In the first UK deal of its kind
Powergen is offering a home PC and Internet connection to all its 5,000 UK
employees and their families.
Powergen is investing £2million in
the Clicks @ Home programme that will allow employees to lease – and after
three years own – a PC for just £8 a month.
Steve Williams, Powergen’s HR
director, said the initiative would help the company’s workforce become more
comfortable in using e-technology at work.
He explained, “We believe that
although Powergen has made strides in the UK in terms of business development,
over the last few years the company has not fully embraced the web. We need to
take a number of steps so we can say we are a bricks and clicks company and not
just a bricks and mortar organisation.
“Essentially we are hoping that by
encouraging our staff to use the web at home they will start thinking about the
web first when they are at work.
“I hope that in future when we start
to change a process which is currently paper based we will look at ways of
using the web instead.”
Williams believes that employees
will be more likely to come up with web-based ideas for improving the business
as they become more confident and knowledgeable.
The Powergen home PC initiative,
which is being run in conjunction with People PC, will also enable employees to
benefit from the firm’s new HR information system, so they can do their
expenses and receive pay slips via the Internet.
Williams said Powergen had appointed
a director of business transformation, whose job it is to ensure the company
effectively harnesses the power of the Internet.
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