“For all of my career, I've been trying to catch people after they do something horrible. For once in my life, I'd like to catch somebody BEFORE they do something horrible, all right? Can you understand that?” - ATF Agent Doug Carlin (Déjà Vu, 2006)

We all would love to travel back in time to stop something bad from happening.  In business, losing a key employee when you could have prevented it can be tragic as well.  It can cost, on average, some $3,341 to hire a new employee, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. This is why companies are investing in predictive analytics to help salvage their employees.

According to an article from Entrepreneur Magazine, in the third quarter of 2014, 47% of employees felt confident that they would find a new position in the next six months that would be fitting for their experience level.  This is up 11 percentage points from four years ago.  In addition to a strong job search market, there are some clear behavioral signs that employees may be looking:

1. Coming in chronically late or early

2. Becoming less friendly / more agitated with colleagues

3. Completing a new degree / certification

4. A major life event, such as divorce or marriage

5. Significant company restructuring / changes

With all these predictors, it’s no wonder that data scientists are now creating algorithms to help companies turn these warning signs into a true predictive science...