Veni grant for Arpan Rijal

Arpan Rijal has received a Veni grant of 320,000 Euros from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business’ Department of Operations was awarded the grant for his research on personnel scheduling and employee well-being in labor-intensive workplaces.

Worker shortages and frequent employee turnover are often linked to insufficient employee well-being in the workplace. One of the factors that impact well-being is that of scheduling, especially in industries where work is physically demanding. Yet, existing personnel scheduling optimization, which develops models and algorithms for work-rest and task allocation schedules, is mainly focused on efficiency metrics. These highly efficient schedules often come at the cost of stressed employees and even productivity losses. Arpan Rijal’s research project proposes a novel approach to scheduling, aimed at minimizing physical fatigue, a large determinant of overall employee well-being. In doing so, this project will develop mathematical models and algorithms that have the potential to improve employee well-being in a variety of labor-intensive workplaces.

Personnel scheduling prioritizing employee welfare

The new approach to scheduling will help change the direction of the personnel scheduling literature in the much-needed direction of prioritizing employee welfare. Data science and optimization methods are particularly suited for handling high levels of complexity required to overcome these challenges.

Arpan is excited to receive the grant and start working on the research project. “This project aims to develop new models and algorithms for personnel scheduling to enhance physical well-being and, consequently, overall well-being. We face significant and exciting challenges, such as translating individual and workplace differences into optimizable mathematical forms and addressing fairness under uncertainty in abilities and preferences. I am grateful for the opportunity to tackle this issue and look forward to collaborating with diverse stakeholders to develop solutions.”

Questions? Please contact Arpan Rijal.