To her surprise, Soima’s performance met with thunderous applause from her co-workers. After that there was no stopping her: she joined the staff art troupe and got an enthusiastic reception at the company’s Spring Festival Gala Night. From then on, Soima not only put her broken heart behind her, but became more confident too.

Jin Rongqiu remarks that, compared with the old generation of migrant workers, the new generation is better educated, more capable of learning new technology and quicker to get the hang of advanced equipment. However, in her view, their stamina is lower. Most have had a reasonably cushy life before this, so they have had no schooling in endurance or resilience. Setbacks encountered in their work or emotional life take on enormous proportions, resulting in despair and maybe even extreme behavior. This, Jin says, is precisely why the center was set up.

Peng Ruilin, chief counselor of Shanghai Shenguang Psychological Counseling Center, told China Today that some young people go into factory work straight after graduating from a secondary technical school or vocational school, while yet teenagers. Depression or anxiety disorders arise due to difficulties in adapting to the work, or in their interpersonal relations. Perhaps the example of the Kangnai Group can teach us something.

Social Responsibilities

Improving the working environment, enriching leisure hours and paying attention to the psychological health of employees are basic social responsibilities for enterprises.

European and North American corporations began to focus on corporate responsibility in the 1980s when globalization was hitting its stride. Some famous companies paid the price of ignoring their social responsibilities. Levis was the first to blink into the glare of hostile media spotlights when stories emerged that its contract manufacturers in Southeast Asia employed child labor. The news triggered worldwide criticism of the famous Levis brand but other trans-national companies soon encountered similar “sweatshop labor” accusations.

The shift in generations is marked by new concepts and values regarding work: whereas the older workers saw “work as a livelihood,” the younger generations embrace the notion that “work should be fun,” seeing it as a fulfillment of one’s personal values.

Liang Xiaohui, chief researcher, Social Responsibility Office, China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), told China Today of similar cases in the 1990s, in the factories of coastal southeast China. A number of operators of process-trade textile factories were so obsessed with profit margins that they neglected their responsibilities to employees and consumers.

“In 2005 CNTAC issued CSC9000T and CSR-GATES which were China’s first guideline documents and system standard relating to corporate social responsibility.” Liang added that the norms provided the textile and garment industry with an effective approach to social development through economic means.

Liang also states that under the direction of the CSR-GATES, more and more businesses are attaching importance to these responsibilities, and seeing the benefits of building up a good company image in the international supply chain.

On the subject of social responsibility Adfaith’s Song Kechun indicates that a major change in the age distribution of the industrial labor force should not be overlooked. The largest group was composed of those born in the 1960s and 1970s, but they are giving way to those born in the1980s and 1990s. The shift in generations is marked by new concepts and values regarding work: whereas the older workers saw “work as a livelihood,” the younger generations embrace the notion that “work should be fun,” seeing work as a fulfillment of one’s personal values. Corporate motivation mechanisms should be modified to reflect these trends and make across-the-board changes to improve wages, employee benefits and opportunities for career progression.

In the view of Prof. Zhou Xiaozheng of Renmin University, Chinese enterprises are facing a steep change. In industrial upgrading, certain social factors are key – creating a good working environment so one can live and work with dignity, increasing the statutory minimum wage, and establishing mechanisms for pay negotiations. So to quote Premier Wen Jiabao, “Let the sunshine of fairness and justice light up every soul.”