GM, Daimler-Chrysler to offer employees cheaper AOL services

From...

by Ben Hammer

(IDG) -- General Motors (GM) and Daimler-Chrysler executives announced Thursday that the companies will offer 300,000 U.S. employees cut-rate Internet access through AOL and AOL-TV and that the firms also will develop a joint Internet and human-relations portal for employees.

Two of the Big Three automakers and the United Auto Workers union worked together to offer three special pricing options:

- Employees can subscribe to standard AOL access for $3 a month rather than the usual $21.95 per month;

- they can subscribe to AOL-TV interactive television for $5 per month;

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- or they can sign up for both AOL-TV and DirecTV satellite TV service for $31.95 a month.

GM will offer the plan to 200,000 employees, Daimler-Chrysler to 100,000.

Employee human-relations Web site developer Workscape will work with AOL, Sun Microsystems (SUNW) and Netscape to develop an Internet gateway that will give employees participating in the new initiative access to company and personal information. That site also will feature finance, health and leisure channels, as well as company news, benefits information and employee development tools. Workscape is based in Reston, Va.

Rapidly advancing technology and long-term economic gains inspired the initiative, the companies say. With the Internet and other high-tech developments pushing the economy to new highs for more than five years, many companies have invested in advancing employees' technology skills in an effort to keep the economy going. It is widely believed that providing employees with Net access at home helps them learn skills they can apply at work.

Another motive for GM and Daimler-Chrysler's move is that the economic gains that have resulted from technology create a tighter labor pool, requiring employers to offer more benefits to attract and retain employees.

"It's absolutely necessary that our employees have access to the Internet," said Jim Holden, Daimler-Chrysler president and CEO. "The bottom line is this: The world is moving incredibly fast and the Internet is moving faster, and we must have a workforce that keeps up."

Thursday's news is not the first announcement by a major U.S. company or automaker that it would give away computer-related technology to its workforce.

In February, Ford announced that it would essentially give home computers and Internet access to 350,000 employees, at an estimated annual cost of $100 million. The next day, Delta Airlines announced a similar plan.

Although both GM and Daimler-Chrysler will subsidize AOL memberships, the companies expect that the initiative ultimately will save more in training-related costs than will be spent on wiring their employees, executives at both companies said Thursday. GM also will be able to add some subscribers to its DirectTV satellite TV subsidiary. For its part, AOL will gain publicity, not to mention members, especially for its AOL-TV venture, which has attracted far fewer subscribers than the online giant expected.

GM and Daimler-Chrysler employees who sign up for standard AOL access will begin to receive it at the special price in the first quarter. Those that elect for AOL-TV or the dual AOL-TV and DirectTV package will have their service begin in the second quarter. Executives of both companies said they will look into expanding the AOL program to employees outside the U.S. once it is up and running here.

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