WSJ: Third in a Series: China’s Changing Work Force
“After years of offering production bonuses and other financial incentives to boost employee loyalty, TAL Group this year tried an unconventional tactic at its factory here in southeastern China: holding a “Sewing Olympics.”
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The manufacturer for such companies as Burberry Group BRBY.LN +1.21% PLC and Brooks Brothers Group Inc. had workers race to cut, stitch and fold raw fabric into high-end dress shirts. The 10 winners received small cash prizes and had their life-size images hung at an outdoor location where thousands of workers pass on the way to meals.
Cheng Pei Quan is a winner of the ‘Sewing Olympics’ at a factory. Manufacturers are looking beyond bonuses to retain workers and boost production in China.
First in the Series: China Manufacturers Survive by Moving to Asian Neighbors
Second in the Series: A Billion Strong but Short on Workers
“Chinese people put quite a lot of value on ‘face,’ ” says 23 year-old winner Cheng Pei Quan, who earned the nickname “The King of Collars” because he can sew 95 collars an hour, a third more than average. “This competition gives me a sense of pride that other benefits such as rising wages cannot give me.”
After boosting pay to compete with other manufacturers, factory owners are finding money alone no longer is enough to attract and retain a generation of workers that demand a greater work-life balance than their parents did.
Companies are holding “American Idol”-esque singing contests, sponsoring dating events, constructing libraries and karaoke rooms on campus, and organizing small dinners between managers and top workers.
Businesses also are sending postcards to workers who visit their families during the Lunar New Year—when manufacturers can lose 20% or more of their staff—urging the employees to return to work.
The measures are a response to an unprecedented shortage in China’s workforce. Demand for workers exceeded supply by a record in the first quarter. China’s working-age population, defined as people from ages 15 to 59, fell last year for the first time in decades, a result of the national one-child policy that was implemented in 1980.
While the number of migrant workers in China rose 3.9% last year, manufacturers face stiff competition from construction, mining and other industries for staff. The average monthly wage for such workers has increased 74% in the past four years, to $395 in the first quarter.
For factory owners, the ability to recruit workers is a matter of survival. If plants can’t find or replace staff quickly enough, they won’t be able to fill customer orders on time. Those that can’t will be forced to turn elsewhere in Asia to manufacture goods—or go out of business.
via China Factories Try Karaoke, Speed Dating to Keep Workers – WSJ.com.
