I haven’t seen this discussed here but it is a real issue. I have talked with several other players whom have found the same problems.
Part 1:
Employees are pretty much ‘worthless’ they ‘may’ show up for work and when they do they just kind of stand around and do NOT do the tasks you’ve assigned to them. I’ve even seen them just wander off for a couple of hours.
Part 2:
The ‘work around’ after much play testing and head banging, I have discovered the following.
You need to ‘butter up’ the employee. Tell them what a good job their doing (even though there not). Praise them compliment them etc.
You need to establish a ‘relationship’ with the employee, Friend, Confidant, Business partner etc.
Summary:
I find it almost unethical to have to establish a ‘close’ relationship with an employee in order to get them to do their job!
Hopefully this can be fixed so that your employees will do the tasks you assign to them without excessive coddling.
I haven’t really tried to praise my employees’ work yet, but I definitely will because, just like you mentioned, in my game they’re not fulfilling their tasks at all. In 8 hours per workday, employees might (if I’m really lucky) perform 2-3 tasks on their own. It’s a real drag.
I’ve tried one employee, then two, in a bakery business and they never worked out.
My main Zoi had a maxed out relationship with both.
Both Zois had relevant skills (Baking, Coffee Craft) maxed out.
Both Zois had their 5 assigned duties set as Bake, Bake, Coffee, Coffee, Clean.
Both Zois had salary set at above average (125%) to ensure their job happiness.
Given their skills, the items created by the employees were high quality and sold for a high price, but they just didn’t make enough of them to serve all the customers coming in. As a result they didn’t come close to covering the cost of their wages, never mind making a profit.
When only my main Zoi, the owner/operator that I was controlling, was working there, the business made over 1200 M per day. When one employee was working there, the business lost over 300 M per day. When both employees were working there, the business lost over 700 M per day.
So yes, I agree, as implemented, the game’s employees are useless.
I also encounter this situation frequently, and after multiple experiments, I’ve discovered some tricks.
Try this method:
Hire Zoi who lives in the city as an employee (you can use cheat codes to increase skill levels, etc.), no need to increase relationship, just need to know them and be able to hire them.
The employee will work normally at first, but after simulating for a while, they will be unable to execute their work correctly. At this point, switch to the employee Zoi, select Self > Business > Quit. Let them resign on their own.
The next day, rehire that employee, and they will be able to work normally again.
No need for high salary, and no need to increase relationship. I think it’s just a simulation glitch.
My staff members Constantly wander around t he stare. They frequently stop miduay throug h preparing coffee and cakes, start walking aro und again, and eventually throw the food into t he trash. Perhaps they don’t spend their own money on these items, but I feel deeply upsets eeing my money wasted so carelessly. I am cur rently considering wwhether to dismiss them.
My employees may work but do not do the tasks assigned to them in the business management app. For example, they will be assigned to ‘fill coffee’ only but they will ‘fill cooking’ and clean, talk to customers and spend a lot of time doing nothing.
