Head of Personnel
PRIORITY: Not defined
 Head of Personnel |
Superiors: Captain
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Department head:
Head of Personnel
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You are the Head of Personnel. You are the one on the left. The one on the right is a dog. You are not a dog. Your main responsibility is to sit in your office and listen to people request access to X area or ask for Y job. Should the worst come to pass, as well, you will need to assume command of the station as acting Captain.
Papers Please
Being essentially the right-hand man to the Captain does have its perks. For starters, you spawn in your cozy little office that should keep you sheltered from the derranged lunatics outside. Its almost entirely constructed out of reinforced walls and comes with two layers of shutters to close people out of entering the HoP line (or from leaving it). The only people with access to your office are you and the Captain (usually), so you should be pretty safe if things get messy.
Within your office, you have a plethora of goodies in your locker for the taking, including an Energy Gun, a armored coat, and a couple other things like a door remote for controlling Civilian Access doors, a stylish-looking Head of Personnel themed Cloak and spare uniforms for when you need to disguise as yourself.
Have a look at all your unique equipment here.
Your Own Department
As a Head of Staff you have your own department to watch out for. You're charge of coordinating the civilian personnel and supply staff on the station. This also includes the Quartermaster and Cargo Technicians. Usually, you can let the station's various Bartenders and Librarians run around and take care of themselves. They are technically under your direct command, but their jobs are usually simple and usually don't need your direct oversight.
Human Resources
You are the Head of Personnel. You get access to just about everything, including basic access to every department on the station. While you can also give yourself full access, this is a major breach of your powers and job. Your main responsibility is to manage the crew and make sure each department is fully staffed and working efficiently. Depending on how many crew members there are, that may mean some people pulling double shifts or having to do jobs they're not so good at doing.
A Full Department Is a Happy Department
When a department is lacking in crew members, you are expected to take the initiative to find qualified crew members to reassign or promote into the department. Offering pay raises, reimbursements, or recommending people into certain departments are all good ways of convincing people to transfer to a department that needs more staff members. Denying crew members a transfer into a fully-staffed department is a good way of getting staff in the places you need them as well. But remember to not be obstructionist: Work with the crew to find where they would be happiest and most productive.
A Happy Department Is a Productive Department
Now that a certain department is staffed, it also falls under your and Command Staff jurisdiction to make sure that each of the departments are running smoothly. Check up with all of the other department heads frequently to make sure that there aren't any inter-department problems or any major problems between crew members. You can also periodically check up on departments personally. Try to keep these inspections informal. Departments don't appreciate it when you are domineering or start demanding things from them.
The best way to proceed with a department inspection is to show up when they aren't in the middle of a stressful situation. Strike up a brief conversation with anyone at the desk, then do a quick walk around. If someone stops you, just ask them how the department is running and if you can do anything to help them out.
A Productive Department Is A Wealthy Department
As HoP you have access to the Account Uplink Terminal. Only you and the Captain start with access to this terminal. It lists the personal account of every crew member and the department accounts.
Each crew member’s individual account belongs to that crew member, and your access to these accounts is for oversight. There are sometimes accusations of fraud, embezzlement, or theft and your ability to go over transaction histories of every crew member gives you the power to hunt down nefarious accounting. You should never take money out of a crew member’s personal account without permission or proof that they got that money nefariously. You do not need a warrant to check financial accounts yourself since you are the manager of the “bank” for this shift, but the details of a crew member’s account is covered under Privacy Laws unless you find direct evidence of a crime. That means on green alert Security needs a warrant to get a copy of a crew member’s bank statement.
The Department accounts are the primary focus for you and the other heads of staff. It is part of your and the Captain’s job to make those numbers in the department accounts go up, up, and up!
The Cargo and Vendor accounts automatically make money. Your primary focus is on the Chef and bartender. The Chef should be selling their food, and their own job page outlines how to do it. They may come to you asking for the department account number to set up their ability to make transactions. You can either provide them the actual Service account details if you trust them, or form a special new account with a certain pre-set budget (of 500 credits for example) and give them the details to that account instead. Be careful! Money you add to new accounts will be taken from other department accounts, so do not go higher than 1,000 if other departments are planning on using their funds! Be sure you are able to transfer money back and forth if the worst happens. The kitchen may also make cash payments - be sure to swing by and ask for any funds made.
