Optimal scheduling of shifts and breaks using employees having limited time‐availability Available to Purchase

Observes that managers of service operations frequently resort to using employees who are available for work only at limited times when labour supplies are tight or when they desire (or require) the scheduling flexibility offered by employees willing to work part‐time. Presents a triply‐implicit integer programming model for the optimal scheduling of shifts and breaks using employees who are each available for work only during an individually specified portion of the operating day. Compares the ease of solving the model, and four others, over two sets of test problems representing a range of conditions existing in service organizations. Concludes that the new model more compactly represents problems, particularly those with high flexibility, facilitating its solution to optimality.