Assign Workers in Fallout 4
Screenshot via Bethesda

How to Assign Workers at a Settlement in Fallout 4

Don't let a settler slack off at your settlement.

As your various settlements grow in Fallout 4, you’ll start to attract more and more settlers to live there. While this helps your population grow, these settlers won’t just start working on their own most of the time. Instead, you need to assign them – here’s how.

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How to Assign Workers in Fallout 4

Fortunately, Fallout 4 makes it extremely simple to assign a worker to a job in your settlement. You can follow the steps below to make it happen:

  • Open the Workshop menu when you’re in a settlement that has unassigned workers
  • In the Workshop menu, find one of your unassigned settlers and focus your camera on them
  • This will highlight them, show you their name, and if they’re currently assigned to any job
  • If they are unassigned, a red Pip-Boy icon will appear under their name. If they are assigned, a green icon showing what they’re assigned to will appear.
  • To assign a worker to a job, just press X/A on controller or Enter on keyboard when the worker is highlighted. Then, go to whatever you want to assign them to and press X/A/Enter again.
  • Make sure the job you want to assign them to is highlighted on your screen, otherwise the worker won’t be successfully assigned.
This settler is assigned to a crop in Fallout 4. Screenshot by The Escapist

Once you have assigned a worker to a job in Fallout 4, their icon when you highlight them will change. If they still have a red Pip-Boy icon, you need to try and assign them again.

You can assign a worker to just about any job in a settlement, which includes:

  • Working a crop.
  • Manning a defense guard post.
  • Running a Store.
  • Manning the scavenging station.
  • Working a barber or surgery chair.

You can also assign workers to a specific bed if they don’t have one. Of course, you need to have built a spare bed for them to have in your settlement, as you can’t reassign a bed to someone new once it’s already been claimed.

To assign workers to some jobs, such as the Stores, you need to have the Local Leader perk, which is unlocked at Charisma level six. Some jobs require additional levels in Local Leader, so if you can’t assign a worker to a Store or something similar, that’s likely the reason why.

Fallout 4 is available now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.


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Author
Joey Carr
Joey Carr is a Staff Writer at The Escapist. He has over seven years of experience in the video game industry as a writer, editor, and content manager covering a wide range of genres and titles. Specifically, Joey covers Call of Duty, other multiplayer titles, and new game releases. You can find some of his previous work on Upcomer, Dot Esports, GameSpot, and more gaming sites.