Fehr & Peers Career Blog

F&P CEO Bets All On Alma Mater But Comes Up Short!

Matt Henry. CEO of Fehr & Peers, and Jon Nepstad, Principal-in-Charge of Fehr & Peers' Utah office, recently made a bet over who would win the NCAA Basketball National Championship. Matt, an alum from the University of Memphis said it would be his alma mater Memphis. Jon, an alum of the University of Kansas placed his bet on, of course, his alma mater Kansas.

This was the wager:

• Straight bet - no points
• Loser must make a $50 donation to the athletic fund of the winner's university.
• Loser must wear team logo attire (to be provided by winner) around the office for one day.
• Loser must pose for pictures while wearing attire - to be published via the intranet.

And the winner was.... University of Kansas. And we have more than just photos of Matt wearing Kansas apparel proudly - we have video...

Transferring Offices...

From time to time staff members find it important to be able to transfer to another Fehr & Peers office - reasons often differ from person to person.  Here are some responses from staff who have made transfers in the last few years - Jeff Gulden, Sarah Brandenberg, and Joel Rabinovitz.

Click here to read what they have to say.

Staff Makes F&P Even More Green

Periodically, as part of Fehr & Peers Academy, staff from all tenures and locations are nominated to participate in Leadership Development Forums - an opportunity to provide leadership and guidance on issues of culture at the firm.  The latest forum was held to strategize reduction of Fehr & Peers' environmental impacts associated with employee waste production, energy consumption, and commute choices by empowering employees to choose among a series of measures that are effective and economically viable.

The group spent a full day in discussions, and then created a list of recommendations to present to the firm's Executive Committee (the highest ranking leadership group, including the CEO).  These recommendations will now be shared with all offices in the hopes that each one will find opportunities to adopt one or more that are feasible for itself.

Click here to download the list of recommendations.

Gather Insight from Our TRB 2007 Hires

One year later, we catch up with staff members who we met (and eventually hired) at TRB 2007.  Jamie Henson works in our Walnut Creek, CA office, Charlie Alexander and Matt Kittelson work in our Roseville, CA office.

Click here to read what they have to say.

Transit Discipline Group Added for 2008

It's official - Transit is the newest discipline group at Fehr & Peers.  Other discipline groups are travel forecasting, impact assessment, pedestrian & bicycle, smart growth, operations, and design - they exist to promote information sharing, establish best practices, implement quality control procedures, and develop selected research projects.  On average, 8-9 staff members from various offices are selected to work in these groups each year.

Adoption of Alternative Work Schedules (AWS)

In 2007, Fehr & Peers created an option for each office to implement and evaluate alternative work schedules based on their individual needs and the demands of their clients.  A unique aspect of the F&P culture is that each office has a relatively high level of independence to make decisions that are appropriate for itself.  Options include:

• "5/8" - Five 8-hours days per week.
• "4/10" - Four 10-hours days per week.
• "9/80" - A combination of a 4-day week and a 5-day week, 9-hour days and one 8-hour day.
• "4-and-a-half" - A combination of a 4.5-day week and a 5-day week, all 9-hour days.

All options add to 80 hours in a 2-week pay period.  Since July of 2007, five of ten offices have adopted alternative work schedules - time will tell if they are as effective as we hope.