A Two-Phase Approach for Solving the Multi-Skilled and Irregular Personnel scheduling Problem

A Two-Phase Approach for Solving the Multi-Skilled and Irregular Personnel scheduling Problem | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A Two-Phase Approach for Solving the Multi-Skilled and Irregular Personnel scheduling Problem Ning Xue, Ruibin Bai, Dario Landa-Silva, Tianxiang Cui, Huan Jin This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4449906/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the realm of personnel scheduling, where demand is subject to variability, the creation of a work schedule for irregular worker presents a significant challenge. This difficulty is amplified when the specific shift types are not predefined and when workers possess varying levels of availability and distinct skill sets. Additionally, due to legal and cost constraints, personal preferences, and fairness considerations, the scheduling problem becomes even more complex. The typical personnel scheduling process generally consists of two main stages: shift design and shift assignment. During the shift design stage, a scheduler designs a set of shifts and calculates the required number of workers to meet the demand. The shift assignment stage involves allocating workers to each individual shift, while satisfying various constraints to achieve certain objectives.The shift design and assignment stages can be approached as a single problem or solved as two separate problems. In this paper, a two-phase method is investigated, where the first phase is addressed by an integer programming approach, and the second phase is solved using a memetic approach. Real-world retail store scheduling instances are used to test and compare these methods. The solution time and quality suggest that the proposed methods can be effectively applied to solve the irregular scheduling problem commonly encountered in retail stores. Irregular scheduling linear programming evolutionary algorithms memetic algorithm Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4449906","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":309893722,"identity":"ddafa1db-4972-4cec-9fff-38b426687b9e","order_by":0,"name":"Ning Xue","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZijNDyYNwAgI2IjQItnAwNhwgCgtMGBwAKSFgQgt5uy8h18wth2WM77dfPzxh4I7dtvZTycwfCg7zMA/uwGrFstmvjQLhjOHjc3uHEsEOuxZ8s6e3A2MM84dZpC4cwC7ew7zmBkwVBxO3HYjxxCo5XCywYHcDcy8bYcZDCQS8GgxOFy/eQZMy/m3G5j/4tdi/ABoS4KBBESLncENoC2MBGxhSDiTbjjjRlrijDMGQL033m442HMunUfiBg4t588Yf/jYZi3PPyP5wIeKP4ftDc7nbnzwo8xajn8Gdi1AwIbigMQGIHEAiHlwqQcC5g/IPHs8KkfBKBgFo2CEAgBf3WcexzsywwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"University of Nottingham Ningbo China","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ning","middleName":"","lastName":"Xue","suffix":""},{"id":309893723,"identity":"5b890ed9-9f92-44fc-a5a9-0f6879081216","order_by":1,"name":"Ruibin Bai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Nottingham Ningbo China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ruibin","middleName":"","lastName":"Bai","suffix":""},{"id":309893724,"identity":"334f4c5a-f577-4f8f-bea0-7cdb285449ba","order_by":2,"name":"Dario Landa-Silva","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dario","middleName":"","lastName":"Landa-Silva","suffix":""},{"id":309893725,"identity":"37f3c474-d740-4462-b971-c32daf019621","order_by":3,"name":"Tianxiang Cui","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Nottingham Ningbo China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tianxiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Cui","suffix":""},{"id":309893726,"identity":"36dd8c8c-2321-437a-a578-2a128d504015","order_by":4,"name":"Huan Jin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Nottingham Ningbo China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huan","middleName":"","lastName":"Jin","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-05-20 15:01:48","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4449906/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4449906/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":57845186,"identity":"c39f3284-ba6d-4d48-9924-e0de308f3680","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-06-06 10:37:28","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":701560,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ATwoPhaseApproachforSolvingtheMultiSkilledandIrregularPersonnelschedulingProblem2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4449906/v1_covered_b1f63749-0144-464c-99a5-e68849c13130.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"A Two-Phase Approach for Solving the Multi-Skilled and Irregular Personnel scheduling Problem","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Irregular scheduling, linear programming, evolutionary algorithms, memetic algorithm","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4449906/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4449906/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn the realm of personnel scheduling, where demand is subject to variability, the creation of a work schedule for irregular worker presents a significant challenge. This difficulty is amplified when the specific shift types are not predefined and when workers possess varying levels of availability and distinct skill sets. Additionally, due to legal and cost constraints, personal preferences, and fairness considerations, the scheduling problem becomes even more complex. The typical personnel scheduling process generally consists of two main stages: shift design and shift assignment. During the shift design stage, a scheduler designs a set of shifts and calculates the required number of workers to meet the demand. The shift assignment stage involves allocating workers to each individual shift, while satisfying various constraints to achieve certain objectives.The shift design and assignment stages can be approached as a single problem or solved as two separate problems. In this paper, a two-phase method is investigated, where the first phase is addressed by an integer programming approach, and the second phase is solved using a memetic approach. 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