Work Performance Facts

[Roflganger]

DANG.  Now I just confused myself.  Even with zero charisma, you can get promoted, just not too quickly, eh?

Correct.  None of the metrics are hard-and-fast requirements, just contributors (or detractors) from overall work performance.  With all other factors maxed, and especially with perks like "Multi Tasker" stacked on, even having one factor at the lowest level won't keep you from progressing through the career.

[fatkitty]

Can you switch tones while at work and have both (or more) of them do any good?  For example, I had a businessman who had pouty faces in both the "hold meetings" area and the "co-workers" area.  I started him off holding meetings but then switched to hanging out by the water cooler.  Hanging out at the water cooler didn't seem to help at all.  Maybe I switched too late?

[Roflganger]

Can you switch tones while at work and have both (or more) of them do any good?  For example, I had a businessman who had pouty faces in both the "hold meetings" area and the "co-workers" area.  I started him off holding meetings but then switched to hanging out by the water cooler.  Hanging out at the water cooler didn't seem to help at all.  Maybe I switched too late?

Switching works fine - I frequently have Sims switch tones at school and at work.  It is entirely possible that you switched too late in the day for enough benefit to build up.

[fatkitty]

Ok thanks.  I'll try earlier next time.
If I sit there and watch the pouty faces will I actually see them improve while my sim is at work?

[gamb]

Ok thanks.  I'll try earlier next time.
If I sit there and watch the pouty faces will I actually see them improve while my sim is at work?

Yes.  Sometimes my sims don't wake up in time to use the bathroom or eat before work/school, and their mood quickly tanks until (a) they find a toilet, and (b) it's lunch time.  I can see the mood change once their motives are fulfilled; all other factors should change the some way as well.

[Pinstar]

In the sims 2, a sim would empty their bladder and fill their hunger bar at work when either got low.

In the Sims 3, the bladder empty seems to be present in its original form.

However the sims don't always om nom when hungry, leading them to suffer the bad mood of the 2nd tier hunger moodlet for most of work before they finally eat and fill up. (if they happen to be sent to work hungry)


Anyone know the mechanics of how long a sim will wait to take lunch, and at what hunger levels they will take lunch at vs skipping it?

[MissKitty]

Anyone know the mechanics of how long a sim will wait to take lunch, and at what hunger levels they will take lunch at vs skipping it?

Don't really know the mechanics, but I find that at least the dayshifters eat very reliably around what would be considered normal lunch time. (12-13-ish).

[kemowery]

Something I noticed last night, and maybe it's just that something else happened behind the scenes that I didn't notice: When one of my sims went into the special agent career track (joining the vice squad), his relationship with his boss went a little into the red.

Is this something that normally happens (to simulate that the captain has had it up to here with his screwball antics) or did my sim somehow make his boss upset when I wasn't looking? 

[viewpoint]

Does "build independent case" actually do anything, then? I've been ignoring it so far.

After doing it for a while, you will either get a success or a failure.  I believe it's related to your logic skill, and I've never had a success so I can't tell you what you get, but I have failed twice and it it just a minor performance hit.  It might also hit you coworker relationships, not sure.

According to the GameplayData.package file...

Build independent case actually causes your performance modifier to dip by 1. Sort of like bumping your mood from "Elated" to "Very Happy", down by 1 level.

The time taken to complete building the case is 600-1080 mins (10-18 hours).

As for success rate, it depends on your logic skill. Above level 7, it will always be successful. Below level 7, probability of success decreases linearly (not too sure what this means, ie if level 0 gives near zero chance of success).

Upon success, your work performance gets filled up by 75%! So, if you calculate the losses you're taking over 10-18 hours at a performance penalty of -1, maybe you can see if it works out profitably.

Upon failure, your relationship with every co-worker takes a hit of -5. Is the relationship scale 100? Ie, -50 to 50? Or 0 to 100? Or -100 to 100? Not sure about this.

Ok, that's all I can read for independent cases from the GameplayData.package file.

How does mood factor in?  Are there any modifiers for sending a Sim to work in a great/terrible mood?

Mood is a "performance metric."  See point A.


Does building skills not have any effect on stress level?  I never noticed a performance decrease, but I thought it added more stress.

I assume Office Hero modifies work socializing in the same fashion that Schmoozer does.
Also, how quickly does performance decay while you are missing work?  And what the heck is up with the Vacationer reward, I have no idea how that work.  I have no option to call in, and if I just tell my sim not to go, I still get a performance hit for being missing.  How does this thing work?

