Context: Worked as a Writing Advisor at the Brandel Library, helping students write their essays and career advise.
Task: Improve the efficiency of the Writing Center and/or improve the employee satisfaction of the advisors.
Problem:
Advisors don't know how much work they can expect to perform during a shift.
Some shifts, no students show up, other shifts, they are overwhelmed by demand.
Dispite this, each shift is staffed with the same number of advisors.
This creates operational inefficiencies and employee dissatisfaction.
Solution: Developed a forecasting formula that estimates the number of drop-in students every shift using historical data.
Outcome:
Forecasting formula had a Mean Average Error of ~0.7 students per shift.
Identified possible annual cost savings of ~$5,000 by reducing staff during low demand periods.
Perceived unceartanty of workload decreased in advisors.
Overall job satisfaction increased.