These employee demands have become extremely ‘tiresome’ to say the least. Recently three of my HQ staff decided that they now want X, Y or Z. I don’t know an employer anywhere in the entire World who would put up with this type of thing. They would simply say, “When you applied for the job you were made aware of what was required of you. If you now don’t like it then tough. If it’s too much for you to handle then leave!” You simply CANNOT hold an employer anywhere in the World to ransom, especially for trivial little items like coffee machines etc… You’d be laughed out of the building.
Furthermore, since its introduction, any employee in my game who demands health insurance of ANY kind is either not employed in the first place or is instantly sacked. Health insurance in the UK is a non-existant problem except for, mostly, the elite of the elite. Anyone else who wants private health insurance in the UK has to obtain it at their own expense. The rest of us rely on a perfectly good NHS. Can we ditch this ridiculous “Employee Demands” idea? The employer holds all the cards. They always have done.
Sounds like a really toxic employer lol. The employee isn’t saying anything about changing what is required of them or that it’s “too much to handle”. That’s kind of hilarious. All they’re asking for is a chair as they continue to do their job. If they were asking to change their job responsibilities as you are suggesting, I would agree, that’s not reasonable!
Remember the game takes place in NYC, not the UK!
First off, I want to say that I actually love the game because my point raised here may sound a little too argumentative for some and provide ammunition to certain types who would normally tell me to go elsewhere.
I don’t think my opinion sounds like that of a toxic employer at all, particularly in the current social climate. The problem with these in game demands though is that if you ignore them (as 100% of employers IRL most likely would) the in game characters go all sulky and unhappy on you. So now you’ve invested loads of money in their training and betterment for no benefit whatsoever because they can’t have their favourite chair? Sounds ludicrous to me.
Are you saying that when the London and/or Paris maps eventually come out you will be adopting local English and French practices here too? That’ll be interesting to see. This game sells Worldwide, I’m sure, and you can’t please everyone everywhere but I’m pretty sure that the hard headed employers of New York would not be saying, “There, there” to these sulky people and giving in to their laughable demands. We have a large part of our extended family resident in and around New York and they think the idea is hilarious. It just feels to me like the developers have introduced a problem here simply for the sake of having a problem to be dealt with.
Glad you’re loving the game! I hope I didn’t come across as you should go elsewhere! I just found the response amusing 
I hear you. I found it that way because the employee isn’t complaining about the work at all but asking for an accommodation. Your “boss reply” was that they knew what’s required and “if they can’t handle the work”, but the employee never said they couldn’t handle the work that was required, so it feels like the boss is trying to use an unrelated fact to undermine the request. That’s all.
Hmm. They shouldn’t. As long as you’re providing their “critical” schedule-related demand, you should be able to ignore an “important” and “nice to have” demand without losing satisfaction.
Sure. But also consider things like the IRS or driving rules (driving on the right side of the road) - those are “American”, but also aren’t fully accurate either. They are “inspired” by American rules. In the same way, things will be adapted in ways “inspired” by whatever local areas they are based on!
No problem at all David. I think I might have been on the defensive a bit there lol! Thanks for your reply though, I’ll pay more attention to my employees responses in future too, in view of your information that they shouldn’t sulk.
Thanks.
Sadly, I’m back here again having a moan. When the update was released I decided to have a complete reset and start all over again. I slowed the game right down and, using the experience I gained from my previous play through, I tried to build the best business I could. Things were going fine and I was loving life. I now have 4 retail outlets, a warehouse and a fully staffed HQ. Lovely.
The problem recently though is I am being distracted numerous times on a daily basis by stupid employee demands, usually following a period of sleep. HQ staff asking for things that are already there (meeting table, executive office desk and so on) is annoying but cleaners who’ve just hit 50% demanding Gold, Silver or Bronze health insurance infuriates me. Can we not have a button to turn off employee demands the same way we can turn off happiness and other behavioural items? Or maybe simply turn off the health insurance thing? It simply holds a player to ransome. Looking after such trivialities is taking up so much game time now that it’s smothering the the real fun stuff. It’s so sad but this employee stuff is fast becoming a deal breaker for me. I want to concentrate on growing a business not worrying about who’s going to demand what next.
That shouldn’t happen after yesterday’s patch.
Maybe my game hadn’t updated yet or something yesterday but I promise you it happened; so much so that I had to save and quit for the sake of my own sanity. I’m just about to sit down and try to play again today so I’ll let you know if it continues. On a few occasions I’ve allowed my character to sleep 24 hours. Following this I notice the list of staff demands are numerous. Would the sleep pattern be the problem perhaps?
Hmm…if you were playing when the update was released, you might not have been updated at that time. But if you do see it still now, please let us know (and hit F2 to submit the bug report). That shouldn’t happen now until around 100%!
I must have missed the update somehow, as you suggested David. I’m so relieved to tell you that sanity has returned lol! I was really disappointed yesterday but I’m smiling again now and happily playing as normal. Thanks fellers.
Glad to hear it! We’re always trying to balance the new features with player experience, so we appreciate the feedback, and riding through the balancing!
New features should be more challenging, and only slightly obnoxious!
I just came here to say that employee demands are very real things and there actually should be quite a lot more to them.
I’m on my first play through and about 35 days in; and it’s kind of weird to me that the employees are so happy being basically abused.
“I want 30 to 50 hours per week” - okay, how about working 7 days without a day off then? That’s absolutely fine. I’d expect most people to demand at least one or two days off a week.
I can also work them for 10-12 hours straight in a shift; and they will do it (and with apparently no breaks). Similarly, I can work a part time employee for one hour a day which would basically not be worth most peoples while, and they happily do it.
These people never go sick, never take a holiday, and as such, I can just set them up and leave them to it. This is not at all how it works in real life.
Basic employee requirements should include minimum and maximum shift lengths, and some proper days off. Some employees might be unable or unwilling to work certain days, or weekends or Fridays or whatever, or certain hours. People do make these choices when they have childcare or other arrangements.
For the most part, this should be known when they are hired, and usually the trade off would be that employees with more demands are either a bit cheaper or a bit better at their job.
If something changes (as it does occasionally) and an employee no longer wants to work Mondays or whatever, that’s their right to ask, the employees right to refuse, but this would likely cause a satisfaction hit that increases their chance of leaving to find work that accommodates their needs.
This sort of management shouldn’t be tedious; as in requiring daily changes - but it should be part of the puzzle of hiring and keeping a good team.
Strangely - everything you asked for or said should be part of the game…are already currently actively part of the game right now.
They do get sick.
They do. 4-Days a week, 5 days a week, no weekends, are all demands
Exactly - that’s exactly what happens. If you don’t do it, the employee’s satisfaction will drop.
The fact that I haven’t seen it yet suggests to me that it needs to be a lot more common. I can’t really see anyone wanting to work a 7 day week, even if they want 50 hours - and even if they’re entry level employees with little skill.
How does satisfaction work, will they leave at a certain level or will they have a chance to leave at any level, but just an increasing one as it gets lower?
I look forward to discovering more of what’s there.
The game doesn’t give you sick people when you’re starting so you get a chance to figure things out. If you don’t have sick people yet, it’s because you’re still at a very early point.