Job assignment based on brain demands and human resource strategies

Assignment of jobs to construction workers critically contributes to consistency of workload distribution. Inconsistent workload distribution may develop imbalanced fatigue rates within a crew, leading to inefficient and unsafe performance. In addition, improper assignment of tasks to workers may adversely affect human resource (HR) development within the organization through skill level stagnation, particularly for less-involved workers. To realize the potential HR development benefits of on-the-job training, a precise alignment between task planning and HR strategies is required. This paper proposes a systematic framework for job assignment to construction workers by considering workers' capabilities and workloads, as well as HR strategies. The framework uses the outputs of a mathematical model that accounts for visual, auditory, cognitive, and psychomotor demands of the jobs. Maintaining safety, enhancing skill level, addressing aging problem, and/or multiskilling are integrated in the framework as potential strategies to be considered while minimizing workload imbalances. Application of the framework is examined on a concreting case project in a simulation environment. Partial assignment of tasks is found to play a key role in smooth and practical implementation of the framework, with tangible impacts on workload distribution and throughput.