Dilemma of the HR manager: An optimization for training and development budgets using integer programming a case study from an international firm

Abstract

This paper is about a dilemma of an HR manager of an international company. The major problem of HR managers is to minimize their training and development budgets. Making a training budget is not so complex; but the important, yet often neglected, part of budgeting is the costs of absence of employees. In every kind of training, whether traditional or e-learning, there is a cost for the time being spent away from work. Some of the managers think that this is an idle time for company, plus the employee is paid during this period. This paper focuses on the costs of the absence and their effect on training budgets. Some scenarios were developed with the help of an HR manager of an international firm. The feasibility of these scenarios was studied by using integer programming.