The Vacationer reward seems to reduce performance decay by a factor of 0.2. Ie, decay is reduced to one fifth of normal.

The performance flow when missing work seems severe: -10. That's even more severe than the being at work in your worst possible condition: -8.

So, with the Vacationer reward, it seems missing work will only give you a performance flow of -2.

I do hate the fact that any performance gains when performance bar is full (100) is wasted. Weird.

[viewpoint]

Interesting, it seems the one or two notch drain in your mood metric that comes from working hard too long is not enough to counter the benefit of actually working too hard, especially if you pre-pad your fun bar before going to work.

Working hard causes your Fun meter to decay at double the rate. It's -5 per hour if you work normal, not hard.

I do it all the time. I work hard till my "Having a Blast" moodlet is gone, then I slack off to get back that moodlet. Having a good mood is vital in the initial levels, when only the mood and 1 other factor (usually skill) matters. When more factors come in, having a second-rate mood doesn't do as much harm; the drawbacks are averaged out to a smaller value.

[viewpoint]

I've had one success with it in the Science career track. He was awarded with a sizable boost in job performance. I don't have any hard numbers, but it was enough to max his job performance resulting in a promotion at the end of the day. He was probably a bit less than halfway through the performance bar at the time, but I'll admit that I don't watch it all that carefully.

Politics ("new course of action") had a similar effect.  The success popup may have said something about work relationships being strained, but I was too busy spending the bonus to notice the little people.

I think the "Propose New Course of Action" is hardly worth it. It takes 16 hours (2.5 work days) to complete. There's only a 10% chance of getting promoted (outright, doesn't consider performance bar).

30% chance that we get a "impress boss" outcome (+40 to relationship). 40% chance we get a "brown-nosed boss" outcome (+40 to boss relationship, -40 to coworkers). 20% chance that "no one is impressed" (-30 with boss, -40 with coworkers).

Better to use "Inspirational Speech" to develop relationships, than to use "Propose New Course of Action". Very bad chance of getting a promotion with that anyway.

That chances listed above seem to be hard numbers, not affected by skills or anything.

[Motoki]

Few questions.

Is there a way to tell which jobs and modes of working within those jobs are 'social' in groups vs not? Loner sims get negative moodlets from being around groups of people, but I notice sometimes if I switch modes it will go away. Some are obvious, like independent research, but I'm just curious if it's known which modes are group work vs individual and which careers are better suited to loners.

How efficient is sleeping at work/school vs the bed? Would it make sense for a tired sim to arrive at work early as possible and sleep until work starts?

Does "Going to work" incur any bonus or penalty or is it keeping the bar from neither going up nor down.

[Roflganger]

How efficient is sleeping at work/school vs the bed? Would it make sense for a tired sim to arrive at work early as possible and sleep until work starts?

Sleeping at work is an inefficient way to fill the sleep bar, in my experience.  Apparently those doctors' lounge couches are lumpy.  It doesn't appear to make a difference if you show up early - it seems that both the energy gain and performance gain only begin once actual working hours are reached.

[Budgie]

Anyone know the mechanics of how long a sim will wait to take lunch, and at what hunger levels they will take lunch at vs skipping it?

From what I've noticed, a sim will be in the red for hunger, but won't eat at work until proper eating hours, depending on the time they work (for example, a night shift worker will eat a dinner meal at 18:00 or so). Even if their hunger is super low when they leave for work, they won't eat until a certain hour is triggered, as far as I've seen.

[gamb]

From what I've noticed, a sim will be in the red for hunger, but won't eat at work until proper eating hours, depending on the time they work (for example, a night shift worker will eat a dinner meal at 18:00 or so). Even if their hunger is super low when they leave for work, they won't eat until a certain hour is triggered, as far as I've seen.

I've seen the same.  Kids at school and adults working day jobs eat only at either 12:30 or 13:30, even if they're halfway to starvation.

[Gus Smedstad]

When I was in school, they didn't let us eat lunch in class.  Even if we had skipped breakfast that morning, and thus in Sims terms were "halfway to starvation."

 - Gus

[kuronue]

That's why I learned how to sneak food under my desk. That and a good book and I was all set for english class. What did they expect, club activities were at lunchtime XD