You should also consider having cargo compete with the merchant by selling whatever was stored in the warehouse.
The Reassignment: A Way of Life
Your other job is reassigning people when they come to your desk with one or more access requests. Make sure that he or she has a good, justified reason to want a job change. A Chef who suddenly wants to become a scientist is a good example of someone who should be heavily scrutinized. When in doubt, check their employment records.
Feel free to deny someone's transfer request if you get a poor explanation as to how someone suddenly came into possession of his or her sudden inter-department knowledge (My uncle was in a war/I read it in a book/I just know, are all pretty bad reasons). Alternatively, set them up with a subservient, or assistant position, until they've proven that they can do the job correctly. Custom assignment titles are useful for this! Try to be a lot more lenient in giving someone cadet or apprentice roles.
If a department has no heads of staff you can fill in as the supervising head of staff when filling out a reassignment form. Just stamp and sign it to have it on record that you made a judgement call in the reassignment. Any later arriving heads of staff may appreciate your foresight.
You're Hired, Welcome Aboard
If someone's job transfer request isn't completely ridiculous then it's time for you to do some background checks. Make sure the crew member knows what they're (going to be) doing inside of his or her new department. Once you've determined someone is a potential candidate for a job transfer, it's a good idea to grab one of the reassignment or promotion forms from the request console. It's generally encouraged to fill out the form for the individual. This lets you ensure the form is filled out correctly and has the additional benefit of making the requesting employee like you more, since no one likes paperwork! Keeping a record of all of the access changes you give out is key to keeping everyone else informed about what you're doing and keeping you out of the brig.
Here comes the hard part. Now that you have a filled out form, you should get it signed and stamped by an appropriate Chain of Command. Usually, this involves getting the department head's attention in one way or another, be it talking to them over the radio or sending your man to the department itself. Again, keeping a record of a department head's consent on file is usually one of the best ways to prove that your access change wasn't completely illegal. The shorthand version of this process would be to inform the head of staff in question about the transfer over the Command radio channel and get quick consent from there, and stamping and signing yourself with their consent.
Finally ask the man for his Identification Card so that you can officially give them the requested job title and access. Unless someone would like a specific job title, make sure to use the generic job titles near the top of the screen so that Security can identify that person much more easily with their fancy SecHUDs. If someone has a custom job title it might be a good idea to give them a copy of the reassignment form to carry as proof they aren't up to no good.
You're Suspended, Get Out
As well as handing out job transfers, it's also well within your authority to demote people and take those jobs away.
If someone falls asleep on the job or messes something up, you are well within your rights to demote them to a lower position after consulting the appropriate head of staff. Demoting a head of staff, however, is something that should not be done without the Captain's consent or majority decision from all heads of staff.
Occasionally, a head of staff will request that a crew member be demoted for varying reasons. All heads of staff are authorized to demote members of their own departments, so long as the necessary demotion form is filled out for that crew member. A Head of Personnel is expected to assist in processing these demotions from other departments without impeding this process - any dispute over the validity of a demotion outside the Head of Personnel's own departments should be handled in review after the fact, ideally overseen by a Captain. A head of staff cannot remove a crew member from the station entirely, and only has power to demote the crew members in his or her own department.
In Case of Emergency, Break Glass
Sometimes people need access to certain departments in an emergency, and the AI isn't up to the task of opening doors for people. Feel free to hand out emergency access to people such as Security Officers if the situation calls for it. Once the crisis has been averted, however, make sure to call them all back so you can revert them to their standard access. A number of people really do not like it when crew members go walking into their department for no real reason just because they have access to it. Handing out unapproved and unjustifiable access is one of the fastest ways to get you demoted, especially to non NT departments such as Supply and Security
The Five Points of Human Resources Management
The Head of Personnel can be a rather varied job. He can savor the prestige or feel shackled to the ID computer. If you find yourself wearing teal, make the most of it by doing your job correctly.
