It doesn’t take an algorithm to figure out who is going to leave. People that feel underappreciated, bored, underpaid, etc (right or wrong) or think there is a better oppty elsewhere won’t last. High tech workers don’t usually last more than a few years at a company regardless of circumstances. Companies have very little loyalty to their workers, and vice versa. Google won’t be any different. They’ll have retention issues just like every other similar company.

And the goal is to solve this with more technology and less of the human touch? What I read here is employees crying out for some personal time and recognition of their efforts and contributions — more importantly, they don’t want just a pat on the back. They want to be told, specifically, how their efforts ARE making a tremendous impact.

This isn’t that difficult — strategic recognition is designed to accomplish precisely this by giving employees the appreciation they deserve while tying those efforts and recognitions to strategic objectives achieved. This line of sight combined with appreciation is what Google seems to need — not another algorithm.

More on this concept of line of sight and appreciation is available here: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/05/defining-employee-engagement-whats-your.html

Or Google could hire qualified supervisors who know something about their employees’ goals and career objectives (by actually talking to them). Nah, there’s nothing high-tech about that approach so it would never work.

What was I thinking?

It’s not rocket science.