IKEA Roblox job: how The Co-Worker game hired real staff

Yes, the IKEA Roblox job was real. In June 2024 IKEA UK and Ireland opened The Co-Worker, a virtual store inside Roblox, and hired ten people at £13.15 an hour to work in it. The open call drew more than 178,000 applications in two weeks. Here is how the game played, how hiring worked and what it delivered.

Our account draws on the library record for The Co-Worker, IKEA's two UK newsroom releases, agency case pages, award entries and trade press. Most results are self-reported; where sources disagree, we show both and lean on the lower figure.

The Co-Worker at a glance

The Co-Worker — IKEA (2024)

Agency: Mother (creative), The Gang (game production) · Mechanic: Simulation & Strategy · Platform: Roblox (in-game)

Brand: IKEA UK and Ireland · Opened: 24 June 2024 · Objective: Lead gen & recruiting

Why did IKEA recruit on Roblox?

In 2023, in a tight labour market, applications to IKEA were falling and the usual employer-benefits messaging was not landing (Marketing Week). Young people aged 18 to 25, the core of the retail workforce, had lost interest in working there: they were drawn to entrepreneurship and content creation and did not see that an IKEA career can move sideways. The brief, as The Gang tells it, was to raise IKEA's profile as an employer, improve how people see working there and drive store applications in the May and June hiring period (The Gang). The first idea was social ads; the team moved to gaming as the best way to reach that age group, 98% of whom game regularly, according to Marketing Week.

How does the IKEA Roblox game work?

You arrive in a virtual IKEA store split into two areas, the Showroom and the Swedish Bistro and Market (Roblox). Pick a department and clock in. Each role is a short mini-game based on a real job: get the showroom ready before the timer runs out, help a customer find the right product, assemble a room set from a design brief, serve hot dogs and meatballs in the Bistro. There are seven job games in all (D&AD), with roles running from Sales Co-Worker to Food Team Leader (IKEA).

Finishing tasks earns XP, and XP earns promotions. The key rule is the sideways move: you can walk over to another department and keep the seniority you have built, and rewards are tied to making several such moves, according to Marketing Week. The same report says non-player characters deliver the message about sideways careers, and the store's virtual staff were based on real people (The Gang). There is no final level; a session is an open shift, and the prizes are free avatar items such as a KNORVA hat and a DJUNKELSKOG bear.

How did the IKEA Roblox job work, and what did it pay?

The job went public on 3 June 2024, three weeks before the store opened. IKEA's UK newsroom set out the terms (IKEA):

• Paid shifts for ten new virtual co-workers, fully remote.
• £13.15 an hour, IKEA's hourly rate for a London co-worker, which IKEA says is in line with the Living Wage Foundation's real living wage. TIME converted it to about $16.48 (TIME).
• Applicants had to be 18 or over and live in the UK or the Republic of Ireland. The small print on the job visual also ruled out existing IKEA co-workers.
• Applications ran from 3 to 16 June: a questionnaire and an updated CV, video optional. Shortlisted applicants had virtual interviews between 14 and 18 June.
• Roblox played no part in employing or paying anyone.

The call ran on social media, with applications through TikTok duets and Instagram videos (The Gang), and on pixelated furniture installations in stores (Mother). IKEA called it the first paid work any brand had launched on Roblox (TIME). The store opened on 24 June as the second phase of IKEA's Careers Done Different campaign, and the launch release introduced one of the hires, Yasmin (IKEA).

Results: what The Co-Worker delivered

Result: the open call for ten roles drew more than 178,000 applications in two weeks (IKEA); Marketing Week gives the exact count as 178,032. The agencies report that real-world job applications to IKEA rose 50% (D&AD) and call it IKEA's most successful recruitment campaign ever (The Gang, Creative Review).

