On Feb. 28^th, 2012, the research report of “On the path to their truth” - a study in six Chinese factories listening to the voices of young migrant workers was released significantly in the city of Beijing, which was carried out by the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) and the Center for Child Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility (CCR CSR), especially gaining support from the CSR Center at the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing.

 

Anders Wollter, Embassy of Sweden, Zhang Li, Vice President of China National textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Zhang Junfeng, Deputy Director of Institute for International Labour and Information Studies, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Yan Yan, Deputy Director of Office for Social Responsibility of CNTAC, Britta Ostrom, Director of CCR CSR, and some other relatively government officials and professional experts representatives attended the release conference.  

 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2009 there were 230 million migrant workers in China. Of them, more than 100 million are the so-called “new generation”. In Beijing, in June 2010, Premier Wen Jiabao met with some representatives of the young migrant workers and urged that “government officials and all members of society should treat young migrants as their own children”, representing that the central government in China has gradually focuses on the lives of these young people.   

 

Britta Ostrom, executive director of CCR CSR, said: “The aim of this study was to hear from the young workers themselves how they perceive their lives, specifically their work situations, and listen to their dreams and aspirations. We hope this information will help us to develop suitable tools for employers to better understand and enhance communication with their young workers, which will in turn lead to better management strategies.”

 

According to the Report, the initial aim was to reach the youngest workers, those aged 16-20, in order to better understand their aspirations and motivations. However, according to the investigation in the six factories, it turned out that most of those featured in the study are aged 18 – 22. The youngsters are often referred to as the ‘new generation’ as they are considered to be different to their parents, the first generation of migrant workers. Furthermore, these young people move to the cities but few have the intention of returning to the family village (although some want to return to their township or county), unlike their parents who wanted to save up as much money as they could before going back to the countryside. In addition, the ‘new’ generation is a moving workforce, often entering a factory for a short period of time then seeking new opportunities elsewhere. These young workers follow friends when they hear about a better workplace or simply move because they are curious and want to explore new places.

 

From the employer point of view, labor shortages in some factories have been reported and managers also face challenges recruiting and retaining workers. As the number of young workers has continued to increase and has changed the overall age structure in factories, this new generation has gradually become one of the important factors for sustainable business development.

 

So that in the study it became clear that really understanding this new group of young workers could help employers attract and retain them and therefore create a sustainable workforce.

 

The study was carried out from July to October 2011 in six factories in Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Gansu and Guangdong. Four were textiles factories in the coastal region and two were food and beverage factories inland. The ratio of young workers in the factories was high; for example, in one factory in Guangdong, the young workforce made up 80% of the total workers.

 

What makes the study unique is the youth-centered, participatory approach: several young workers were employed as researchers and interviewers. After receiving basic training on research methodologies and tools, they went into factory production and living areas themselves, recording the daily lives of their friends and co-workers and learning about their thoughts and aspirations. This method was helpful to ensure that the young workers offered their opinions and ideas in a more open and relaxed manner.

 

Although most young workers involved in the survey have worked for less than three years, 20.2% have already changed jobs once, 33% have changed jobs twice and 20.7% have changed jobs three times. Only 26.3% have had just one position. Those who have family or relatives in the same factory tend to move around less.

 

Through the interviews carried out it was seen that workers have many different expectations and interpretations of the meaning of work. Some defined it as a means of supporting themselves while others talked of how it would reduce the burden on the family, broaden the mind or allow money to be saved for the future, perhaps to start a business with. Many said that being employed is a temporary strategy while considering other options.

 

Workers are often introduced to a factory by family members, neigbours or friends. Before taking a job they consider various factors including salary, the chance to learn new skills and living and working conditions. If there are significant differences between salary and expectations, it would lead to frequent moves in the search for something better. This explains why many youngsters have little sense of belonging to a community.

 

The quality of the work itself is considered important as well as initiative and efficiency being recognized by managers. Important attributes of ‘good’ work include: 1) if the work suits them; 2) if they can learn different production procedures instead of just doing monotonous and very repetitive work; 3) flexible working hours to enable them to properly accomplish the task; 4) no need to work overtime.

 

Although having a fair and satisfying salary/benefits is the main reason for young workers to stay in a particular workplace, a caring and friendly working environment is also important. And the general wish for those young workers is to have a sound and fair management and working environment.

 

“We have become robots and I don’t want to be a robot who only works with machines.” Those are the words of one of the workers involved in the study. Others described their feelings about work using words like “annoyance”, “boredom” and “depression”. Only 36, or 8.6%, of the workers involved in the study indicated they feel “comfortable” at work.

 

Most of the factories adopt a piece-rate salary system. Many workers work extra hours in the evening and return to the dormitory around 8:30pm, sometimes later. They easily feel stressed and tired due to the long hours and the monotonous work. More importantly, the youngsters are working with machines and materials most of the time rather than communicating with others. Many workers say they become “numb” over time. Much of their free time during evenings and weekends is spent sleeping, talking to friends, watching TV or surfing the internet. Sometimes they go shopping or have a meal together.  Generally, they consider leisure activities to be boring, monotonous and meaningless.

