The Talent System
The Digital Age DLC introduces a new talent system for R&D centers and software companies.
Under this new system, lead researchers in R&D centers and lead programmers in software companies must be recruited individually.
Gameplay Implications
Since the supply of talented people is limited in each city, you will see companies race to recruit them. Those companies who acted slowly will find themselves in disadvantageous positions when it comes to getting the best and the brightest researchers, which are key to success for tech companies.
To hire a lead researcher, click the [Hire Now] button on a R&D unit and you will see the following interfaces:
Attributes of a job candidate:
Skill – the current skill level of the job candidate.
Salary – a job candidate who is more skilled will ask for a higher salary, as expected.
Once hired, you will see the details of the lead researcher at the R&D unit, such as the one shown below.
Besides the lead researcher, each R&D unit also employs a number of researchers as team members, indicated by the staff icons at the bottom-left of the above screenshot. (The new talent system only applies to the lead researcher.)
The lead researcher’s skill matters the most for the R&D unit’s overall research efficiency, as how well members of the research team perform depends on the competency of the lead researcher.
In the above example, the line “Product Dev Skill: Computer” means that this lead researcher specializes in Computer and his level of skill in Computer is 78.
Since there is a limited supply of talented people in each area of specialization, it is important that you act fast and hire the people you need early in the game.
Employee Loyalty
Below the display of the skill level, it shows the loyalty of the employee.
An employee with stronger loyalty is less likely to be lured away by competitors. When an employee’s loyalty level is 80 or higher, it means that the employee is content working for you and is not going to consider headhunting offers by other companies.
When an employee’s loyalty level drops below 20, it means that the discontent has been built up to an extent that the employee may quit anytime.
You can increase an employee’s loyalty in the following ways:
1) give a salary raise
2) set a higher training budget
Another point to keep in mind is that when an employee’s skill improves, the employee will rightly expect a higher salary. If you fail to recognize that and give the salary raise that is deserved, the employee’s loyalty will weaken over time.
Headhunting
If you have found no suitable candidates for your company’s job openings, you may attempt to headhunt experienced people from other companies.
To do so, click the [Headhunt] button to bring up the Headhunt window.
To headhunt a person, you must offer a higher salary and a signup bonus that is equal to one year salary. And the more loyal the person is to his/her current employer, the higher the salary you must offer.
As you can see, there is a high cost associated with headhunting and you should only do so if you really think it is worth the cost.
Transferring Talents from Your Subsidiary Companies
You may transfer a talent from your subsidiary company to your current firm.
To do so, click the [Headhunt Targets Include Subsidiaries] button. Once this is enabled, the list of headhunt targets will include employees from your subsidiary companies.
Then select a talent from the list and click the [Transfer] button to transfer the talent from your subsidiary company to your current firm.
Viewing Available Talents in Different Cities
When you are going to build a new R&D center or a software company, you can first view the available talents in different cities from your Human Resources Department to find out where the best talents are located.
Raising Team Leads’ Salaries in Accordance with Inflation
When you play a game with inflation enabled, it is important that you regularly offer salary raises to the team leads in your companies at a rate that matches the inflation. If you fail to do so, their loyalty will drop and they will eventually quit their jobs.
To relieve you from the tedious task of raising individual salaries manually, the game provides an option for automatically adjusting the salaries of the team leads in your company based on inflation. This option is available on the Human Resources Department of your Headquarters and this department is set up for you by default when you start a new game with inflation enabled.