.
Yuping Choi, a sociology professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who specialises in migrant workers from the Chinese mainland, says the expectations of younger workers are very different from those of their parents. "They are no longer willing to accept any reality," she explains. "The younger generation is generally better educated and has a better family background."
Factory managers say they have had to take a more considerate approach to employees, letting those who want to expand their purchasing power work overtime, while others work regular shifts to give them more time for themselves after work.
With low-skilled manufacturing workers in Guangdong earning up to Rmb4,000 a month, some companies are investing in industrial robotics and automation, while others are moving to cheaper areas such as western China, South East Asia or Africa. But Guangdong accounted for more than a quarter of China's exports last year, and many multinational factory managers say they are willing to stay in Guangdong to take advantage of its deep skills base and well-developed infrastructure and supply chains.
"You have to increase productivity and that's the root of the problem," says Thierry Jamet, a plant manager in Shenzhen for Altron Power Transmission, a US clutch and brake equipment maker. As foreign manufacturers face increasing competition from lower-cost Chinese rivals, the only way to beat them is to adopt a more enlightened strategy of developing the workforce. "The best capital we have is people, not machines," he says.
Gornik says the factory needs to do more than just provide accommodation and sports facilities for employees. He has developed a programme to bring in graduates and train them to become senior managers, and another aimed at helping the best low-skilled employees in the factory to take up senior executive positions. He is also implementing Japan's philosophy of "continuous improvement" by assembling teams of managers and employees in an attempt to save precious minutes and costs from the manufacturing process. Yamert says that after assembling such a team, he has significantly streamlined the production process in just one day.
"You need to lead by example," he says. "If top management practices'continuous improvement ', then employees will really give their best."
Paris Hagisotirio, a Shenzhen-based executive at OT Technology, a French maker of credit cards and payment-related products, tries to win the hearts and minds of his employees through matchmaking. Many younger workers prefer to return to their hometowns after working for a few years to find a marriage partner, so he organises social events to help men and women from different factories meet because "it's easier to keep them if they can find a boyfriend or girlfriend."
Ultimately, says Ms Cai, companies must make factories less like sweatshops of the past and more like those in developed countries, where workers are treated more seriously and instilled with greater pride.
"Employers need a more segmented strategy to control employees," she says. "This may be new in China, but not in other economies.
