Henry Ford was the Foxconn of his day. When the average turnover at his factories dropped to 9 months because people would leave over low pay and bad work conditions to go work at another automaker, he implemented the $5 day. It roughly doubled pay for the workers at the time but it came with a cost. The workers had to have their home life inspected, couldn't be drunks, drug users or abusive to their spouses, their kids had to be in school - essentially he used the wage increase to give license to tighter screening of employees lives both at work and home.
It worked, productivity went up, lots of free press, and sales went up. The common belief was the raise was about the worker being able to buy his own car, but there was more to the story. I recommend "Wheels for the World" as an excellent book about this. http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-World-Company-Century-Progress/...
It worked, productivity went up, lots of free press, and sales went up. The common belief was the raise was about the worker being able to buy his own car, but there was more to the story. I recommend "Wheels for the World" as an excellent book about this. http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-World-Company-Century-Progress/...