The Employees

Lore & Background

The novel allegorizes the modern workplace, with corporate interviews resembling performance reviews. A hierarchy exists between humans and humanoids, but it is ambiguous who is above whom. Both groups are controlled by a distant corporation. Ravn explores transhumanism through add-ons and the rift between mortal humans and reuploadable humanoids. The objects connect to the crew. Senses are contrasted: humans have worn-out senses and nostalgia, humanoids have childlike senses. The novel includes descriptions evoking trypophobia and skin doing unusual things. Eggs symbolize collectivism and the born-vs-made dynamic. Inspiration came from artist Lea Guldditte Hestelund's sculptures, NASA clips, and Ravn's office job. Ursula K. Le Guin inspired the structure and egg motifs. A paraphrased quote by Barbara Kruger appears: 'It's a small world, but not if you have to clean it.'

Reader's Guide

The Employees is significant for its innovative narrative structure, composed entirely of fragmented interview reports, and its thematic depth. Critics praised it for investigating what it means to be human, critiquing the modern workplace, and reflecting on transhumanism. Justine Jordan of The Guardian called it 'an audacious satire of corporate language and the late-capitalist workplace, and a winningly abstracted investigation into what it means to be human.' The novel draws comparisons to Blade Runner's replicants and the alien artifacts in Arrival and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Its shortlisting for the 2021 International Booker Prize underscores its literary merit. The work's legacy lies in its blending of science fiction with philosophical inquiry, challenging readers to consider identity, labor, and the boundaries between biological and artificial life.

Did You Know?

• The novel was inspired by artist Lea Guldditte Hestelund's exhibition titled Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present.
• A copy of the book, bound in leather, was included at the Overgaden exhibition.
• Ravn credits Ursula K. Le Guin for inspiring the episodic structure and egg-like objects.
• The novel includes a paraphrased quote by Barbara Kruger: 'It's a small world, but not if you have to clean it.'

Narrative Architecture

The novel is structured as a collection of non-consecutive reports and memos gathered by corporate mediators over an eighteen-month interview period. The messages are addressed to a nameless administration, some are redacted, some are missing entirely, and the ordering appears jumbled as if the committee simply piled the papers together. This fragmented, bureaucratic format mirrors the corporate control exerted over the crew. The story follows a mixed crew of humans and androids aboard The Six Thousand Ship, orbiting the planet New Discovery, tasked with studying alien objects. Tensions escalate as the sensory-rich artifacts provoke profound emotional responses, contrasting sharply with the ship's antiseptic environment. The crew begins questioning the meaning of their existence beyond labor. The novel concludes with the committee disintegrating all biological material aboard—both humans and humanoids—citing the objects' effects as justification.

The Crew and the Question of Personhood

The crew is deliberately rendered mostly anonymous, a mixed assembly of born humans and manufactured humanoids whose boundaries blur throughout the text. At times it becomes genuinely difficult to distinguish which characters are biological and which are engineered. The humans grapple with longing for Earth and the isolation of deep space, while the humanoids develop complex emotions and cognitions that appear to exceed their programmed limitations. Dr. Lund is one of the few named figures—he is credited with inventing the humanoid crew members and serves as director of the Six Thousand Ship. An unnamed committee oversees the entire operation, compiling the interview reports that form the novel's body. The hierarchy between the two groups is deliberately ambiguous; each faction envies the other at different points, yet both remain subordinate to the distant, faceless corporation that employs them.

Allegory and Thematic Depth

The novel operates as a layered allegory, most prominently critiquing modern corporate labor. The interview structure evokes performance reviews, and the anonymous authority that ultimately destroys the crew mirrors how institutions can dehumanize workers. Transhumanism threads through the text: humans describe mysterious add-ons attached to their bodies, while humanoids can have their memories uploaded to a database, granting a form of digital immortality. Ravn also contrasts sensory experience between the two groups—humans relate to objects through nostalgia and worn-out senses, while humanoids approach the world with childlike curiosity, often using their mouths as primary sensory tools. The alien objects, particularly a sack of eggs, carry weight as symbols of collectivism, the born-versus-made divide, and the importance of flesh. Holograms of crew members' children appear before sleep, reinforcing themes of parenting and care.

World-Building and the Aesthetic of Containment

The Six Thousand Ship is a self-sufficient, organized vessel where every crew member works in a designated area to meet all potential needs. Yet this functionality comes at a cost: the environment is described as sterile, barren, and inescapably confining. The ship perpetually orbits New Discovery, a planet so distant from Earth that the crew is severed from nature entirely. The objects collected from the planet's surface are housed in an exhibition room of white walls, impassive corridors, and stark installations—rich sensory articles that stand in sharp contrast to the ship's antiseptic monotony. Ravn's futuristic technologies further blur the boundary between biological and mechanical: humanoids receive programming updates, humans attach add-ons to their bodies, and holographic projections of absent children populate the bunks. The author credits Danish artist Lea Guldditte Hestelund, whose exhibition Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present, as the visual inspiration for these alien artifacts.