More precisely referred to as "action drafting", this mechanism requires players to draft individual actions from a set that is available to all players. In a given round, drafting is done one-at-a-time and in turn order until all players have had a chance to draft individual actions. There is usually(*) a limit on the number of times a single action may be drafted each round. Once that limit is reached, an action can no longer be taken until a subsequent round or until the action space is no longer occupied by a worker. As such, not all actions can be taken by all players in a given round, and action 'blocking' occurs.

Actions are commonly drafted by the placement of game pieces or tokens on the selected actions. Each player usually has a limited number of pieces with which to participate in the process. From a thematic standpoint, the game pieces which players use to select actions often represent workers of any given trade (this category of mechanism, however, is not necessarily limited to or by this thematic representation). In other words, players often thematically "place workers" to show which actions have been drafted by individual players. For example, in Agricola you start with two family members who can be placed on action spaces to collect resources or take certain actions like building fences. When someone places a piece on a given space, that action is no longer available until the next round.

Well known examples of Worker Placement include Agricola, Caylus, and Stone Age. Early design experiments with the mechanism include Way Out West, Bus, and Keydom (though there is some disagreement about this).

(*)The use of the word "usually" in this context is a somewhat controversial point of discussion. There are many who feel that 'action blocking' is a defining element of worker placement. In that case, there must always be a limit on the number of times a single action may be drafted each round.