In this Virtonomics guide, I will walk through with you on one of the most important elements of Virtonomics - Work Efficiency . This is, in my opinion, the most important element you must master in Virtonomics if you not only want to survive in it, but also to excel in it. I will cover 4 very important topics in this article:
# 1 - What is Work Efficiency?
Work efficiency defines how efficient a subdivision is. If it is at 100%, it means that the subdivision is operating at 100% work efficiency; Similarly, if it is at 50%, it means the subdivision is only operating at 50% efficiency. This means that if a factory is operating at 50% efficiency, the production output is reduced to half!
As you can see, if work efficiency for your subdivisions is not managed properly, it could mean a difference between profit or a huge plunge of losses. This is especially important as an overlook in your factory production's work efficiency could result in a disruption in your Production Chain and many retail stores down the line could be affected by it, and the recovery process can be disastrous as it will take quite a substantial amount of time. If you did not have a Business Continuity Plan in place, obviously your earnings will be upset.
Before touching on the calculations of work efficiency, allow me to explain what Qualification is in Virtonomics, and how it will affect our calculations.
# 2 - What is Qualification and how does it affect me?
If you are familiar with gaming, qualification in Virtonomics can be translated to "Level". That is, you will need to gain enough experience points to 'level up' during which you will be able to cope with a larger production load (Production Qualification), or a larger retail store (Commerce Qualification). As long as the relevant track is utilized properly, experience points can be gained.
All in all, there are 8 qualifications available for you to level up with. I will cover more on Qualifications in a separate article, such as Top Manager Type 1 - 3, how to achieve maximum qualification growth rate, etc, as there is quite a substantial amount of information. For now, this information is more than sufficient for the calculations that I will be covering.
# 3 - How is Work Efficiency Calculated?
First of all, you will need to refer to the work efficiency charts that I have uploaded. Next, note that the formula to calculate the required Qualification to establish 100% efficiency is as follows: (Quality of Staff needed * ((current staff / left column of the chart) ^ 0.5)). For example, if the minimum quality of staff needed is 3, how many staff can I hire to achieve 100% efficiency if my Qualification is level 1?
In this case: 3 * (5/50) ^ 0.5 = ~ Q1. You know that you can hire 5 staff.
The formula might seem a little intimidating for starters, but be rest assured, you will get a hang of it in no time! Also, please note that the formula is derived empirically after countless attempts of experiments. It should not be used for actual data. However, the formula's accuracy is only about + -1% off, but has already proved to be very effective among the Virtonomics community. I personally have been using this calculations, and have not faced any problems in any form of misrepresentations of data.
# 4 - Use in Practical Scenarios
And as you can see, Qualification plays a very important part in calculating the work efficiency. If you had hired more than 5 staff, your required qualification would exceed Q1, which results in a drop in the efficiency. However, sometimes it could have been a good thing to sacrifice a little on the work efficiency for higher sales return. Referring to the previous example, if you had expanded your shop and hired 10 staff instead, you would actually experience an increased sales volume due to the additional customers instead, despite having lower work efficiency! So go ahead and experiment the right setup for you!
Another thing to take note is that the work efficiency in your office affects all the work efficiency of its subdivision. So always pay attention to your main office first!