Linking Home & Work Companies Are Finding Many Benefits By Providing Workers With Home Pcs

Janet Owens doesn’t mind a little homework. In December, she bought a second-hand computer from her employer, North Island Federal Credit Union, at a bargain-basement price of $150.

Now, she’s free to troll the Internet for research from her Ramona home, check e-mail or work on computer documents originated at her Chula Vista office.

“I haven’t had a computer at home before, so this is sufficient for my needs,” says Owens, the credit union benefits coordinator. She works a flex-schedule that allows her to work from her home one day a week. And, she doesn’t mind putting in extra hours at home.

This is the wired age, where communications technology has built a bridge from the job to the home. Like it or not, many workers now have access to their work from the spare bedroom or den in their homes.

When Ford Motor and Delta Air Lines recently announced that they would give free PCs to 422,000 of their employees, that might have signaled the big bang between cyberspace and workplace.

Many companies might not give their employees free computers, but they could follow the lead of North Island Federal Credit Union, which regularly replaces PCs after two years of use and allows employees to buy them at a modest price.

Philip Toshio Sudo, author of “Zen Computer” and an astute student of social interaction, thinks moves such as those by Ford and Delta and the merger of America Online with Time Warner are signs of a significant shift in our vision.

“It’s like everybody decided that the 21st century has begun, and let’s get the ball rolling,” Sudo says.

Sudo believes Ford’s motivation is linked to history. In the early days of Ford, founder Henry Ford boosted wages of assembly line workers so they would have the financial wherewithal to buy the very cars built in their factories.

“We don’t know how many of these workers can’t afford a computer, and now they will be in those homes for the first time and families will have access to them,’ says Sudo. “This could help a lot of lower-income kids in their studies and later when they enter the work world.”

Studies already have shown that access to computers is important to the education of children, according to Phillip Gay, a professor of sociology at San Diego State University.

The chief executive of the San Francisco company that is supplying both Ford and Delta with PCs and other computer peripherals calls that one of the biggest benefits of these programs.

“I think these companies are very sincere and have taken an incredible leadership position in acknowledging that a home computer is not just nice, but essential in today’s economy,” says Nick Grouf of PeoplePC. “If your children don’t have access to a computer, they don’t learn the skills many jobs require, and they are eliminated from a segment of the job opportunities when they go looking for work.”

Ford and Delta seemed to have sparked interest by their bold moves, says Ann McGrath, spokeswoman for Hewlett-Packard, which will provide Ford with 350,000 PCs.

“There was such resounding applause to it, other companies suddenly got interested in this,” she says. “I think you’re going to be seeing many more deals come up.”

The dark side of this technological home-invasion, however, is still a matter of debate.

Some fear the real reason companies are giving away PCs is because they expect their employees to continue their work during unpaid hours.

“It could be seen as a tightening of control,” Gay says. “When the company can send you messages at home, you are faced with responding to the company’s messages and dictates immediately.