4 ms·

Are there any good projects that implement this in a user-friendly system that allows schedulers to choose from multiple options and make adjustments based day-

Are there any good projects that implement this in a user-friendly system that allows schedulers to choose from multiple options and make adjustments based day-to-day conditions? Algorithms like this look cool but can end up being too rigid for many real-world scenarios. You can’t just take the output and force everyone to follow that schedule.

hatchoo 7y ago
What kind of use cases do you have in mind?
- jdironman 7y ago
  Most likely I am guessing he is thinking about the food service industry.
londons_explore 7y ago
One option for real world use is to take the rigid schedule, and tell people that if they don't like it they need to find swaps with other people. Make the fill schedule visible to all so people can easily find swaps by hand. Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift (doing so opens you up to liability if employees swap in some way that is illegal, such as doing not enough shifts to qualify for medicare/benefits/whatever). Tell them that it is critical someone fills every one of their shifts, but it needn't be them. Employees will end up bartering, swapping, paying for others to fill their shift, etc. Overall, most shifts will get filled, and most people will be happy. You run the small risk that an employee will deliberately use the ability to swap to work some illegal shift pattern, and then prosecute you over it. So far, it's never gone far.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Admitting you pressure your employees (not independent (sub)contractors) to pay off part of their wage to do their job? Offloading your logistical planning work to staff and not paying them for the time spent? This is begging for a NLRB lawsuit and I hope someone wises up.
  - londons_explore 7y ago
    True, although from what I've seen it's actually rare for money to change hands. There seems to be quite an honor code - "I'll do your shift this time, as long as you remember that next time I want the day off.". The only time people get upset is if someone trades a bunch of shifts, then quits. People who don't like that have the option of just not swapping shifts though.
    - jessaustin 7y ago
      I don't believe that's "the only time people get upset". Even if no one ever quits, this has got to be causing lots of drama. In most places I've worked, managers did management and hourly workers did not. When you want to abuse an hourly worker like this, you have to move them to a salary. Traditionally that salary would be a bump up from their 40-hour wage.
  - Hendrikto 7y ago
    > Offloading your logistical planning work to staff But there was a schedule for everyone.
- vxNsr 7y ago
  >Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift Usually the sorta places that need shift scheduling also require you to check in before your shift and will only pay for the hours that you worked, often those places have some sorts biometric check in mechanism, your suggestion doesn’t seem very practical in light of that.
  - londons_explore 7y ago
    My place uses id cards, but people just check in with eachothers id cards. I only kick up a fuss if someone shows up to do a shift who isn't even an employee.
londons_explore 7y ago
A good iterative approach taken by many hourly jobs is to have some scheduling horizon, say 1 week in advance. You run the scheduler software, then send each employee a text message saying "We're offering you a shift Monday at 9am for 8 hours. Accept?". After 24 hours, rerun the scheduler with accepted/denied shifts as constraints, and repeat till all shifts are filled. Obviously you may not end up with optimal schedules when people start denying shifts, but you get pretty close. When a particular shift gets denied by more than ~3 people, they normally give a ~30% pay boost for that shift to get it filled.
- heinrichf 7y ago
  Thank you for your interesting explanation. That reminds me of the deferred acceptance algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale%E2%80%93Shapley_algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale%E2%80%93Shapley_algorithm

hatchoo 7y ago

What kind of use cases do you have in mind?

jdironman 7y ago
Most likely I am guessing he is thinking about the food service industry.

londons_explore 7y ago

One option for real world use is to take the rigid schedule, and tell people that if they don't like it they need to find swaps with other people. Make the fill schedule visible to all so people can easily find swaps by hand. Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift (doing so opens you up to liability if employees swap in some way that is illegal, such as doing not enough shifts to qualify for medicare/benefits/whatever). Tell them that it is critical someone fills every one of their shifts, but it needn't be them. Employees will end up bartering, swapping, paying for others to fill their shift, etc. Overall, most shifts will get filled, and most people will be happy. You run the small risk that an employee will deliberately use the ability to swap to work some illegal shift pattern, and then prosecute you over it. So far, it's never gone far.

lonelappde 7y ago
Admitting you pressure your employees (not independent (sub)contractors) to pay off part of their wage to do their job? Offloading your logistical planning work to staff and not paying them for the time spent? This is begging for a NLRB lawsuit and I hope someone wises up.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  True, although from what I've seen it's actually rare for money to change hands. There seems to be quite an honor code - "I'll do your shift this time, as long as you remember that next time I want the day off.". The only time people get upset is if someone trades a bunch of shifts, then quits. People who don't like that have the option of just not swapping shifts though.
  - jessaustin 7y ago
    I don't believe that's "the only time people get upset". Even if no one ever quits, this has got to be causing lots of drama. In most places I've worked, managers did management and hourly workers did not. When you want to abuse an hourly worker like this, you have to move them to a salary. Traditionally that salary would be a bump up from their 40-hour wage.
- Hendrikto 7y ago
  > Offloading your logistical planning work to staff But there was a schedule for everyone.
vxNsr 7y ago
>Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift Usually the sorta places that need shift scheduling also require you to check in before your shift and will only pay for the hours that you worked, often those places have some sorts biometric check in mechanism, your suggestion doesn’t seem very practical in light of that.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  My place uses id cards, but people just check in with eachothers id cards. I only kick up a fuss if someone shows up to do a shift who isn't even an employee.

londons_explore 7y ago

A good iterative approach taken by many hourly jobs is to have some scheduling horizon, say 1 week in advance. You run the scheduler software, then send each employee a text message saying "We're offering you a shift Monday at 9am for 8 hours. Accept?". After 24 hours, rerun the scheduler with accepted/denied shifts as constraints, and repeat till all shifts are filled. Obviously you may not end up with optimal schedules when people start denying shifts, but you get pretty close. When a particular shift gets denied by more than ~3 people, they normally give a ~30% pay boost for that shift to get it filled.

heinrichf 7y ago
Thank you for your interesting explanation. That reminds me of the deferred acceptance algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale%E2%80%93Shapley_algorithm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale%E2%80%93Shapley_algorithm