How to go to work in Lagos Life: every shift time and working day

"It's asking me to go to work — how do I go to work?" is the single most common question about the Lagos Life game, and most answers get it wrong by telling you to walk to your workplace. You do not have to. Here is the real mechanic, plus the shift start time, working days and workplace for all 14 careers.

1. The Go to work button

Work in Lagos Life is not a place you walk to. It is a button that appears when the game decides you are due a shift. The game says so in its own words after you are hired:

"You're hired! Marketer at Marina Towers, 8AM. No need to find it: when it's time, tap 💼 Go to work."

So the mechanic is:

1. Wait for a day you are rostered. Each career works its own set of weekdays — the full list is in the table below.
2. From 06:00, tap 💼 Go to work. It appears in the HUD and in the Jobs app on your in-game phone. The button also shows on the venue panel if you happen to be standing at your own workplace.
3. Your Sim travels there automatically. A fare of up to ₦150 is deducted. You are not asked to pick a route or a danfo.
4. You work one shift, once that day. When it is over the button stops showing until your next rostered day.

This is why the "how do I go to work" question is so confusing: the prompt tells you to go to work, but there is no building to walk into. If you are reading a guide that tells you to travel to Marina Towers or CcHub first, it is describing a step that does not exist.

2. Why the button is not there

The button is conditionally shown, so "nothing happens" almost always has a boring explanation. It appears only when every one of these is true:

3. Every shift time and working day

All 14 careers, ordered by start time. "Window" is the span the game shows for the shift — from your start time to your start time plus the shift length.

Full pay ladders for each of these are on the careers and salaries page, and what each skill does is on the skills and traits page.

4. Which schedule fits your week

Shift length ranges from 5 to 10 hours and the start times are spread over fourteen hours, so the schedule matters as much as the pay. Three groups:

A five-day daytime career leaves two clear days to push a skill or run a side business, which is why Banking is the usual first pick. If you take Music or DJ, plan around the fact that your Fun and Social bars will drain while everyone else is out — that trade-off is covered on the money guide.

5. Arriving on time, and promotion

The button appears at 06:00, but that is not when your shift starts. The game's own reminder is explicit: "Get there by [your start time] so your performance doesn't drop." Late arrival costs performance rather than the shift itself.

Performance is the thing that gates promotion, and promotion is the biggest single pay jump available to a new player. Two conditions have to be met together:

• Performance at 100%. The Jobs app shows a progress bar and names the next title.
• The career's skill at the required level. The four promotion gates are level 1, then 3, then 5, then 7 of your career's one skill. The game phrases it as "reach 100% with Charisma level 3", for example.

So a promotion is never purely about turning up — the skill is the wall most players hit. The skills page lists every action in the game that raises each skill, with the game's own rate values.

6. Two shifts that clash with venue hours

Every career maps to one of the 21 venues, and each venue publishes its own opening hours. 2 of the 14 careers are rostered outside their own workplace's hours:

Nothing blocks you — the shift is started from the 💼 button, not from inside the venue, so the mismatch never stops you working. But it is a real inconsistency in the game's own data, and it is the kind of detail that gets silently copied because most guides assume shift time and opening hours must agree.

Frequently asked questions