FRAMINGHAM, MA, November 16, 2001 - Workscape, Inc., the nation's leading provider of Internet-based Human Capital Management (HCM) software and services, announced that it's flagship technology, Employee.com is being used by General Motors Corp (GM) to power the largest employee portal in the world. The phased rollout of GM's mySocrates Internet site is to be completed by mid-December and will enable 180,000 U.S. hourly and salaried GM employees to instantaneously and securely view personal benefits information, use applications that affect their work and lives, access company resources and content, and utilize links with dozens of GM's internal and external vendors.
"GM's application of Workscape's Employee.com technology represents a major shift in the way corporate America is addressing the needs of its employees." said Tim Clifford, Workscape President and CEO, "The GM workforce will have access to a platform that includes a "my site" that will help them balance the demands of work and life, anytime, anywhere. This will have positive effects on both the quality and quantity of the work GM employees perform, and the information they receive and share. Using our Employee.com platform, employees can navigate quickly and seamlessly through work processes, and can manage life events confidentially, accurately and conveniently."
"This site allows employees to utilize the tools and information they need, when they need them," said Troy Clarke, GM vice president of labor relations. The GM workforce will be now able to perform self-service work applications in a few seconds-from work or home-rather than the many minutes usually required using a call center or manually filling out forms and searching for policies. This is especially significant in a large organization like GM, where vast amounts of important information is maintained in many different systems, databases and applications. The workforce will be given role-specific information that is uniquely personalized to each employee.
"This initiative not only furthers our goal of having a Web-savvy work force," said Katy Barclay, GM vice president of global human resources. "It enhances our employees' lives, removing the constraints of time, creating connectivity in place of distance, and perhaps most importantly, strengthens and personalizes the relationship between employees and GM. Reducing structural costs associated with traditional one-to-one and paper based transactions is another benefit of mySocrates. For example, the cost of a customer representative at a GM call center is somewhere between $1.50 and $2.00 for each minute the customer service representative is on the phone. In comparison, the cost of obtaining information or providing transactions on the web is less than $.05 per minute. Obviously, the more transactions completed online at $.05 per minute will save significant dollars over time, versus $1.50 - $2.00/minute," Barclay said.
"Clearly, what has happened at GM is revolutionary. We are changing the way employees work, think and communicate. The powerful technology that GM is supplying to its workforce will improve productivity and help them balance the demands of both work and life." said Tim Clifford.
About Workscape
Workscape builds Internet solutions for Human Capital Management (HCM) and employee benefits administration, which strengthen relationships among employers, employees, and HR suppliers. In addition to its award winning employee portal, the company develops HR self-service, workforce management, and other workplace e-commerce solutions that drive productivity gains and improve overall employee satisfaction. Workscape solutions have been deployed at over 300 major corporations representing almost 10 million employees worldwide. For more information, visit the company at www.workscape.com or call (888) 605-9620
About General Motors Corp.
General Motors (NYSE: GM), the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide. In 2000, GM earned $5 billion on sales of $183.3 billion, excluding special items. It employs about 363,000 people globally.
GM also operates one of the largest and most successful financial services companies, GMAC, which offers automotive, mortgage and business financing and insurance services to customers worldwide.
GM is investing aggressively in digital technology and e-business within its global automotive operations and through such initiatives as e-GM, GM BuyPower, OnStar and its Hughes Electronics Corp. (NYSE: GMH) subsidiary.
More information on General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.