Steal an Employee Progression Guide: From Zero to Axiom Robotics

From a fresh save, the route recent full playthroughs of Steal an Employee followed is: hold E to grab a worker and let their training finish, buy the $500 office at the computer, claim the index reward for bonus money and speed, then alternate speed upgrades — treadmill, trails, cars — with steals up the company ladder. The speed gates those runs climbed ran 2,000 → 10,000 → 270k → 700k → ~10 million → 55 million → 350 million, ending at the Axiom Robotics tier. Income grows by replacing weak employees through fire-and-sell, not by upgrading them.

One assumption carries through the whole route: every cost, income figure, and threshold below is a playthrough observation, not an official value. Updates shift these numbers, so treat them as a map of the correct order of progression and recheck current figures in your own game.

Fresh-start action order

Redeem steps

• Grab a worker

  Hold E — the arrow points at the nearest worker you can grab. The old boss gets angry when you poach.

• Seat the worker and wait out training

  Once hired, the employee generates income. First-hire pay has been logged as $36 per minute and as $36 per second in different runs — check the pay line on your own first hire in-game.

• Buy the office upgrade at the computer

  $500 observed in a first session.

• Claim the index/spin reward

  It grants more money and more speed.

• Train speed toward the first steal gates

  Walking plus treadmill: 2,000 speed was cited as an early need, and 10,000 speed was recommended before stealing from a higher company such as Nova Corp Global Trade.

• Buy a first car when affordable, then loop

  The Rusty Runner came from the car dealer. Then repeat: grab or steal stronger workers, claim indexes, and keep upgrading speed.

How early employee acquisition works

Poaching is the entry mechanic. Hold E near an employee and the arrow points at the nearest worker you can grab; the worker's boss gets angry, and the attempt can fail outright if the target's side is faster than you. Training time varies by employee and hints at quality — one 18-second training roll produced a weak hire ("probably not too good"), while longer trains preceded stronger employees later in the runs.

Employees cannot be upgraded in place. Weak ones are managed by selling them (the sale returns coins plus a free gift) or by firing them to free a desk for a better hire. Because walking itself raises speed, early movement doubles as the training that later unlocks better steals.

First office and income milestones

Checklist

• Confirm first-hire income

  Playthroughs disagree — $36 per minute versus $36 per second for the same first hire. Check the pay line in your own game rather than trusting either figure.

• Buy the first office upgrade

  $500 at the computer.

• Claim index/spin rewards after training completes

  They grant more money and more speed.

• Add an extra desk once affordable

  Judged a 'might as well' purchase in the run.

• Buy the second-floor office upgrade as income builds

  The desk-upgrade tier was judged too expensive at this stage.

• Know what the paid shop sells

  Boosts listed: two times money, two times speed, starter pack, money, speed.

How speed grows — and when to invest in it

Tips

Walking trains speed

Each time you walk, you get faster — early movement doubles as passive speed training.

Treadmill levels

Level-ups add speed per second — the neon treadmill gave 30 speed per second, and a sci-fi treadmill followed later in the run.

Trails

An early trail was bought to boost speed a bit, and the best trail in the game was used to reach roughly 10 million speed.

Cars from the dealer

The first run targeted the Rusty Runner; a later 'gold storm' car required 270k speed.

Step upgrades

Add per-step speed — 'plus 10 per step' was observed on one upgrade.

Flappy Run / Flappy Bird event

Good runs grant bonus speed — a 50% extra in one run and a 10% bonus later, with a runner crediting it with 'enough speed for the second round'.

When to buy speed

Both runs bought the next treadmill, trail, or car immediately before attempting a higher-tier steal — speed purchases pay off when the next target is speed-gated ('I just don't have the speed for it yet').

Speed gates observed on the climb

These are the figures the runs played at — thresholds can move with updates, and the underlying steal rule (you must be faster than the target) is inferred from play behavior, not a documented formula.

