The workload in many areas of bank operations has the characteristics of a nonuniform distribution with respect to time of day. For example, at Chase Manhattan Bank, the number of domestic money transfer requests received from customers, if plotted against time of day, would appear to have the shape of an inverted-U curve with the peak reached around 1 P.M. For efficient use of the resources, the manpower available should, therefore, also vary correspondingly.
A variable capacity can effectively be achieved by employing part-time personnel. Since part-timers are not entitled to all fringe benefits, they are often more economical than full-time employees. However, other considerations may limit the extent to which part-time people can be hired in a given operating department. The problem is to find an optimum workforce schedule that would meet manpower requirements at any given time and also be economical.