The number of unpaid licenses skyrocketed and nearly 3,000 employees of Wangbaocheng, a shoemaker, were affected |

According to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Labor on the 20th, there are currently 636 unlicensed employers in Taiwan, and the number of affected workers has exceeded 15,000.

Liu Shihao, deputy minister of the Labor Ministry, noted in the Legislative Yuan investigation that the impact of the epidemic on China’s economy and employment has begun to show. The subsequent impact cannot be ignored and the data can rapidly increase. However, the industry reported that unpaid leave is a one-quarter cycle. If the industry believes that the situation will slow down later, the unpaid license will be canceled.

Currently, media sources have noted that, for example, the Baocheng Group, a world leader in shoe manufacturing, also plans to implement an unpaid leave starting in June in response to the pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan. Each person should take at least 6 days per month, and the impact is expected to exceed 3,000 people. And it can continue until the end of the year, in addition, the senior and senior vice president will also cut wages by 10%. What worries him most is that this is the first time the group has taken an unpaid leave since its inception.

According to the financial report, the Baocheng Group’s consolidated income in the first quarter of this year was only 59.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of around 22.4%, a new low in the past six years, and several companies have experienced a considerable decrease. According to Baocheng’s second report Quarterly orders decreased more than almost 50%, so the company has entered a full-fledged state. Under the unprecedented impact of the global retail industry, manufacturers are not immune. However, at present, the Baocheng Group only implements unpaid permits for Taiwanese factories and cadres, and there is no news of layoffs or frugality at foreign production sites.

However, the biggest challenge for foreign factories is the prevention of epidemics. For example, Vietnam and Indonesia, the largest production bases, have issued very strict epidemic prevention restrictions. Although Baocheng has made a significant commitment to distributing masks and disinfecting production lines, it must keep employees. The social distance of 2 meters is probably quite difficult on a labor intensive production line. Although Baocheng has actively invested in automation, the results have not been as rapid, and these plants account for almost 80% of their global production capacity.

According to the news, in addition to continuing to automate production lines in the future, Baocheng will likely abandon the strategy of large factories in the past. Of course, this is not easy. It will probably lose the effect of economies of scale. How to disperse the flow of people while maintaining the cost advantages? It will be a great management challenge.

(Source of the first image: shutterstock)

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