Last week, in Google’s Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm, I mentioned Google’s turnover was only 4%. This is the context within which I thought that was impressive: O Googlers, where art thou? by Verne Kopytoff:
For Google, the departures present a new hurdle. Enticing as many old-timers to stay as possible is a priority because, with each farewell party, a piece of the company’s institutional knowledge and culture is lost. “We take a lot of time and care, in particular with our old-timers,” said Stacy Sullivan, Google’s human resources director. “It’s so important that we are paying attention to whether they’re being challenged.”
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Google’s initial public offering immediately minted more than 900 millionaires at the company, by one estimate. Even many rank-and-file employees became instantly wealthy. The total has grown over time as its shares have catapulted in value. Financial freedom gave the former Googlers in this article wide latitude in deciding what to do with their lives. The reasons for leaving are many: Alack of new challenges, ambivalence about the company’s growth and a desire for a career change are just a few.
Google was named the best place to work in America (this is a horrible web site by the way - forcing a new click for about every sentence of info).
January 10th, 2007 at 9:28 am
This was a major problem at Dell Computer (Dell Inc. - they changed their name like Apple just did) back in 1999 or so. The “Dellionaires”, many of them were still working. We called them “volunteers” because they didn’t need to be there. Managing and working with Dellionaires meant some managers had to act differently because you didn’t want to make someone mad — they’d maybe stomp out and take their knowledge with them.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we treated ALL employees that way???