Google Comes Up With Algorithm to Stop Brain Drain
The Mountain View giant, Google, became concerned about the fact the several of its executives left the company. In order to stop losing talents, the number one search engine decided to come up with an algorithm that would identify employees that are more likely to quit.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google developed the algorithm due to the fact that it was "concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete".
The company analyzed information from the reviews of its employees as well as from their promotion and pay histories. The goal was to identify among 20,000 workers, those who are more likely to quit the company, the newspaper wrote.
Laszlo Bock, who is responsible for running human resources department at Google, mentioned that the algorithm served as a tool that the company used to "get inside people's heads even before they know they might leave". The Wall Street Journal said that the Google was unwilling to share detailed information about the formula, which is currently in the testing stage. However, the its officials stated that they managed to identify a number of workers "who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving".
Several current and former workers mentioned some of the reasons why people left Google, including low pay compared to what they could earn elsewhere, too much bureaucracy, poor management, poor mentoring, and a long-lasting hiring process (more on why Google employees quit here ).
It is worth mentioning that some of the talented employees that left the company include: Tim Armstrong, who held the position of a senior vice president, leaving Google in March and becoming the head of AOL; display-advertising chief David Rosenblatt and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, who was responsible for Asia-Pacific and Latin America branches.
In addition, a number of other employees left Google for Facebook and Twitter. These are: the former lead designer for the company Doug Bowman, engineering director Steve Horowitz and search-quality chief Santosh Jayaram.
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//2 May 24, 2009 02:26 PM | posted by:
kudude63 [InfoTOT]
- I concur :)
- 0 votes
//1 May 21, 2009 02:11 AM | posted by: Oracle - This is just plain stupid: you don't need an algorithm to figure out why people quit, or even who will quit first. Just ask them! Are you still paying them as 3 years ago: yes, they will quit. You didn't promote them in 3 or 4 or 5 years: yes, they will quit. You cut their perks not increasing salary: yes, they will quit. Do you really need an algorithm to tell you that?
Google grew too fast and newcomers have no incentive to keep oldtimers around: make them leave and rule the jungle. Google doesn't award employees as other companies do: it is rare that one will ever get an inflationary salary adjustment. They also pay less than other companies, offering perks that can be cut with no notice. You can find people that got their PhD in 4 years, but couldn't get promoted at Google for longer than that. There is no career path. Engineers who joined Google this year are most likely going to be paid more than those who joined the company a year or two ago. New engineers might be given less stocks and options today but they tend to be given inflated titles they don't deserve. Bottom line is: if you are competent, know your thing and are treated this way, you will be stupid to stay with Google. Many smart engineers left, more will leave when economy improves. In this article they panic about management, but engineers leave as well.
