Google: is there a 'brain drain'?

31 March 2008

Search engine Google is suffering from a 'brain drain', some analysts have suggested.

Writing on Wired last week, Betsy Schiffman noted that a number of high-profile Googlers including Sheryl Sandberg, Ethan Beard and Justin Rosenstein had left the company recently. "It takes," she noted, "more than an army of trained chefs and free lunch to keep Googlers happy."

Shiffman explained that Google's stock options, which vest after four or five years, have provided many staff with the money to start their own businesses. Having listed several examples and asking "Have we left any out?", her post was updated to include a further list of recent departures involved with start-ups.

In Search Engine Journal, Julie Kent pointed out that Sandberg and Beard, the former Google director of social media, have both gone to Facebook. Kent suggested that a glowing email from former Googler Justin Rosenstein may have influenced their departure.

Meanwhile, in the Guardian PDA blog, Jemima Kiss noted that social music platform Last.FM had added to Google's pain, recruiting ex-European Google executive F Scott Woods.

However, Google continues to hire new staff in large numbers. It is currently advertising more than 100 jobs in the UK, and more than 800 in the US.

Category: Miscellaneous