Hiring staff

Construction sites and vehicles only work with people in them, and a building makes far more with staff than its own base points alone. New staff start at head office, and you then place each one where they should work.

Every factory, shop and office has a profession of its own, shown on its page as the preferred employee type. Builders work best on construction sites and Drivers in vehicles, though anyone with a driving licence can drive.

Where their profession fits, a person brings their production points (ProdP); anywhere else, only their attribute points (AttribP). On the Staff page a name in green works where it fits. Training staff explains the points, and how to give someone a new profession.

Depending on the round, you hire in one of two ways: the first tab on the staff pages is either Unemployed people or Post a job ad. Either way, a person's profile shows everything about them before you hire.

The unemployed list

Everyone looking for work is on one list, shared by every company. Choose a profession under Show, open a person and press Hire, which costs a fee. A hire is an order: whoever ordered the person first gets them at the next update, and anyone else gets their money back. Until then you can cancel it on the person's profile. There is a limit to how many people you may hire a day, orders included.

People nobody hires leave the list after a while, and new people arrive when it runs low. Suspended people were fired, or their company went bankrupt; they can be hired a few hours later.

Job ads

Choose a profession under Advertise for and press Post job ad, which costs a fee. The ad brings a few applicants, who wait for a short while. Open one and press Hire, which costs a fee of its own: they join you at once.

The Extra worker upgrade adds a place (see Upgrading buildings). A construction site takes as many people as the finished building will.

Open a person's profile, choose a building, site or vehicle under Place and press Move. Full buildings are not offered. Each move adds an hour's pay in both the old and the new place to their wages. Staff at head office do no work, but are still paid £2 an hour.

Absent staff can only be moved to head office, which frees their place for someone else. Staff in training can't be moved.

Staff can be fired from head office, but not while they are absent or in training. Fire on their profile shows the bill first: the salary they are owed, with social fees, and a termination fee. That fee is £500 when they are hired and shrinks by 5% every midnight. Fired people look for work again 5 to 10 hours later.

VIP members get a few shortcuts (see Premium membership). Each saves time; the free way is there too:

• Move staff straight from the Staff list; everyone else moves them from their profile.
• See salary demand and reliability on the unemployed list; everyone else sees them on each profile.
• See the professions their buildings still need at the top of the hire lists; everyone else can use the hire link on a building's page.
• A letter from the secretary when new people of a watched profession join the unemployed list; everyone else checks the list.
• More applicants for each job ad; everyone else posts another ad.