Google (GOOG) Tackles The Brain Drain Worry

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece on how Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is attacking the brain drain problem at Google. Google wants to keep its talented employees and to do that it is looking to use its ability to crunch data to help improve internal operations at Google.

Google recently began crunching data from employee reviews, promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula that Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit.

Google officials are not willing to reveal the details of the formula, which is still undergoing testing to perfect the process. However, the inputs include information from surveys and peer reviews, and GOOG says the data crunching has identified employees who felt underused, a key complaint among those who consider leaving Google.

The move is one of a series Google has made to prevent its most promising engineers, designers and sales executives from leaving as new start-ups try to attract top Google talent. Additionally, as Google has grown in size, the employee option pool has also been diluted.

Google's algorithm helps the company "get inside people's heads even before they know they might leave," said Laszlo Bock, who runs human resources for the company, told the WSJ.

Concerns about a talent exodus have revived in recent weeks amid the departures of top executives, including advertising sales boss Tim Armstrong and display-advertising chief David Rosenblatt. M

Google would not tell the WSJ how many people have left, but says it has managed to hang on to its key employees. "We haven't seen the most critical people leave," Mr. Bock said.

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