… resets the counter after the animation.
Yes, I’m impatient like that. It is possible to fire scientists or explorers immediately after they’ve finished their work, right before the ‘flying’ animation. This reduces their count, but the animation increases it back to the original value.
It’s purely visual, you can’t assign or fire them again.
Note the disabled “Fire” button and the daily cost of $0.
Hiring a new employee corrects the counter.