Business Applications of Operations Research

CHAPTER 7

Shift Staff Planning

Let us take the case of a call centre where the staff requirements vary by the hour. The minimum requirements of staff in each hour are given in Table 7.1.¹

Table 7.1

Period	Minimum requirement
00 am to 3 am	20
3 am to 6 am	16
6 am to 9 am	25
9 am to 12 noon	40
12 noon to 4 pm	60
4 pm to 8 pm	30
8 pm to 00 am	25

Staff can start work at the beginning of any hour. The staff works for 8 hours with a rest break of 2 hours after 4 hours of duty. How many staff should be scheduled to join at the beginning of each hour such that the requirements given in Table 7.1 are met with the minimum number of staff?

Let us take the case of staff starting work at 1 am. They are able to take care of the requirements ...