The response of the venerable Ford Motor Company to a report by Marketplace, which revealed that some employees at Ford’s Chongqing assembly plant might have bribed their way into the company, is a little like that of Captain Renault in Casablanca who was “shocked, shocked” to discover gambling in Rick’s Café Americain.
Ford issued a statement saying: “We take these allegations very seriously and have initiated an investigation. Any behaviour that violates our policies, such as the alleged behaviour, would result in immediate dismissal.”
In other words: “Round up the usual suspects.”
I suppose it is possible that Ford managers were unaware of the problem but the fact that some workers in China are paying cash for good positions at major corporations really should not come as a surprise to anyone. Back in the good old days of state-owned enterprises, which provided employees with an “iron rice bowl” (a secure job and welfare benefits for life), it was almost standard practice to pay to get your foot in the door.
Today, there are fewer and fewer opportunities to get a good job with benefits at a SOE; most positions have already been outsourced to employment agencies (劳务派遣公司). As such, major foreign-invested enterprises, which often pay good wages and decent benefits, are seen by many job seekers as an attractive option.
It should be pointed out here that we are not talking about low-skilled, production line jobs. The vast majority of manufacturers in China are still struggling to recruit and retain enough low-skilled workers to keep their production lines running at full speed. The positions people are willing to pay cash for must offer something better.
As one worker told Marketplace, the practice is most common in “the most coveted jobs at the company like the quality control department.” The worker added:
I know one person who paid 5,000 yuan to get a job here but then he was assigned to work in the welding workshop – a really tough job. He wanted to quit, but he had to stick around to earn back the bribe he had paid.
One reason, workers in Chongqing, in particular, are willing to pay for good jobs is that wages in this vast metropolis have always been a lot lower than in other major cities, especially places like Shanghai and Shenzhen. In a city where the minimum wage is just 1,250 yuan per month, a job at Ford that reportedly pays 60,000 yuan per year, after overtime and bonuses, is certainly worth a down payment.
That said, wages in Chongqing are rising, and Ford is certainly not the only show in town. So the incentive for workers to bribe their way in might not be as strong as it used to be. Indeed Marketplace reported that the practice may already be in decline.
Perhaps the next target gift-bearing job seekers in China will be start-up companies. A new survey of university students in China showed that just 21 percent of students now wanted to work for an international company after they graduate, down from 38 percent in 2013. However, students wanting to work for a start-up increased from six percent in 2013 to 18 percent this year.