Big data can predict when you’ll quit your job

Big stores of data and the intelligent algorithms that underpin them can inform everything from your Netflix recommendations to your Facebook news feed, and now a new system being developed by software firm Workday can bring the same kind of data-crunching approach to the office. The company says its new cloud-based software solution for businesses can spot outstanding candidates for a job, predict which departments are going to exceed their budgets, and even make an educated guess about who will quit next.

Don’t be afraid (yet) but big data is coming to your job. While it is unclear whether it will make life better or worse, it is almost certain to change the way companies function. Workday, a leading maker of cloud-based software for running corporate human resources and financial operations, has announced it is putting into its products the kind of data analysis that Netflix uses to recommend movies, LinkedIn has to suggest people you might know, or Facebook needs to put a likely ad in front of you. In the workplace context, however, this is a much bigger deal than whether you want to see “Rango” or get tempted to try pomegranate juice. Instead of relatively trivial transactions, even in its early days this data analysis is aimed at shaping organizational charts, spotting financial behavior, or increasing competitiveness for jobs.