[2] The novel details the interactions between human and android crew members aboard a futuristic spacecraft as they encounter and react to a series of mysterious alien objects.

[1] Sometime in the future, a mixed group of humans and human-like androids are sent to research a succession of alien objects that they obtain from the planet “New Discovery”, which is located very far from Earth.

[6] Each class expresses their own internal conflicts: many of the humans experience longing for their lives back on Earth as a result of their isolation on the spaceship, while the humanoids begin to exhibit complex emotions and cognitions that seem to exceed the limitations of their coding.

The humanoid crew members receive occasional updates to their programming and can even have their memories uploaded to a database, granting them a form of immortality.

[9] The structure of The Employees implies an allegory of the modern workplace, as a corporate entity conducts a series of interviews of the ship's crew, aimed towards performance review.

[10] Ravn also describes egg clusters, open pores, dotted flesh in a manner evocative of trypophobia.

[2] A section of The Employees focuses entirely on skin doing unusual things, adding to the author's intention of giving an off-putting feeling to the reader.

In addition, half of The Employees' characters were created artificially, so the author uses eggs to show the importance of flesh in the story.

[10] Eggs also allude to child-rearing, with examples of carrying, caring for things, and production found frequently in The Employees.

[5] The objects were modeled after sculptures included in the Danish artist's exhibition titled Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present, which was displayed at Copenhagen's Overgaden art institute.

[9] Ravn decided to write the book after Hestelund reached out to her requesting a written accompaniment for her upcoming art show.

[7] Justine Jordan of The Guardian summarized the thoughts of many critics, calling The Employees a "an audacious satire of corporate language and the late-capitalist workplace, and a winningly abstracted investigation into what it means to be human.

[1] Judges called it a "beautiful and moving novel," and praised it for its experimental structure and exploration of human nature and happiness.