Staff are your largest running cost and the reason most habitats fail or succeed. The goal isn't more staff; it's the right staff in the right zone with short walks.
Staff roles
| Role | Job | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Keeper | Feeds animals, cleans habitats, refills feeders | Keeper hut nearby |
| Caretaker | Empties bins, cleans paths | Lots of bins and benches in their zone |
| Mechanic | Repairs barriers, pumps, filters, solar panels, generators | Access to every utility |
| Vendor | Runs shops and information centres | Training increases shop income |
| Vet | Treats animals, researches | Vet surgery, research centre |
| Educator | Runs animal talks, can be lent to conservation projects | Talk points |
| Scuba diver | Services aquariums | Aquarium staff access |
Facilities
- Keeper hut: food preparation. You can hide its walls, roof and even door to make a small open feeding station next to a habitat.
- Staff room: rest. Staff with low energy (14% in one zoo) work slowly. Check total capacity.
- Vet surgery & quarantine: treatment and isolation.
- Research centre: research by vets.
- Trade centre: animal arrival and departure.
Staff facilities in Planet Zoo 2 are customisable rooms rather than fixed boxes. They have no presets, but once you've designed one you can save it as a blueprint. Guests no longer get upset at seeing staff buildings, so you can even place a vet surgery where guests can look in.
Work zones
Work zones tell staff where they belong. Add habitats, facilities and staff to a zone; staff outside a zone may wander or ignore tasks.
- Start with one zone for a small zoo.
- Split by type once you have aquatic and terrestrial sections, for example "Aquatic" and "Terrestrial" (with avian habitats added to whichever is closest).
- Each zone needs its own facilities: at minimum a staff room, keeper hut and vet surgery.
- Every new building must be added to a zone. "Can't find keeper hut" or "can't find staff room" usually means a missing zone assignment or a blocked staff path.
How many staff?
- Keepers: roughly one per large habitat or multi-species aquarium. A "no keeper to refill the feeder" alert means you're short.
- Mechanics: one per zone is often enough, more if you have many filters, solar panels and big barriers.
- Caretakers: scale with guest numbers. Litter everywhere means you need more.
- Vets: two per busy zone during outbreaks; fewer once research is done.
Training
- Staff have star levels (1–5). Training raises their level, speed and quality, but also their wages.
- You can only train each person periodically, so train a few at a time.
- Trained vendors earn more, so train them early.
- Aim for most staff at around three stars, then push key keepers and vets higher.
Staff room perks
Each staff room can have a perk:
- Learning resources: staff learn while resting, which is effectively free training.
- Social club and health care: improve rest quality and wellbeing.
Mix perks across your staff rooms.
Uniforms
Uniform colours can be customised per role. It's purely cosmetic, but tying vendors' colours to your zoo's branding makes a build feel finished.
Keeping staff happy and fast
Tired staff are slow staff. If jobs pile up even though you have plenty of people, check their energy. One zoo had keepers at 14% energy because there wasn't enough staff room space.
- Check the total capacity of your staff rooms against your number of staff. One zoo had 12 places for a much bigger team.
- Put a staff room in every work zone so breaks don't mean long walks.
- Use perks (see above) so breaks also improve skills or wellbeing.
- Short staff paths between the keeper hut, habitats and staff room save a surprising amount of time.
When to fire staff
It feels harsh, but it saves a lot of money:
- Vendors with no shop: sometimes the game places an extra vendor by mistake.
- Extra vets once every species and disease has been researched.
- Duplicate vendors in a quiet area (two or three vendors for two small shops is plenty).
Lending staff to conservation projects
Conservation projects borrow staff for a while (two educators, a mechanic, some vets). Rather than sending your best educator, hire a cheap one-star educator just for projects. See Conservation Credits.