HiQ Labs, an analytics company, can predict how likely you are to quit your job by looking at your public LinkedIn profile. If you look like a flight risk, then your boss has to think harder about your next salary review.
Insight About Who Is Going to Quit Their Job
According to a HiQ white paper, the company:
1. Scours the Web for public information (aka LinkedIn profiles) about their customers’ employees.
2. Runs that information through their proprietary algorithm.
3. Assigns flight risk scores to groups of employees and individual employees.
4. Is stunningly accurate.
Among other uses, this information lets companies turn up the dial on retention efforts for valued employees — including earlier and better (more $$$) salary reviews.
How Do We Know HiQ Uses LinkedIn Profiles?
Per a lawsuit HiQ filed against LinkedIn, they’ve been allowed to scrape public data from LinkedIn for years — but LinkedIn recently told them to stop.
HiQ says that it will go out of business without the LinkedIn data.
(8/14/17 Update: HiQ won against LinkedIn in this round. 9/9/19: HiQ won again in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.)
Who Listens to HiQ?
If you look at HiQ’s website, you’ll see an impressive list of clients and community members.
Whether these companies use HiQ’s “Keeper” product or not, they understand that the state of an employee’s LinkedIn profile predicts their flight risk. And that can impact your salary review.
HiQ’s Research Findings
Per HiQ’s research (downloadable here), if you have a professional LinkedIn profile, you are 3.7% more likely to change jobs in the next three months than the average employee. Over the course of a year, they say that’s about 15%.
If you don’t have a profile, you are 8.9% less likely than average to change jobs in the next three months, or about 35% less likely to leave in the next year.
HiQ says if you have an open profile, you’re more findable and even more likely to leave.
What Does This Mean for Your Salary Review?
If you’re in HR, or a manager, how can you use this information during salary reviews?
1. You don’t need to hire HiQ to know to look at employees’ LinkedIn profiles before conducting salary reviews.
2. If a valued employee has a good profile, then you better figure out what they’re worth on the open market and pay to keep them.
3. You might balance your budget by cutting the raises of people who don’t have profiles — because they’re less likely to leave.
There’s Salary Review Gold in Your LinkedIn Profile
Given HiQ’s research findings, is there any doubt you ought to have a good LinkedIn profile? It will make it more likely that:
1. You will find a new job — or that a new job will find you.
2. Your current employer values you appropriately.
Be sure to update your profile before your next salary review, or even better — NOW!
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Updated September 2019
© 2017 – 2019, Donna Svei. All rights reserved.
Donna Svei, an executive resume writer and former C-level executive, retained search consultant, and CPA, writes all of AvidCareerist’s posts. She has written for and been quoted by leading business, general, and career media outlets, including Forbes, Mashable, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Lifehacker, Ask.com, Social Media Today, IT World, SmartBrief, Payscale, Business News Daily, and the Muse. Let her background and experience inform your job search strategy and decision making.
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Comments 1
Updating your LinkedIn Profile before your salary review is a great way to communicate with your employer about what you’ve accomplished in the previous year. I’ve had clients that have gotten promotions or lateral moves to other departments that build their experience through having an updated LinkedIn Profile.
And, it’s a great point that your employer will view you as a greater flight risk if you have a strong profile. If you’re a valued employee, I can see how this would give your manager a greater motivation to give you a good raise (or bonus). It may even give your manager greater leverage in their negotiation with HR or their manager in negotiating a higher raise for you.