Calibrating cross-training to meet demand mix variation and employee absence

Olivella, Jordi; Nembhard, David A.

doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2015.07.036

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In line with the research of Campbell (1999) and Olivella and Nembhard (2016), employee substitutability on a group level is highly impacted by the degree of cross-training of the working employees as a higher number of skilled workers on duty can be obtained in different ways. First, more skilled employees are assigned to the specific duty than minimum required and a capacity buffer is created.…”

Section: Group Employee Substitutabilitymentioning

confidence: 70%

“…Campbell (1999) investigates the impact of the cross-utilisation of employees for different levels of demand variability (uncertainty of demand) and employee cross-training. Similarly, Olivella and Nembhard (2016) determine the optimal level of cross-training in work teams to deal with variations in the demand mix and employee availability.…”

Section: Literature Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Employee substitutability as a tool to improve the robustness in personnel scheduling

Ingels

Maenhout

2017

OR Spectrum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Organisations usually construct personnel rosters under the assumption of a deterministic operating environment. In the short term, however, organisations operate in a stochastic environment as operational variability arises. This variability leads to the occurrence of unexpected events such as employee absenteeism and/or a demand for personnel that is higher or lower than expected. In order to deal with these uncertainties, organisations need to adopt proactive and reactive scheduling strategies to protect the personnel roster and to respond to this operational variability, respectively. In this paper, we discuss a proactive approach that exploits the concept of employee substitutability to improve the flexibility of a personnel shift roster to respond to schedule disruptions. We propose a pre-emptive programming approach to construct a medium-term personnel shift roster that maximises the employee substitutability value. Moreover, we assess different proactive strategies to introduce robustness with respect to the definition and formulation of employee substitutability and different reactive strategies that impact the decision freedom for schedule recovery. The robustness of the generated personnel shift rosters is evaluated using a three-step methodology of roster construction, daily simulation and optimisation, and evaluation.

show abstract

Section: Group Employee Substitutabilitymentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Literature Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employee substitutability as a tool to improve the robustness in personnel scheduling

Ingels

Maenhout

2017

OR Spectrum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thus, a 25%, 25 % and 50% split of work among products 1, 2 and 3, respectively, would be acceptable, while an 80%, 10% and 10% split would not. This approach was proposed by Olivella and Nembhard (2015).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-training policies for team cost and robustness

Olivella

Nembhard

2017

Computers & Industrial Engineering

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We assess alternative cross-training policies for work-teams considering cost, and levels of cross training. The policies are assessed with respect to their robustness to demand-mix variation and absenteeism coverage. We employ simulation to examine instances where cross training can be used to help meet a fixed demand scenario, and with instances where cross-training can help to meet demand mix variability. Current results indicate that when minimizing cross-training costs, policies related to equalizing the cross-training level among the workforce, may provide improvement in terms of robustness without additional cost. We also assess the effects of some environmental factors, demand mix-coverage, absenteeism coverage, and job-task correlation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

show abstract

“…Finally, organizations should examine work practices to determine if they can be changed to mitigate productivity loss when employees are out sick. For example, cross-training employees can improve coverage during short-term absences (Olivella & Nembhard, 2016). Table 3 summarizes the interventions that increase the likelihood that employees will stay home when sick.…”

Section: Attendance Policiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral strategies for reducing disease transmission in the workplace

Gravina

Nastasi

Sleiman

et al. 2020

J of App Behav Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The coronavirus pandemic highlighted that workplaces may serve as a hub of disease transmission if proper precautions are not enacted. The Centers for Disease Control recommends several strategies for decreasing the spread of illnesses in the workplace, including a) promoting proper hand hygiene, b) cleaning and sanitizing the work area, c) encouraging sick employees to stay home, d) personal protective equipment, and, e) social distancing. Research suggests that instructions are often not sufficient to change work behaviors, and behavioral interventions may be needed. Thus, the present paper reviews existing research that informs the implementation of behavioral strategies to reduce the spread of disease in the workplace, and makes recommendations for organizations to protect employees, clients, and customers. Intervention components such as training, prompts, the reduction of response effort, clear workplace policies, feedback, and consequences are discussed, and practical recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided.

show abstract

Calibrating cross-training to meet demand mix variation and employee absence

Cited by 19 publications

References 44 publications

Employee substitutability as a tool to improve the robustness in personnel scheduling

Employee substitutability as a tool to improve the robustness in personnel scheduling

Cross-training policies for team cost and robustness

Behavioral strategies for reducing disease transmission in the workplace

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About