Algorithmic Management – Establishing Fair and Participative Shift Planning in Healthcare

Shift schedules determine when employees work. Therefore, they substantially impact the satisfaction and social life of the employees. However, establishing shift schedules is a highly complex task involving various legal and operational requirements. The existing shift planning processes do not sufficiently consideremployee preferences. As a result, employees often perceive shift schedules as unfair.

Goals

The project aims to develop new AI-based algorithms and user interfaces for shift scheduling in the healthcare sector. The developed systems are intended to put employees and their needs in the spotlight of shift planning while considering the operational requirements of healthcare facilities.

Project phases

The project consists of three phases. In the first phase, the employees' fairness preferences and requirements for the shift plans will be captured. In the second phase, user interfaces and interaction mechanisms for shift planning will be developed, considering the fairness perception of employees. In the third phase, the previous results will be tested in the laboratory and in practice. This will involve analyzing how the new user interfaces and interaction mechanisms affect employee satisfaction and processes in healthcare facilities.

Outlook and implications

The research project contributes to improving the customization of AI applications to users' needs and narrowing the gap between increasingly powerful AI and humans. In addition, the results can be transferred and applied to other areas (e.g., the hotel and catering industry).

The research project is supported by the Digitalization Commission of the University of Bern (DigiK).