HR uses software to measure a workers' worth

It had to happen sooner or later: The Human Resources departments at many companies have stumbled upon a new kind of mathematical formula to evaluate an employee's worth in this time of downsizing. Cataphora, of Redwood City, Calif., is one company spearheading this digital analysis of employees. What's more, companies such as Microsoft and Oracle are also using mathematical codes to analyze workers and their skill levels.

"You have to bring the same rigor you bring to operations and finance to the analysis of people," Rupert Bader, director of workforce planning at Microsoft, tells Business Week.

Yet, so far, it's a very small trend. Master Burnett, managing director of HR consultancy Dr. John Sullivan & Associates, estimates that only 1 to 2 percent of large corporations have begun using this technique. The data is able to highlight stars as well as sluggards. Cataphora looks for workers who come up with winning ideas, and looks to see who is copied most often. Software company SAS crunches data on workers who have left their jobs in the past five years, and it profiles their common characteristics. Then it looks for current employees with the same patterns so employers can work to retain them.

Whether mathematical formulas are an accurate way of judging people or just another fad remains to be seen. But the practice so far seems to be making a few hits; unless, of course, you consider the poor employee who strikes out.

For more on using data modeling to rate employees:
- check out this Business Week article

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