Comparison

Comparison

Observed Speed Figure	What It Gated In The Run
2,000	Cited as an early requirement during a first session; the specific target wasn't named
10,000 (recommended)	Stealing from Nova Corp Global Trade — the player succeeded while 'barely faster'
270,000	The gold storm car
700,000	Taking employees from Helios Orbital Systems
~10–11 million	Moving off the bank tier to steal from the gold dealers (Gavl and Gold)
55 million	Stepping up from gold sellers to Crypto Bros
350 million	The late-game step before the Axiom Robotics Division

Mid-game income: the replacement loop

Mid-game income grows by replacement, not by upgrading employees: steal or hire from a higher company tier, fire the weakest current worker ('Anybody here slacking? Anybody not making enough money?'), sell them, and seat the stronger hire. The tier ladder observed across a long run was: rookie jobs → construction workers → Helios Orbital Systems (staff described as NASA-style) → the bank → the gold dealers Gavl and Gold → Crypto Bros → Victorian Labs → Axiom Robotics Division as the last tier. Victorian Labs was cited at '120 mil', though the run didn't make clear whether that figure was a speed or cash requirement.

Per-employee income in that run scaled from the first hires at $36 through $850 (Silus Robin), two grand per second, 20 grand (Marcus), 120k, and 400k per second at Axiom. Between steals, the money sinks are office and market level-ups: market levels were priced at 2 million then 3 million, office floors climbed to level 7 (level 6 adds an elevator, and a later floor cost 1.4 billion), and new desks went on each floor until the base was fully maxed out. All of these figures are single-run observations.

When to stop stealing and invest in the base

Stealing from other companies and player bases is speed-gated on both sides. The runner couldn't take a worker when the target's side was quicker ('Hey, buddy. You're not quick enough'; 'this dude is fast. Okay, I can't steal from you'), and only managed the Nova Corp Global Trade steal while 'barely faster'. When every target outruns you — or a company's employee pool is exhausted ('More employees are going to come in two days' after clearing one company) — that is the shift point: spend on treadmill levels, trails, cars, and office/market upgrades until the next speed threshold is crossed.

Both runs show the same pivot: blocked or failed steal attempts were followed immediately by speed and base purchases rather than repeated retries, because the next tier — the bank, 'where the money happens' — stays out of reach until the speed requirement is met.

Common stalls

Mistakes to avoid

Problem

Income stops because offices close at night and send everyone home.

Fix

Treat it as a scheduled pause — income resumes when the day cycle returns, so time long waits around it instead of wondering why the money stopped.

Problem

A company's employee pool is empty after you clear it.

Fix

Pools restock on the day cycle, so progress waits on spawns as well as speed — use the wait to buy speed or base upgrades.

Problem

Training timers stretch into real minutes at higher tiers — a 7-minute train came up in a run.

Fix

Budget the wait, or skip it with Robux as that run did; don't plan steals around instant hires.

Problem

Looking for a rebirth or prestige reset to multiply progress.

Fix

There isn't one — 'no rebirthing' — progression is a single continuous ladder of employees, office levels, and speed.

Problem

Assuming every steal lets you pick the exact worker you want.

Fix

Steals don't always let you choose ('we don't even get to choose now'), so replacement quality varies — be ready to fire and sell a weak pick and try again.

Mistakes to avoid

Problem	Fix
Income stops because offices close at night and send everyone home.	Treat it as a scheduled pause — income resumes when the day cycle returns, so time long waits around it instead of wondering why the money stopped.
A company's employee pool is empty after you clear it.	Pools restock on the day cycle, so progress waits on spawns as well as speed — use the wait to buy speed or base upgrades.
Training timers stretch into real minutes at higher tiers — a 7-minute train came up in a run.	Budget the wait, or skip it with Robux as that run did; don't plan steals around instant hires.
Looking for a rebirth or prestige reset to multiply progress.	There isn't one — 'no rebirthing' — progression is a single continuous ladder of employees, office levels, and speed.
Assuming every steal lets you pick the exact worker you want.	Steals don't always let you choose ('we don't even get to choose now'), so replacement quality varies — be ready to fire and sell a weak pick and try again.

Because every figure on this page is run-observed, a quick in-game check of costs, income lines, and speed thresholds is the last step before committing to any big purchase on the route.