CROSS-UTILIZATION OF A 2-SKILLED WORKFORCE

Cross-utilization of the labour force is widely recognized as a method for improving productivity in service organizations. This paper inves tigates the effect of cross-utilization on workforce staff size, at th e aggregate level for a two-skilled labour force. Workers are assumed to have 100 per cent productivity in their primary skill, and cross-tr aining policies ranging from zero to 100 per cent productivity in the secondary skill were investigated across a variety of labour demand co nditions. The results suggest that small degrees of cross-utilization can provide significant workforce savings and that there tend to be di minishing returns beyond 50 per cent productivity in the secondary ski ll.