There are a lot of people who would consider Google to be a pretty smart company, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune from doing some pretty dumb things.

Here’s the latest example: “Concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete, Google is tackling the problem with its typical tool: an algorithm,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

“The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit.”

So, what’s wrong with a tech company using its technological know-how to help solve a people management issue? Nothing really, as long as you don’t go overboard with the use of the mathematical formula. And that’s where I take issue with this Google-like notion that technology is always the best way to solve every problem.

As the Journal points out, “The move is one of a series Google has made to prevent its most promising engineers, designers and sales executives from leaving at a time when its once-powerful draws—a startup atmosphere and soaring stock price—have been diluted by its growing size … Google’s algorithm helps the company ‘get inside people’s heads even before they know they might leave,’ said Laszlo Bock, who runs human resources for the company.”

When I read things like that, it makes me wonder: Is Google trying to solve a technical problem or a human resources issue? The notion that you can somehow get “inside people’s heads” before they even know what they are going to do is both frightening and disturbing, and would seem to have more long-term potential to drive people away than to help keep them in the Google fold.

It’s also part of the Google pattern to rely more on technology than people. For instance, when Google News was launched, the company went out of its way to dismiss the value of human editors (full disclosure: I’m one of these guys) in the news selection process.

“Our headlines are selected entirely by computer algorithms,” Google says. “Google News has no human editors selecting stories or deciding which ones deserve top placement. This is very much in the tradition of Google Web Search, which relies on the collective judgment of online publishers to determine which sites offer the most valuable and relevant information. Similarly, Google News relies on the collective judgment of online news organizations to determine which stories are most deserving of prominence on the News homepage.”

Pardon me if I’m bothered by the notion of taking people—and their experience, perspective and judgment—out of the equation, yet that seems to be Google’s response to all too many workplace issues.

And, all the algorithms in the world won’t solve this problem that is also noted by the Journal: “Current and former Googlers said the company is losing talent because some employees feel they can’t make the same impact as the company matures. Several said Google provides little formal career planning, and some found the company’s human resources programs too impersonal. ‘They need to come up with ways to keep people engaged,’ said Valerie Frederickson, a Silicon Valley personnel consultant who has worked with former Google employees. ‘If Google was doing this enough, they wouldn’t be losing all these people.’ ”

Blogger Scott Jagow notes that “Google has surveyed employees in the past and when I Googled, I found why Google employees quit, a collection of testimonials from current and former Googlers. They complained about things people at most big companies complain about—the hiring process, the management, the bureaucracy, the small kitchen.”

Yes, Google has some of the same growing-pain issues with people that so many other organizations like them have had before. The company has gone overboard to try to supply the little things to keep workers happy, but in the long run, good workforce management is about more than cutting-edge benefits and a cool place to work.

It’s about doing meaningful work that matters and that you are appreciated for. It’s about working with and for people who care as much as you do, and feeling like you are a key part of something a lot bigger than yourself.

Somehow, I don’t think this new Google algorithm is going to be able to get at all of that, and it is foolish to think it can. Technology isn’t the answer to every question, no matter what the big brains at Google may think, and sometimes, you need to apply smart people and experience to a problem instead of the notion that higher math and a formulaic approach is all you need to get the job done.

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