A home computer for every employee

The latest trend among organizations that want to foster a more computer literate workforce is the employee computer purchase program. Corporations, school districts and government agencies are negotiating deals with hardware vendors and ISPs that allow employees to purchase or lease a computer for home use at greatly discounted rates.

While some organizations view this simply as an employee benefit, other companies see the move as a strategic investment in creating a workforce for the Information Age.

Early this year, Ford Motor Company announced that eligible employees worldwide will be provided a computer, printer and Internet access at home for a nominal fee of $5 a month. Ford CEO and President Jac Nasser sees the benefits of such a plan. "This program keeps Ford Motor Company and our worldwide team at the leading edge of e-business technology and skills," Nasser says. "We're committed to serving customers better by understanding how they think and act. Having a computer and Internet access in the home will accelerate the development of these skills, provide information across our business and offer opportunities to streamline our processes."

An employee purchase plan is also part of Delta Air Lines' Wired Workforce program. San Francisco PeoplePC is providing Delta employees with Hewlett-Packard desktops and IBM portable computers for use at home or on the road. "We want to give Delta people the opportunity to interact with their company in new and exciting ways," Delta Chairman, President and CEO Leo Mullin says. "We also believe these tools will help our employees to be well informed and more productive as they serve our customers."

Aetna U.S. Healthcare is taking the notion of an employee purchase program to another, even higher level. Aetna has agreements with Hewlettt-Packard and NetZero to give computer discounts and free Internet access to all physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and medical students in the U.S., in addition to all Aetna employees. The goal is to improve the quality of healthcare by allowing these professionals in the medical system to interact more efficiently, Aetna U.S. HealthCare's Chief Medical Officer Arthur Leibowitz, M.D., says.

If you're interested in establishing an employee purchase program, the good news is that you don't have to be a large global company like Ford, Delta or Aetna to do it. Dell offers plans to its corporate customers and preferred accounts with as few as 400 employees. If you set up such a program through Dell, an employee can simply log on to Dell's Web site, enter the company name and an employee ID number, and order a computer system from among the choices your organization has selected.

HP, Compaq, IBM and Gateway offer similar programs to their preferred accounts. Talk to your account representative about how you can set up a customized plan for your employees.

The costs of providing an employee purchase program vary widely, depending on the level of investment that you, as an employer, want to make. Your company could set up a basic discount purchase program, requiring no investment of company dollars.

At the other end of the spectrum, you may choose to subsidize the program to provide significant savings to employees. American Airlines, for example, is investing $15 million over the next three years to subsidize the cost of computers, printers, and Internet and intranet access to its employees. This program is expected to benefit 100,000 American Airlines employees.

These programs have corporate advantages as well. Many companies today use employee purchase programs to outfit employees' home computers with applications specific to the company. Some provide access to the corporate intranet, e-mail mail and human resource programs, for example. Allowing people to access company resources at home can lead to greater overall productivity.

Linda Musthaler is vice president of Currid & Company, a Houston-based information technology assessment company. You can reach her by e-mail at linda@currid.com.

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