• Players. 6.7 million visitors explored the store, according to the agency (The Gang). Roblox's own counter stood at 8,241,094 visits and 185,395 favourites when we checked on 12 October 2026 (Roblox).
• Careers site. Traffic grew more than fourfold, with engagement up 26%, according to The Gang.
• Perception. In a post-campaign survey with 15,000 responses, 95% of them from the target group, 72% said the game improved their view of working at IKEA, 70% agreed it is easy to switch departments and 85% agreed IKEA is a great place to work (The Gang). Marketing Week reports 74% of the target audience with an improved perception of IKEA and 76% likely to consider a career there (Marketing Week).
• Media. The agencies report more than 2,000 news articles and 16 billion earned media impressions (The Gang, Creative Review). Marketing Week gives far smaller numbers: over 200 pieces of editorial coverage and 220 million impressions.
• Awards. A Bronze Lion in Entertainment Lions for Gaming at Cannes Lions 2025 (The Location Guide), a Graphite Pencil at D&AD 2025 (D&AD) and Marketing Week's 2025 award for Brand Innovation (Marketing Week).

View the case

Why it worked, and what to borrow

The wage was the story. Ten roles at a normal London store rate turned a game launch into a jobs story that newsrooms and social feeds could repeat, and announcing it three weeks before opening gave that story time to build. Both agencies say the call drew more applications than Love Island and The X Factor (The Gang, Creative Review). Publishing the rate and the eligibility rules answered the "is this legit" question in advance.

The core rule is the employer message. IKEA needed young people to believe its careers move sideways as well as up. The rule that lets you switch department and keep your rank makes the player do exactly that, and the survey question that scored 70% measures that belief. Build the one belief you need to change into the rules; here it was career mobility, not furniture.

It had a real conversion point. The call and the launch both fell inside IKEA's May to June hiring window, and the campaign reports careers-site visits and store applications, not just plays.

When a careers game is the wrong tool

• When most players can't be hired. The experience carries Roblox's Minimal maturity rating and is open to anyone (Roblox), while only adults in the UK and Ireland could apply. It has to work as employer branding first. For a handful of specialist hires, a lighter format such as Knowit Experience's Apply Or Die, which turned the application form into a retro game, fits better.
• When there is no launch story. The 178,000 applications followed news of the job, not Roblox discovery, and the credits include a PR agency, Weber Shandwick (Creative Review). A careers world with no news hook risks opening to an empty store.
• When the job can't be shown honestly as play. Shelf-stocking and serving food translate into mini-games; regulated or safety-critical roles are harder to simulate without misleading people.

Which other employers have built careers games?

Germany's customs service opened Zoll Campus on Roblox in 2025, with mini-games based on customs work, from spotting contraband in airport luggage to IT troubleshooting. Carrefour's Jobs To Play (2026) took the idea to Fortnite with four job-based modes, one of them restocking a shelf while a rival team knocks it over. The US Air Force's Airman Challenge (2012) did something similar on the web, making players staff each mission with real Air Force specialists. More in our guides to recruitment games and brands on Roblox.

What IKEA did next in games

From 22 January to 5 February 2026, IKEA piloted virtual IKEA products inside the Roblox game Welcome to Bloxburg for players in Sweden and Australia (The Retail Bulletin). Mother also took the brand into Skyrim with KALLAX Storageborn (2026), a free add-on in which a talking KALLAX shelf follows the player and gathers up their loot.

FAQ

Is IKEA actually hiring on Roblox?

Not at the moment. The paid roles came from one open call run by IKEA UK and Ireland from 3 to 16 June 2024, for ten fully remote positions (IKEA). We found no announcement of a second round. When we checked on 12 October 2026, The Co-Worker was still listed on Roblox and open to visit, but playing it does not lead to a job.

Is the IKEA Roblox job legit?

It was. IKEA announced it in its UK newsroom on 3 June 2024, with full terms on a dedicated campaign site, and TIME reported the details (TIME). Applicants had to be 18 or over and live in the UK or the Republic of Ireland; Roblox was not the employer. The only paid call IKEA announced closed on 16 June 2024, so treat any newer offer with care.

How much does IKEA pay in Roblox?

The ten people hired earned £13.15 an hour, IKEA's rate for a London co-worker and, IKEA says, in line with the real living wage (IKEA). TIME converted it to about $16.48. Other players are not paid; they earn XP, promotions and free avatar items such as an IKEA-branded hat.

What's the Roblox IKEA game called?

The IKEA game is listed on Roblox as IKEA: The Co-Worker, published by IKEA's own group (Roblox), and called The Co-Worker Game in IKEA's releases. It opened on 24 June 2024, produced by The Gang with creative agency Mother. More on our case page and in the retail section.

For more brand worlds inside existing games, browse the in-game worlds collection, and if your studio made one, send it to us.