Algorithm for predicting turnover? No Sale!

Scott Morrison of WSJ Technology, describes a program Google is working on in his article, Google Searches for Stafffing Answers, dated May 19, 2009.  Sounds like a good idea but I'm pretty sceptical that it would have really valid application when dealing with the imperfect human employee.

Google isn't publicly going into much detail, but sounds like they are taking historic information like reviews, salary data and surveys and trying to equate results. If this really it valid, it would totally discount the impact a good recruiter would have ever pulling an a happy employee out of Google.  It doesn't take in account what new opportunity the employee might be interested in.  It doesn't take into account the future at all.  It just try to measure past experiences when someone was unhappy with a raise or a boss, they resigned.  Well of course!  Personal situations and feelings change in humans.  They can be influenced, especially by a good recruiter that can articulate and "sell" a new opportunity. 

I do believe in indicators, but whenever I hear of someone trying to predict what a breathing, feeling and emotional creature like us humans might do, my red flags come up.