Investigating the impacts of human factors of learning, forgetfulness and fatigue and refreshment on staff scheduling

Abstract

The present study has investigated the impacts of human factors of learning, forgetfulness and fatigue and refreshment on staff scheduling. It aims to present a mathematical model for staff scheduling so that workforce costs are minimized and the factors of learning, forgetfulness and fatigue of employees, which affect their performance and enhance their efficiency, are taken into account. Parameters of the proposed model comprise the fixed and variable costs of worker assignment, the individual’s production rate at different times of work shift, the forgetfulness parameter (which indicates the degree to which a person forgets the skill in performing a task), the learning rate, the amount of time away from work and so on. The variables of the proposed model also indicate worker assignment to the work shifts. After validating the proposed model, several problems have been generated in different dimensions and have been solved by GAMS software. Further, to solve high-dimensional problems, a genetic algorithm was developed, by which the problem was solved in various dimensions. The algorithm accuracy was examined by comparing its results with the exact solution results and its problem-solving ability was also evaluated using the generation of problems in various dimensions and their solutions.