 

The research found that the young workers think self-esteem is important and they long for the independence to manage their own lives. They wish to have free time and their own space, and not only act in accordance with requests from others. They want to find someone to love, have a happy family and settle down in a city. They don’t want to get married too early or have more than one or two children. They say they won’t educate their children the way their parents educated them; many of them were left in villages while their parents went away to work, and they do not want to do this to their own children. They also want to be able to communicate more effectively with their children than their parents did with them.

 

Overall, this is the first generation with aspirations reaching beyond a better material life; they are searching for a good quality of life.

 

They come up against management models driven by strategies which are traditional and inadequate to meet the demands of a generation with different aspirations and dreams.

 

Management mechanisms are adopted which serve the needs of production but do not fully understand the relationship between efficiency and a satisfied workforce. Strategies focus mainly on outcome and quantity and neglect the feelings and needs of workers.

 

The young workers are often graduates of junior high school but a significant number only finished primary school, making them less competitive in the labor market and therefore not in a strong position to negotiate salaries. They are willing but not qualified enough to learn new technical skills. This prevents them becoming professional technicians and/or getting a supervisory position. They are caught in a vicious circle as they can’t access training offered by the government and social organizations and lack feasible strategies to improve their skills.

 

Managers are local residents, sometimes would cause conflict; the migrant workers often live with a sense of being discriminated against due to their different place of birth.

 

Young workers have limited opportunities to contribute and be involved and many complain that their opinions are not valued. This may be due to limited access to channels to articulate their thoughts. The researchers noticed that few young workers realize their right to be listened to and therefore have little idea of how to articulate their opinions.

 

Having a rural household registration has turned the young workers into a marginalized population in the cities, resulting in a poor sense of belonging and numerous difficulties accessing social services.

 

Often the youngsters live in communities where migrants concentrate, like a village within a city. Their living quarters are often isolated from local residents. They do not have many links with the cities they live in and often consider themselves just workers and unimportant passengers instead of valuable city residents.

 

A lack of family support can lead to isolation. 25% of young male workers and 31.4% of young female workers were, as children, left behind at home while their parents migrated to cities for work. This has led to many feelings of loneliness. A long period of insufficient family support has hindered many young workers from developing skills such as expressing emotions and establishing and maintaining close relationships. This has made some workers distrustful with a sense of “I don’t care because no one cares about me”.

 

The young workers yearn for love but have trouble finding partners because of a narrow social network; being separated from urban communities and residents, they can only choose partners from within their own group. They long for permanent relationships but have difficulty being truly committed because of job instability.

 

The following recommendations are put forward for enterprises to improve their management strategies, with the purpose to understand the characteristics of young workers, harmonize the relationship between management and young workers and give full play to the latter’s creativity and willingness to contribute, which would be helpful to create a win-win situation and resolve labor shortages and challenges in management:

l       Recruit workers with respect

Carry out an interview or a respectful ‘talk’ with the young potential employee before the decision to employ is taken. Give proper information about the job and be honest about expectations, possibilities and limitations so the worker can make an informed decision from the start.

l         Develop a staff scheme to win trust and give a sense of being cared for

Young workers migrate with dreams. The first few months are the most difficult and they are in need of continuous support during this acute transition period. Firms could develop support schemes for new staff to get acquainted to the working environment and life in the factory. It could entail the establishment of support groups to enhance communication and activities between young and older workers and provide young workers with opportunities to ask questions and become better informed.

l         Develop friendly, understanding and trustworthy frontline managers

The direct supervisor seems to be a crucial person for a new young worker. They can listen to aspirations, meet the worker each day and become a kind of father/mother substitute. Such frontline managers are also responsible for implementing policies. It is important for firms to have administration strategies which are acceptable to young workers; such strategies will influence their lives and recognition of corporate culture.

l         Provide staff with more opportunities and methods to participate and contribute

Develop mechanisms to mobilize young workers to participate in daily activities; encourage and help them to organize cultural and leisure activities and get involved in community activities; regard young workers as vibrant and creative people rather than treat them as troublemakers who should be managed by authoritative models and strict rules.

l         Enhance relationships between firm and local communities; help young workers to integrate into society to improve their quality of life

Firms should take the lead linking young workers with local groups like the China Youth League or All-China Women’s Federation. Managers could also encourage workers to take part in community activities and do voluntary work to improve interaction with local communities. Such activities may help to improve the image of workers among local residents who will learn more about the ‘new’ generation and hopefully accept them as valuable members of the community.

 

“The study report is a comprehensive, detailed and in-depth analysis of the findings. We believe it will help stakeholders further understand the opinions and feelings of young migrant workers. It will also help them to explore practical ideas on how to set up and manage people-orientated workplaces and stimulate discussions about corporate social responsibility by employers and government departments. The study will therefore help to better protect the rights of young workers and promote the sustainable and sound development of industry,” expressed Sun Ruizhe, Vice President of CNTAC and Director of the Office for Social Responsibility, CNTAC.