3 ms·

I've never really seen retention risk tooling used for evil in the way that most HN readers seem to think it is; it's kind of interesting and eye-opening to me

by bri3d 3y ago

I've never really seen retention risk tooling used for evil in the way that most HN readers seem to think it is; it's kind of interesting and eye-opening to me to see the strong negative sentiment towards it. I've worked in management at companies with risk-based retention tools, and I've always seen them used as just that... retention tools. If anything, getting a high risk score as a high performer would usually be greatly in an employee's best interest, as it would be another justification to the higher-ups for a raise or better job assignment. To be clear, I'm personally generally against these kind of panopticon data-slurp initiatives overall, I'm just surprised that the initial reaction is so strongly "my manager will use this to fire me" when I've only ever seen the opposite.

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
I've never even heard of these tools before now, but my impression is the same as yours: the people they flag are more likely to be the kind of people that you want to keep.
t_mann 3y ago
The basic assumption at play here is that data about you that you don't control is likely going to end up being used against you, which I think isn't unreasonable. Flawed risk metrics, even if they are only used to benefit those who are flagged, may still turn out to be unfavorable for some employees (eg for the false negatives).
zug_zug 3y ago
Well the article is about glassdoor, which is where you write reviews. You better believe that if databrokers will buy information on whether you updated linked in that they'd also buy information on whether you gave the company a 1 star review. Heck, you can even post your salary to glassdoor, so maybe your next employer would buy that information so they know the least they could offer you.
nuancebydefault 3y ago
>"my manager will use this to fire me" For me it is more like: "my manager sees that I'm looking for a job", and I really rather tell him that I will be leaving, as soon as I'm certain of a new job. It's none of his business before that point.
m463 3y ago
> I've never really seen I remember reading a blog post by an employee that had gotten on the wrong side of google. When he came in their crosshairs, he said all his google machines forcibly updated themselves, and it became clear he was closely monitored. I think the idea is that decent relationships have good boundaries, and proactively maintaining them is a worthwhile endeavor. This is especially important when there is a power relationship.

by bri3d 3y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago

I've never even heard of these tools before now, but my impression is the same as yours: the people they flag are more likely to be the kind of people that you want to keep.

t_mann 3y ago

The basic assumption at play here is that data about you that you don't control is likely going to end up being used against you, which I think isn't unreasonable. Flawed risk metrics, even if they are only used to benefit those who are flagged, may still turn out to be unfavorable for some employees (eg for the false negatives).

zug_zug 3y ago

Well the article is about glassdoor, which is where you write reviews. You better believe that if databrokers will buy information on whether you updated linked in that they'd also buy information on whether you gave the company a 1 star review. Heck, you can even post your salary to glassdoor, so maybe your next employer would buy that information so they know the least they could offer you.

nuancebydefault 3y ago

>"my manager will use this to fire me" For me it is more like: "my manager sees that I'm looking for a job", and I really rather tell him that I will be leaving, as soon as I'm certain of a new job. It's none of his business before that point.

m463 3y ago

> I've never really seen I remember reading a blog post by an employee that had gotten on the wrong side of google. When he came in their crosshairs, he said all his google machines forcibly updated themselves, and it became clear he was closely monitored. I think the idea is that decent relationships have good boundaries, and proactively maintaining them is a worthwhile endeavor. This is especially important when there is a power relationship.