All this influences both his happiness and his job performance and once his job performance reaches a certain level, he get's promoted which includes a higher pay and sometimes different work hours.
Should he work through lunch, get friendly with the boss or talk to his co-workers and such. The only influence the player can make in case of the workplace is how his Sim should go about his work. While the gym functions like a normal house with the ability to remove the walls and look inside, other places including the workplace, book store and hospital the Sim just enters and vanishes until his duty has been fulfilled there. However, not every house can be seen from the inside.
Instead The Sims 3 now simulates a full city the player's Sim is free to move around in and do what he wants, including working and socializing, but also buying groceries or books and visiting classes to further advance his personal skills. As opposed to its predecessors, the game isn't limited to the property a Sim owns with loading times in-between traveling to other places like family retreats.