- Support the Captain. Be sure to work as a team to lead the crew. Earn this trust by making frequent use of command chat (:c) and deferring to him on matters of great importance like assigning new heads or calling the shuttle. You do not outrank the other heads, but you have the unique position of being able to assign people. You are the face of the Human Resources Department, so make sure you are good leadership material.
- Uphold the Rights of Crewmen. Security often commits excesses and the Captain is either dead or personally involved in a case. In these situations, remember to consider every side of the story before making a decision and try to follow Corporate Regulations, and get support Internal Affairs when they investigate.
- Follow the Principle of Least Privilege. When assigning new access levels or creating new jobs, ask yourself just how much access is really needed to perform the task. If a hardworking engineer wants EVA access, consider if he really needs access, or just for you to open the door for him while he gets a suit. If the Chaplain is being proactive about finding bodies but often needs people to open doors, maybe the risk of giving him more access is less than gain from increasing his effectiveness. Decisions like these keep the station more secure and cuts down on the number of accidental arrests made by Security for assumed trespassing. Remember to write their increased access or privileged items on a form and give it a good stamping so the Janitor will be able to show why he's mopping the Medbay floors.
- Talk to the Crew. The Captain is often too busy dealing with who knows what. The Head of Security is usually trying to keep his department in check. The Research Director is on fire, the Chief Medical Officer is up to his elbows injured people, and the Chief Engineer is trying to keep everyone warm and breathing in a vacuum. You're really the only Head able to take time and listen to the crew. Invite crewmen to talk to you when there are conflicts. Defuse the interpersonal and interdepartmental problems you discover during these conversations, and prevent grievances from becoming grief. Advocate on behalf of the beaten to security, and generally reduce the frequency and intensity of mutinies.
- Manage your Department First. While technically you can demote everyone who's ID you seize to Assistant, managing civilian workers not under another head is your immediate responsibility. Keeping janitors on task, directing the Chef to throw a pizza party, and getting the records up to date are the first thing to do after assigning job and access changes. Demoting bad Security Officers or stepping in for an absent department head also falls on your desk, but going into other departments to micromanage in front of their head is both bad form and likely to make you reviled. Always clear a demotion with their department head, or ideally, have all the heads aware they can send troublesome employees your way to be sent to the mining base. This lets you focus on your immediate underlings and avoid stepping on toes.
Ian
Ian, who starts in your office, is a dog that keeps you company. You can pet him or just pull him around for fun. Please try to be sensible about him.
It is traditional to rescue Ian if the Aurora has to be evacuated.
Links to Other Departments
Your job as head of personnel is to make sure all the necessary roles are filled. Check the crew manifest--is there a researcher who will want materials, but no miner to supply them? A cook, but no gardener? Three surgeons, but no chemist? If there's a gap in the chain of production, everything will slow down, and it's your job to fill those gaps. Whether you transfer someone from one job to another, or just give someone enough access to fill in for an empty role when it's needed, make sure the person you've put in the job is qualified to do it. If it's a gap in civilian your employees tend to appreciate you personally stepping in to help them. This can be working as a botanist for the chef, or being a temporary chef and/or bartender when you have little else to do and the areas are empty.
Roleplaying Tips
- You should have good knowledge of the Chain of Command.
- As an example, you could play as a subservient right hand man to the Captain, or a devious power hungry maniac, only serving to further your own career goals. Remember, whatever you choose, try to enjoy it, and try not to ruin the round for other people.
- You may have access to it, but you are not (read NOT) Security. Chasing and arresting criminals should be left to the likes of Security Officers and possibly the Head of Security. Your armour and weapon is for your protection only and does not give you the right to chase after criminals. If you should happen across a crime, pulling your weapon may hinder more than help. In addition, some departments may get upset and try to push trespassing charges on you if you enter secure areas without approval. Just because you have access doesn't mean that you can be there.
- You can use the Guide to Paperwork if you want to make your own forms, or use the Example Paperwork page.