Feel-good guru starts data firm.
Ex-Googler Laszlo Bock wants to use software to nudge workers, managers to perform better
MOUNTAIN VIEW >> After human-resources guru Laszlo Bock transformed Google’s workplace into the envy of the corporate world and left in 2016, many in Silicon Valley wondered what was next.
Details were scarce even after Bock revealed last year that he was working on a startup called Humu that was connected to human resources management. But now, the man who pioneered the free-food cafeteria and other initiatives to keep Googlers happy, healthy and productive is shedding more light on plans at his HR startup, named after Hawaii’s state fish, the humuhumunukunukuāpua‘a.
With proprietary software, Humu will use machine learn- ing and behavioral research to “nudge” workers and managers to perform better. The startup wants to help its client companies create a “self-perpetuating kind of self-improvement machine,” with employees who are happier, more productive, and more likely to stick around, said Bock.
“With the right data, the right feedback loops, you can actually help people improve constantly,” Bock said.
Bock, whose HR work at Google became something of a template for the tech industry, is best known among human resources experts for his early and influential use of data collection and analysis to improve hiring, employee performance and management.
“Most people like to rely on their gut. He brought more of the science approach,” said Christine Porath, a Georgetown University professor who studies workplaces and has participated in events by Google’s “Re:work” HR ini-
tiative. “He brings a lot of rigor to the field.”
Humu represents a broader test of whether Bock’s workplace wizardry will translate beyond tech. He and his co-founders intend to sell the Humu product to companies of various sizes, in a multitude of industries.
It’s been a year since Bock first let the cat out of the bag on Humu, and the startup said it’s been working with a number of firms — including 20 percent of the Fortune 100 — interested in the software it plans to produce.
“We’ve just been crazy busy running pilots with this incredible group of companies,” Bock said in an interview. “These are organizations that care about putting their people first.”
Although Bock and cofounders Wayne Crosby and Jessica Wisdom all came out of Google, their startup aims to create HR software that’s not just for tech. “Our mission is to make work better for everyone, everywhere,” Crosby said.
Humu has raised more than $40 million in funding, Crosby said.
The three founders are releasing little information about what Humu’s software will measure.
“This is our nearing coming fully out of stealth,” Crosby said. “We know this stuff works.”
The “stuff” is a blend of science, artificial intelligence known as machine learning, and “a little bit of love,” Crosby said.
Data obtained from employees will be analyzed with machine learning to create a picture that companies can use to prompt small behavioral changes that can have outsized and measurable impact — for example, just encouraging workers and managers to start saying “thank you,” Bock said.
Humu’s system is built upon the need to measure the success of the prompts given to workers and managers.
“From a science perspective, we want to make sure that everything we do is rooted in proving definitively it’s going to have a positive impact in the workplace,” Bock said.
The Mountain View startup is working with food-service companies to solve one of their biggest problems, high turnover, Bock said. To develop software that will work for such firms, Humu seeks first-hand experience, he said. “We’ll put people behind the counter to actually see what it’s like to work behind the counter during the lunch rush,” Bock said.
Humu’s software will function like a “coach” that helps workers and managers improve workplace relationships and interactions, Crosby said.
A typical coach, however, doesn’t start the workday by hoovering up large quantities of data about clients. Humu is attentive to privacy concerns, Bock said. “You need the trust of people you’re working with,” Bock said. “Employees have an expectation and assumption of privacy. We’re not going to read your email. We think that’s wrong.”
Humu hasn’t disclosed when its software will be deployed or where.