Medical, Dental, Vision, and RAM
By Cheryl Currid
Forget the 401K, just give employees some bandwidth and a free PC. All right, I'm half kidding—keep the 401K, but consider the PC. With a tight labor market and the increasing need for a computer literate work force, companies have begun distributing free (or heavily discounted) PCs to their employees.
Several large companies—like Delta and American Airlines, Ford, and Intel—have already used technology incentives for hundreds of thousands of employees. Each company aims to keep good employees who can take advantage of technology at home. By beefing up benefits packages with technology, the company supplies a great fringe benefit that also helps make each employee more valuable. Employees with access to stable home computers know more about the programs they use and often work at home in their free time.
In early February, Delta Airlines announced it would offer employees a computer and color printer for $12 per month for 36 months. American Airlines followed suit in March, announcing that its employees could get a PC package or laptop upgrade for $12 per month as well. Ford offered PCs, printers, and Internet connections for $5 a month to its 360,000-person work force.
As generous as these deals may be, Intel's is among the best so far. Intel's president Craig Barrett says, "We want our employees and their families to participate fully in the Internet revolution. An Internet-savvy work force supports our mission to be the preeminent building-block supplier to the worldwide Internet economy."
In July 2000, the company will start handing out well-equipped Pentium III systems with large disk drives, extra memory, and Intel desktop video cameras.
