Tactical workforce sizing and scheduling decisions for last-mile delivery

Minakshi Punam Mandal, Alberto Santini and Claudia Archetti

European Journal of Operational Research, 2025, vol. 323, issue 1, 153-169

Abstract: We tackle the problems of workforce sizing and shift scheduling of a logistic operator delivering parcels in the last-mile segment of the supply chain. Our working hypothesis is that the relevant decisions are affected by two main trade-offs: workforce size and shift stability. A large workforce can deal with demand fluctuations but incurs higher fixed costs; by contrast, a small workforce might require excessive outsourcing to third-party logistic providers. Stable shifts, i.e., with predictable start times and lengths, improve worker satisfaction and reduce turnover; at the same time, they might be less able to adapt to an unsteady demand. We test these assumptions through an extensive computational campaign based on a novel mathematical formulation. We find that extreme shift stability is, indeed, unsuitable for last-mile operations. At the same time, introducing a very limited amount of flexibility achieves similar effects as moving to a completely flexible system while ensuring a better work-life balance for the workers. Several recent studies in the social sciences have warned about the consequences of precarious working conditions for couriers and retail workers and have recommended — among other things — stable work schedules. Our work shows that it is possible to offer better working conditions in terms of shift stability without sacrificing the company’s bottom line. Thus, companies prioritising profitability (as is often the case) can improve workers’ well-being and increase retention with a negligible cost impact.

Keywords: OR in service industries; Last-mile delivery; Workforce scheduling; Workforce sizing; Shift stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221724009482
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:323:y:2025:i:1:p:153-169

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2024.12.006

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Operational Research is currently edited by Roman Slowinski, Jesus Artalejo, Jean-Charles. Billaut, Robert Dyson and Lorenzo Peccati

More articles in European Journal of Operational Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().