Abstract—Workforce management has become increasingly important for both the public sector and private companies. Workforce optimization encompasses all aspects of managing the complete workforce lifecycle. The goal is to optimize the performance of staff on both financial efficiency and customer satisfaction. This paper presents a successful process to optimize employer and employee satisfaction simultaneously. The slightly improved PEAST algorithm is used to roster nurses in a Finnish Hospital. The results show that it is possible to successfully optimize employer and employee satisfaction simultaneously. The generated schedules are highly acceptable for the hospital’s administration. The algorithm has been integrated into the market-leading workforce management software in Finland. The paper also introduces three simple test problems which will help researchers to test the value of their optimization methods.

Index Terms—metaheuristics, PEAST algorithm, real-world scheduling, workforce optimization

Cite: Kimmo Nurmi, Jari Kyngäs, and Nico Kyngäs, "Synthesis of Employer and Employee Satisfaction–Case Nurse Rostering in a Finnish Hospital," Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 97-104, May, 2016. doi: 10.12720/jait.7.2.97-104