Optimization Techniques  

and 
Application 
  
 
 

PROJECT 
 
 
 

EMPLOYEE SCHEDULING  
  
 

Group: A1 – G4 
  
 
 
 
 
By: 
Geet Agarwal - 17UCS059 
Harshita Nagpal - 17UCS065 
Kabeer Seth - 17UCS076 
Kanishka Jain - 17UCS077 
Aditya Sharma - 17UCS011 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT  
 
 
The following project report applies the theoretical concepts taught 
by Prof. Jayaprakash Kar during the course lectures of Optimization 
Techniques and Applications in real life application. We have 
learned the importance of optimization techniques in real life 
scenarios and have tried to incorporate our learning in one such 
scenario. We are highly indebted to our Prof. for giving us the 
opportunity to apply ourselves and standing firm on the idea of 
“Practical Application of any concept being equally important as its 
learning”. The project made our learning even more interactive than 
it has been in the classroom. Our vote of thanks and appreciation 
also extends to our colleagues who were always willing to help us. 
Projects like these are indeed a great step towards the enhancement 
of academic courses at the LNMIIT.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
  
PROBLEM STATEMENT  
 
 
To schedule park employees for weekly "shifts" (five works days plus 
two consecutive days off as per convenience) to minimize payroll 
costs while meeting varying demands for each day of the week, 
optionally taking into account employee seniority and preferences. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 OBJECTIVE 
 
Optimizing (Minimizing) the Payroll Costs of the Employees for a 
Biodiversity Park. 
 
 
What provokes the need for employee scheduling in a 
company? 
 
One major way by which a company can boost its profits is by extracting maximum 
output from its limited workers. Employee scheduling does this work by increasing the 
productivity of workers as it bounds them to a timetable and makes them aware of the 
exact working hours they'll have to put in every day/week.  
 
Employee scheduling helps to maintain the attendance record of each and every 
employee effectively. Also, it becomes easy to track down the number of hours an 
employee has devoted to the work. 
 
Proper scheduling also helps the manager to team up the workforce. With teaming up, 
comes strength. For instance, now the manager can group an experienced employee 
with a newbie on the same day which would be beneficial for a boost in the 
productivity of both.  
 
In short, Employee Scheduling ensures that the chaotic task of managing the employees 
is done with optimization of payrolls in mind. 
We have organized/optimized the number and wages of employees according to the 
demand per day. This has ensured satisfaction for the company manager. 
 
 
 
 PROBLEM DEFINITION 
 
➤ A Biodiversity Park is hiring for employees for weekly shifts.  
➤ Each shift means working for 5 consecutive days and 2 
consecutive days off as employee decides. The demand for each day 
is shown below in the table.  
➤ The number of employees the park should hire in order to 
minimize the payroll costs, taking into consideration that each 
employee is allotted a schedule based on their preference, is the 
objective. 
 
Demand (per Week) Table 
  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday  Saturday  Sunday 
# Employees  18  17  16  17  15  18  19 
Needed 

 
Formulation of the problem and determination of 
the minimum payroll cost required to maintain 
the park: 
 

Schedule  Number of Employees  Wages 

A  x₁  700 

B  x₂  700 

C  x₃  700 

D  x₄  700 

E  x₅  500 

F  x₆  400 

G  x₇   500 

 
Where schedule of their work days is:- 
A - Tuesday to Saturday 
B - Wednesday to Sunday 
C - Thursday to Monday 
D - Friday to Tuesday 
E - Saturday to Wednesday 
F - Sunday to Thursday 
G - Monday to Friday 
 

FORMULATION OF EQUATIONS 
 
Let Xi be the number of employees working on the ith day of the week where 

i = 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and Day 1 corresponds to Sunday. 

Let the cost function be Z. 

Then our objective is to minimize payroll i.e minimize the number of Employees. 

Z = 700x₁ + 700x₂ + 700x₃ + 700x₄ + 500x₅ + 400x₆+ 500x₇ 

Subject to Constraint 

x i , for all i (non-negative constraint) 

-x₂ - x₃ - x₄ - x₆ - x₅ <=-18 

- x₃ - x₄ - x₅ - x₆ - x₇ <=- 17 

- x₁ - x₄ - x₅ - x₆ - x₇ <=-16 

- x₁ - x₂ - x₅ - x₆ - x₇<=-17 

- x₁ - x₂ - x₃ - x₆ - x₇<=-15 

-x₁ - x₂ - x₃ - x₄ - x₇<=-18 

- x₁ - x₂ - x₃ - x₄ - x₅<=-19 

x₁ + x₂ + x₃ + x₄ + x₅=25 where ​ ​ i belongs to integer 

 
 
METHODOLOGY AND ALGORITHM 
 
This is a linear programming problem with linear objective functions subject 
to linear inequality constraints. Since these constraints contain both ‘greater 
than or equal to’ and ‘less than or equal to’ inequalities, the LP problem can 
be solved using Integer Programming. We shall use the multi-paradigm 
numerical solving environment, MATLAB to compute the solution. 
MATLAB inherently uses a Dual Simplex Algorithm under the linprog 
unless explicitly specified otherwise.  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MATLAB Code of given Mixed-Integer Problem: 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 INFERENCE AND RESULT 
 

On minimizing the objective function for the payroll costs, the variable takes the 

following values: 
  

​
x₁ = Number of employees working on Schedule A = 1 
​
x₂ = Number of employees working on Schedule B = 7 
​
x₃ = Number of employees working on Schedule C = 2 
​
x₄ = Number of employees working on Schedule D = 2 
​
x₅ = Number of employees working on Schedule E = 7 
​
x₆ = Number of employees working on Schedule F = 0 
​
x₇ = Number of employees working on Schedule G = 6  
  
The value of the objective function, i.e. the minimum payroll cost for 

employees is = Rs. 14900.00 

 
 
 
 WORK DIVISION 
 
 
Problem Definition: Aditya Sharma, Harshita Nagpal 
Framework/Model: Kanishka Jain, Geet Agarwal 
MATLAB: Kabeer Seth, Aditya Sharma 
Documentation: Kabeer Seth, Harshita Nagpal 
Objective Content: Geet Agarwal, Kanishka Jain