Discussions about Hiring and Hiring Practices

[Deanna J. Lloyd]

I have a total of four farms. My original farm has only 390 arable fields because of all the trees, flowers, water works, buildings, etc. I have put on it. For that one, I usually hire just one person to harvest. If they're thorough, I will usually hire them to plow. If their harvesting is erratic and they won't respond to my prompts to harvest fields they have missed, I don't hire to plow.

Two of my farms are in the 500-600 field range, and I still usually hire only one person to harvest. Plowing is again based on how thorough they are. My largest farm has nearly 900 fields. For this one I will probably hire two people to harvest -- but I tell them I'm hiring two and suggest they work together, dividing the farm up.

Most often, I will hire whoever harvested to do the plowing as well. It's easier than going back to the MP to find someone else. However, I do stack my farms sometimes & I do have neighbors who are trying to level up, so there's no guarantee I will hire to plow. And I don't usually hire to plow until all the harvesting is done.

Oftentimes, when I don't plan to have a farm plowed, I will remain in the MP and get myself hired so I'm not around at the crucial moment. If a farmer sends me a message, polite, I will often return to my farm & hire them. If not, or if they are rude or pushy, I can just ignore their message.

More than anything else, I don't like hiring more than two people to do any job because I find the more people working on a farm, the more erratic the results. I have landed on many a farm where there are hordes of workers running around trying to snatch up all they can get. Then I usually zoom out and find a quiet space to work. When someone jumps in front of me, I move somewhere else. But best of all, when everyone thinks everything is gone, I zoom out and do mop-up. I find most owners really appreciate my efforts & I've often been rewarded by being the only one hired to plow or getting hired to harvest and/or plow a second farm alone.

All that said, a "fire" button would be a rarely used, but very desirable, feature.