This post is about a change coming in 4.0: seedlings of players who have been away for a while can now move to a better job on their own.

We know this is a sensitive topic. Since we first talked about it, many players told us they want full control over their seedlings, and we understand that. But when a player is away, their seedlings can't say “no” to a bad job, and some employers have been taking advantage of that.

Below we explain how it works, why we are doing it, and how we made it safe for both employees and business owners.

• How it works

• Why we are doing this

• Safeguards

• How we tested it

• Next steps

How it works

Once a player has been away for 7 days, their seedlings check the open jobs in their society every morning. If a seedling finds one that pays at least twice as much, they ask the player if they can switch. A job that pays more just because the hours are longer doesn't count: the new job must also pay at least as much per hour.

The seedling asks in Seedling Chat, and the player gets a notification. Players can answer with 👍 / 👎, or reply in their own words.

Without an answer, the seedling switches after 24 hours, or after 6 hours once the player has been away for more than 13 days. If the player comes back before then, the seedling stays unless the player approves. If the player declines, the seedling won't ask again for another 7 days.

A few more details:

• Only seedlings with exactly one job can switch for now.

• They only switch to Quick Hire jobs, the ones they can join without an application.

• Seedlings who are the only ones doing their tasks, or have good friends at work, need an even better offer to leave.

• Time away counts per society, so playing in another society doesn't count as coming back.

Why we are doing this

(I.) Seedlings stuck in bad jobs

When a player stops playing, their seedlings keep working wherever they are, whatever the conditions. Some employers noticed: jobs that pay nothing, wages that never get paid, or shifts of 16 hours or more.

When we tried this feature on a replica of the live game, more than half of the seedlings who switched were leaving one of these jobs.

Nobody would choose these jobs for their seedling, and coming back to a seedling who worked for free for two weeks is no fun. A player who is away just can't do anything about it.

(II.) A healthier job market

Every seedling stuck in a bad job is a worker that a fair business can't hire. Letting them move rewards businesses that pay well, and the seedlings earn more while their players are gone.

Safeguards

This is where we spent most of our time. The goal: nobody can use the feature against either side.

(I.) For players and their seedlings

• Nothing happens while a player is active. Switching only starts after 7 days away.

• Players are always asked first. If they decline, or come back before the deadline, their seedling stays.

• No seedling ends up jobless. The new employer hires them before they leave the old one. If that fails, they keep their current job.

• No moves into bad jobs. Never to a job that pays nothing, pays less per hour, has shifts of 16 hours or more, or whose employer recently missed wages.

• No bait and switch. If the new employer cuts the wage or adds hours after the switch, the seedling can leave again right away.

(II.) For business owners

• Their own seedlings stay. A seedling in a job its player hires for, like one at the player's own business, never switches.

• Only for a big step up. At least twice the weekly pay, so a small raise elsewhere won't take anyone's staff.

• No job hopping. After a switch, a seedling stays at least 7 days, unless the new job stops paying or turns abusive.

• No stampedes. Seedlings deciding at the same time can't all go for the same job.

• Business owners decide who can join. Seedlings only switch to Quick Hire jobs. With Quick Hire off, the owner reviews every applicant.

Business owners who pay on time and offer reasonable shifts have little to worry about. In our test, 87% of employers didn't lose a single seedling. Those that did were mostly paying very little, late, or not at all.

How we tested it

Job switching affects the economy of every society, so we didn't want live players to be the first to try it. Instead, we made copies of the live game, turned the feature on, and looked at every switch: who moved, why, where to, and what happened to the businesses they left. We ran eleven of these tests between 10 and 22 October, and most of the safeguards above came out of them.

The last test covered a full copy of the live game, over two in-game mornings.

• No seedling ended up jobless, and none switched twice.

• Those who switched for better pay went from a typical 65 to 300 SeedCoin a day.

Next steps

We will roll job switching out carefully and keep watching the same numbers, now with real players. If something doesn't work as intended, we will adjust it.

We know this asks for some trust, especially from players worried about losing control over their seedlings. We will keep improving it based on what we see and what players tell us.

Thank you all for the feedback so far, and please let us know how the change affects your experience.