Google’s Big Brains Think An Algorithm Will Help Them With Girl Problems

Google’s Big Brains Think An Algorithm Will Help Them With Girl Problems

We hear about this issue all the time: tech companies, even the big guns, have trouble attracting and retaining women. Interestingly enough, Google has taken the least human and most nerdiest possible route to tackling this gender issue — algorithms.

Per the New York Times:

Executives had been concerned that too many women dropped out in the interviewing process or were not promoted at the same rate as men, so they created algorithms to pinpoint exactly when the company lost women and to figure out how to keep them. Simple steps like making sure prospective hires meet other women during their interviews and extending maternity leaves seem to be producing results — at least among the rank and file.

That honestly sounds like something out of some cliche teen movie. The president of the all-male high school chess team holds a pow-wow in the band room. Pushes up glasses. “You guys, how come we can’t get any GIRLS to come to our meetings? A computational formula, that’ll definitely solve the problem.” Then they all go to prom dateless.

The Times does specify that the women who are working at Google are pretty happy. If they move on, it’s for a better job. See also: Marissa Mayer. But there’s probably a better, less sterile approach than an algorithm to cracking out this puzzle. [New York Times]

Image credit: alphaspirit/Shutterstock


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