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| 2009/5/19-26 [Computer/Companies/Google] UID:53016 Activity:nil |
5/18 Google to identify criminals before they commit a crime^H^H^H^^H
employees before they leave:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html
\_ http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/05/google_algorithm_lusts_to_read_its_employees_minds.php
\_ Why would any Googler want to leave? It's the BEST place to
work at. Everyone is happy. NO ONE ever says anything bad about
Google. Those who do, usually don't last long anyways. Here,
drink some coolaide and join the party!
\_ Koolaid
\_ Cuilaid
\_ Googlaid
\_ Go g't laid. |
| 5/25 |
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| online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html This service is temporary unavailable due to system maintenance. The username entered is already associated with another account. Please enter a different username The email address you have entered is already in use. is tackling the problem with its typical tool: an algorithm. The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit. Google officials are reluctant to share details of the formula, which is still being tested. The inputs include information from surveys and peer reviews, and Google says the algorithm already has identified employees who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving. Digits: Internet Archive Founder Questions Google Books Settlement Applying a complex equation to a basic human-resource problem is pure Google, a company that made using heavy data to drive decisions one of its "Ten Golden Rules" outlined in 2005. Edward Lawler, director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California, said Google is one of a few companies that are early in taking a more quantitative approach to personnel decisions. "They are clearly ahead of the curve, but a lot of companies are waking up to the fact that there is a lot of modeling that can provide you with critical data on human capital," Mr Lawler said. Associated Press Current and former Googlers said the company is losing talent because some employees feel they can't make the same impact as the company matures. The move is one of a series Google has made to prevent its most promising engineers, designers and sales executives from leaving at a time when its once-powerful draws -- a start-up atmosphere and soaring stock price -- have been diluted by its growing size. The data crunching supplements more traditional measures like employee training and leadership meetings to evaluate talent. 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. 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. Meanwhile, midlevel employees like lead designer Doug Bowman, engineering director Steve Horowitz and search-quality chief Santosh Jayaram continue to decamp to hot start-ups like Facebook Inc. " -- Gregory Lynn Current and former Googlers said the company is losing talent because some employees feel they can't make the same impact as the company matures. Several said Google provides little formal career planning, and some found the company's human-resources programs too impersonal. "They need to come up with ways to keep people engaged," said Valerie Frederickson, a Silicon Valley personnel consultant who has worked with former Google employees. "If Google was doing this enough, they wouldn't be losing all these people." Google spokesman Matt Furman said the chance to contribute to "constant and often amazing innovation" keeps employees engaged. The company is determined to retain top product managers and engineers. Google wouldn't say how many people have left, but says it has managed to hang on to its most important staffers. "We haven't seen the most critical people leave," Mr Bock said. com Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B1 Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Video Games + Members: 1 + Topics: 1 From iPhone apps to the Xbox and Wii, this is the place to discuss video games and the video game industry. Chat about consoles, PC and mobile games, companies and new technology. The Journal Community encourages thoughtful dialogue and meaningful connections between real people. We require the use of your full name to authenticate your identity. The quality of conversations can deteriorate when real identities are not provided. |
| business.theatlantic.com/2009/05/google_algorithm_lusts_to_read_its_employees_minds.php Derek Thompson Google's New Algorithm Can Read Employees' Minds It's not enough that Google troll every corner of the Internet, turn itself into a universal library, and read through your email to pepper your Inbox with relevant advertising. Google has become a behemoth during a recession, a double whammy because not only are profits thinning but also it's ceding the start-up atmosphere, which draws the best tech minds, to sites like Hulu and Twitter. "talent exodus" as middle-level employees and top execs have hit the road to join greener ears in greener pastures. So Google turned to what it does best: an algorithm that seek to be all-knowing. It is, the Wall Street Journal reports, in the process of developing a code that synthesizes employee surveys, promotions and pay to estimate which employees are most likely to quit the company. The purpose of the algorithm is to anticipate their best employees' dissatisfaction, before their idle thumb-twirling begets a few extra-long lunch breaks and a drawn out process that ends with an all-company email that ends "It's time to move on." The company hopes that, with enough pre-warning, it can keep potentially dissasisfied workers from ever feeling that they were potentially dissatisfied. This might turn out to be controversial in some corners, but frankly it's seems like a great idea for all sides involved. If Google could somehow build a scalable algorithm to anticipate employee satisfaction, it would help employers understand who to push harder or who's likely feeling underused enough to tackle an important long-term project. For employees who might feel embarrassed or otherwise reluctant to complain about workload, the algorithm would speak for them. But there have been days when I wished my boss could read my glazed eyes as a prayer for a real assignment. And if Google can turn those bosses into Miss Cleo, I say Bravo. May 19, 2009 6:14 PM Twitter is a pretty typical Silicon Valley start-up, but Hulu? From Wikipedia: "Hulu is a joint venture of NBC Universal (GE) and Fox Entertainment Group (News Corp), with funding by Providence Equity Partners, which made a US$100 million equity investment and holds a 10% stake. On April 30, 2009 it was announced that ABC, Inc (Disney) would take a 27% stake in the venture, joining NBC and Fox." Start-up or collaboration between the largest media companies in the world to control delivery of their content over the internet? Comments (You may use HTML tags for style) By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although The Atlantic does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule. Elizabeth Warren and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Utterly Misleading Bankruptcy Study Elizabeth Warren has another study out showing that medical expenses contribute to more than half of all bankruptcies--indeed, this time, it's 70%, up from the 50% she found in 2001. Maybe the US Isn't So Innovative, After All BusinessWeek economist Michael Mandel has a bummer of a piece arguing that as much as the United States likes to think of itself as the world's eureka machine, maybe we're not as clever as we thought. The New Deal and Conservative Businessmen Kim Phillips-Fein, author of "Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan," on business and the origins of the modern conservative movement... |