Short answer: Employees come from two sources: influencer referrals and the game world. To grow your staff, raise your regional reputation (which unlocks more influencer options), complete influencer meetings with high swag, and check info boards and hostage minigames for world-spawned employees. To make existing dealers sell more, give them dealer spots, assign customers, and keep them stocked - a dealer with no inventory or no assigned customers produces nothing.

Where Employees Come From

The basic hire flow is covered in the staff guide. This guide is about the two bottlenecks that stall most players: getting more employees, and making the ones you have efficient.

Employee sources, confirmed:

Source How It Works Notes
Influencer referrals Complete influencer missions, then request a referral 2 hires per influencer
Game world World-spawned employees found while exploring Watch for prompts and marked locations
Info boards Board listings in regions Check each region's board
Hostage minigames Can yield staff unlocks From the community "Efficient and Safe Game Guide"

Reputation Is the Engine

Regional reputation controls how much of this you can access. From the official tutorials: increasing your reputation unlocks new unlocks and business contacts, and improves your relationship with the local influencer - the better the relationship, the more you gain from doing business there.

Three rules that follow:

  1. Complete jobs and investments in one region instead of hopping around - reputation is regional, and a high-rep region gives you both better influencer options and better store relationships.
  2. Do not steal or burgle in the region you are building. The official tutorial is explicit: stealing and burglaries decrease your reputation.
  3. Reputation also feeds store levels. Better store relationships mean more items in the shop offer and higher quantities - that matters for lab equipment and packaging supplies.

Influencer Meetings: Bring Swag

You make appointments with influencers at phone booths. Community guides agree on the key variable: higher swag gets better results from meetings. Swag is the stat that determines how much an influencer likes you, and it directly affects how many employees you can pull out of the relationship.

Practical loop: progress the influencer's missions -> raise swag -> set up meetings via phone booth -> take the referrals. Each influencer gives 2 hires, so the ceiling for staff growth is tied to how many influencers you have access to - which is again reputation.

Making Dealers Actually Sell

A dealer is only as good as their setup. From the official tutorial:

  1. Buy the dealer's cabinet via furniture mode in a hideout.
  2. Place the employee in the cabinet - this converts them into a dealer for that hideout's region.
  3. Assign customers from that region to the dealer.
  4. Set the dealer on a dealer spot in the region (spots appear when you use the relevant scan or find them in the world).
  5. Leave drugs in the hideout - the dealer pulls stock from the hideout supply.
  6. Collect money from the dealer's cut (a safe helps for accumulating cash).

The failure mode most players hit: they assign customers and a spot but never leave stock in the hideout, so the dealer has nothing to sell. Check stock levels before assuming the dealer is broken. For the full role breakdown, see employee roles.

Efficiency Checklist

  • [ ] One region focused: reputation and influencer relationships are region-locked
  • [ ] Phone booth meetings scheduled, swag maxed before each meeting
  • [ ] Info boards checked in every region you enter
  • [ ] Dealer cabinet bought and placed in the right hideout
  • [ ] Customers assigned and dealer spot set
  • [ ] Hideout stocked with product the dealer can sell
  • [ ] Money safe installed so dealer cuts accumulate

Community Verification & Resources

Data values may shift with patches. Cross-check against community resources before building your strategy.

DDS2 Tutorials (Fandom Wiki) Official tutorial text on reputation, influencers and dealers How do I improve staff (Steam Discussion) Community thread on staff progression Efficient and Safe Game Guide (Steam Guide) Community guide covering employee sources and reputation