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arXiv · 2507.04537

The Fair Periodic Assignment Problem

Rolf van Lieshout·Bart van Rossum
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Abstract

We study the periodic assignment problem, in which a set of periodically repeating tasks must be assigned to workers within a repeating schedule. The classical efficiency objective is to minimize the number of workers required to operate the schedule. We propose a O(n log n) algorithm to solve this problem. Next, we formalize a notion of fairness among workers, and impose that each worker performs the same work over time. We analyze the resulting trade-off between efficiency and fairness, showing that the price of fairness is at most one extra worker, and that such a fair solution can always be found using the Nearest Neighbor heuristic. We characterize all instances that admit a solution that is both fair and efficient, and use this result to develop a O(n log n) exact algorithm for the fair periodic assignment problem. Finally, we show that allowing aperiodic schedules never reduces the price of fairness.

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Rolf van Lieshout, Bart van Rossum. 2025-07-06. The Fair Periodic Assignment Problem. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04537

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