I was delighted and dismayed to read how Google Inc. is attempting to solve the retention problem it currently faces (see the article by Scott Morrison at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124269038041932531.html). I was delighted that the company is using evidence to inform human capital decisions. Many companies are resigned to an approach of using best practices, guesswork, or punctuated events to drive decisions when it comes to their people. I was dismayed to learn that they are using purely mathematical approaches to assign a number to employees to identify their risk of leaving.

In my delight I am reminded of Peter Drucker, who said “what’s measured, improves”. This may resonate with you too, as your experiences have likely proved this out many times. It is true for me because those things that I measure: get my attention, tell me where I am, and let me know if I am improving. I am confident in my decisions when I know they are based on measures. Based on Google’s “Ten Golden Rules”, having and using measurements is important to them also. I am confident they will be paying a great deal of attention to who is identified as a “retention risk” by their algorithm.

In my dismay, I am reminded of Abraham Maslow, who said “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”  I did not understand this for quite a bit of my early years. I suppose that is so because, when I was young, I knew it all. Upon reflection, this concept pointed to my own bias as a limitation to seeing problems and solutions from different perspectives. As an economist,  I tend to see solutions in terms of markets, price, and demand. Google is a search engine shop, so they tend to see things as algorithms and rankings. I am curious if employees have an opinion on the ranking algorithms that are being developed to describe them?

There is a better way to solve the problem of key talent retention at Google. This solution was not invented by Google or me. The solution is to ask employees what it would take for them to chose to stay with Google for a long time, and then the management team should do something about it. Yes, simple employee research is the solution; employee research, responsibly designed with both measurable quantitative dimensions, and informative and actionable qualitative dimensions. The ability to track the observations, preferences, and expectations of employees over time provides valuable insight for determining actions, and the effects of actions, for effective management.  If you know enough about the problem you are trying to solve, the solution is obvious.

I commend Google for attempting to solve its employee retention challenge; and caution them to remember that not every person is a nail.

Bob Davis
Senior Vice President, The Work Institute
615.777.6400
Email: bobdavis@workinstitute.com