The firm, which is widely reported to have up to or potentially over 1m staff globally, is quoted in the Guardian newspaper as saying it “has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process”, as a result of “an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past”.

The paper also notes that the company says the hiring slowdown is not due to any particular client, despite reports of a direct link to a slowdown in iPhone production.

The Financial Times reports that average worker tenure at the company is less than 13 months, meaning it would lose thousands of staff if it stopped hiring for a month.

• For more on the Chinese temporary labour market, see News Analysis in the last edition of Recruiter.