Job performance

A Sim's job or school performance reflects how well he or she is doing at work or school. The performance meter can be found in the career section.

The Sims
Indications of performance are rather basic in The Sims. Children have grades. Adults have five job performance levels, labeled Dismal, Poor, Average, Good, and Excellent. There are no performance bars or meters, as there are in later games. Sims with Poor or Dismal job performance risk being demoted, but they will not be fired unless they miss two days in a row. If a Sim is eligible for a promotion, Good performance increases his or her chances of getting it, and Excellent performance increases them even more.

The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories
In The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, the career section shows the performance bar. For children and teens, it reflects school performance, and shows their grades. For other Sims, it shows job performance. Teens with jobs will have two tabs in the career section; one will show school performance while the other will show job performance. Low job performance may result in a Sim being demoted or even fired, while high performance increases the chance of promotion, assuming that the Sim has the necessary skills and friends. For school performance, the Sim's grades are shown above the bar. For Sims with jobs, the number of family friends the household has is shown beneath the bar. If the household has fewer family friends than the Sim needs to be promoted, the difference will be shown in parentheses.

Message displayed
This is the message that's displayed when hovering the mouse on the performance bar: "It's hard to get up and head to work day after day, but a light heart and a smile can make a big difference. Leaving the house in a good mood will have a positive effect on your Sims' performance as a whole and increase their chances of getting promoted. Missing work will hurt your Sims' job performance which can lead to demotions or even job loss."

Console versions of The Sims 2
Being fired in the console versions of The Sims 2 and The Sims 2 Pets is based on days missed. There is no performance bar as there is in the PC games.

The Sims 3
One performance meter that is always there is the mood performance bar. It reflects a Sim's mood more accurately than the mood meter. Other performance meters will exist based on what the Sim's current job is, e.g. a student will have a homework performance meter. The performance meter uses 7 different smilies to represent a Sim's performance. Their order is, from left to right:
 * Horrifying
 * Foul
 * Bad
 * Normal
 * Great
 * Excellent
 * Outstanding.

Factors that affect performance
There are different factors that affect the performance meter. The always-present meter, for example, is heavily affected by a Sim's mood and moodlets. Other performance meters are affected by what they do and what they should do but didn't, like homework.

The Bar
As in The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, there is also a performance bar. As in The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, Sims will get promoted if the bar is filled (Green) or get demoted or even fired when low (Red). Although the manual for The Sims 3 mentions this, the game does not mention it when the mouse is on the performance bar.