Eight months after Ford distributed computers free of cost to over 350,000 employees, and gave them access to the internet at $5 a month, two other major automobile companies, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, are to offer hundreds of thousands of US employees heavily-subsidised access to the internet. This is part to the companies' efforts to step up electronic communications with their respective workforces.

Under the new plan disclosed by the two companies, the US salaried and hourly employees of the two companies will be able to choose either America Online's internet service, for a cost of $3 a month, or the AOLTV service, which also provide internet services with the addition of a set-top box, for $5 a month.

Besides helping employees gain regular internet access, the companies will also use Workscape technology (in which both companies have an undisclosed equity stake) to up specific employee portals, through which corporate communications and information - for example, on healthcare issues - can be channelled.

The GM/DaimlerChrysler initiative moved away from providing computers for the employees because a survey of the employees showed that more than three-quarters already had personal computers and virtually all had televsions.

The companies believed that the cost of providing their employees with this facility will be offset by savings from the declining use of traditional communications tools. The scheme will start next year, and could eventually be extended to Canadian employees.