APA Conference April 13-17, 2013

Begin with an unrivaled professional development program. Mix in unparalleled networking opportunities. Top it all off with unmatched restaurants, jazz clubs, and sights. Don't miss out; join APA in Chicago April 13-17, 2013. Program, Place, and People Register Find options to meet your needs. What Not to Miss From keynote speakers to special symposia, explore the highlights. Invitation to Forums for Non-Members Allied professionals and officials warmly welcomed. Networking Connect as only you can in a face-to-face conference. NEW APA's Mentor Match Program Creating connections. Serving the next generation of planners. Housing and Travel Discounted room rates for National Planning Conference attendees are now available. About Chicago Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, diverse culture, and a long planning history. Follow us on Twitter Look for the hashtag #APA13 to read the latest news about the 2013 National Planning Conference. APA's UnConference: Intelligent Cities Something for Everyone This conference can be tailored to your specific needs using the scheduling tools. For those of you who are planning directors, emerging professionals, or planning commissioners, here is some guidance to get you started. APA divisions provide a rich opportunity for networking and focused discussions. Planning Directors Emerging Professionals Academic Planners APA Divisions Planning Commissioners and Appointed Officials Non-Members Forums More Information Conference Sessions Short Course Webinars Conference at a Glance Rates and Information Printed Preliminary Program Conference Location Hyatt Regency Chicago 151 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601 Virtual Conference Sessions Virtual Conference Sessions are a new way to experience sessions from APA's National Planning Conference and earn Certification Maintenance (CM) credits. Get all the details about Virtual Conference Sessions

Working From Home

Working at home is interesting. From the public view, fewer people travelling at rush hour is a good thing - less congestion and pollution, and less demand for higher capacity roads.

From the workers perspective there are savings in time and cost. The hassle of long commute times and the resultant hassle is eliminated. But it can be a bit lonely.  And out of sight can equal out of mind - if you do not have face time with your boss you may lose out on promotions and plum assignments. And there is the concern that your coworkers in the office may be envious of you and gossip about your "shirking from home."

From the employers perspective there may be savings in office expense. Smaller offices and lower utility costs may result. 

Our  Illinois Home Office

Sales persons and consultants find substantial value in home work. My wife and partner, Beth Ruyle, worked for a consulting firm that was over one hour away. Since she was on the road a great deal it made sense to drive directly to the clients office and complete her day in the home office. 

Our Florida Home Office

I have worked as a self employed city planning consultant for many years.  My home office has always been my main office.  I enjoyed this - my commute time was zero unless I made coffee on the way to work.  And I work long and odd hours - having the home office facilitated that.  I am writing this at 6:30 am. But it is easy to procrastinate when working from home. And employers will always be concerned about shirking at home.

Working from home works best with people who's output can be measured.  The employer knows how effective  salespersons are by their volume of sales - if they are matching or outperforming their office based peers, then working from home is a success. But the output of many jobs are much harder to measure. 

Technology companies have been leaders in permitting and even encouraging working from home.  Computers and high speed internet have made working from home much easier.

But Yahoo famously is cutting back on home offices. The new CEO obviously believes that productivity of employees is less when they do not work in the office.

The question is of course do employees accomplish more or less when working from home?  We now have some evidence.

EVIDENCE FROM A CHINESE EXPERIMENT 

"The frequency of working from home has been rising rapidly in the US, with over 10% of the workforce now regularly work from home. But there is skepticism over the effectiveness of this, highlighted by phrases like “shirking from home”. We report the results of the first randomized experiment on home-working in a 13,000 employee NASDAQ listed Chinese firm. Call center employees who volunteered to work from home were randomized by even/odd birth-date in a 9-month experiment of working at home or in the office." 

"We find a 12% increase in performance from home-working, of which 8.5% is from working more minutes of per shift (fewer breaks and sick-days) and 3.5% from higher performance per minute (quieter working environment). We find no negative spillovers onto workers left in the office. Home workers also reported substantially higher work satisfaction and psychological attitude scores, and their job attrition rates fell by 50%. "

Click to read more

http://www.econ.brown.edu/econ/events/bloom.pdf

http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/08/23/there%E2%80%99s-cake-in-the-breakroom-a-new-marketplace-podcast/

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-marissa-mayer-figured-out-work-at-home-yahoos-were-slacking-off-2013-3

Florida

Mirjana Bartl Siampos shared Siesta Key's photo.

"Mama and baby dolphin snacking on a school of fish lit from the moon." Thanks for the comment and photo Jimmy Scott.

TripAdvisor names Siesta Public Beach to world Top 25 list
TripAdvisor has added Siesta Public Beach to its 2013 Travelers Choice Beaches Awards list, beating out other world-renowned beach destinations across the globe.

Siesta on a better day.

siestabeachreport.com

photo (Paulina Mażewska)

Photos shared by Mirjana Bartl Siampos.  Thanks, Mirjana.

I used to dislike it when people would call me in Chicago and tell me how nice it was in Florida in the winter.

But now that I am down here I like it much better.

Craig Hullinger    Sarasota, Florida

sarasotasistercities.blogspot.com

More Photos below:

Irv's Photos

Go Green - US Military

Inside the Military's Clean-Energy Revolution

Damn the deniers, the doubters, and the do-nothing Congress. The Pentagon is moving full green ahead.

Frank Stockton

Interesting Article in the Atlantic

"To get to the Nimitz, 100 miles off Honolulu, our turboprop is flying a 50-50 blend of biofuel and standard JP-5 shipboard aviation fuel. The biofuel is made from algae plus waste cooking oil. This makes us part of history, my aircrewman says, players in what the Navy calls the Great Green Fleet demonstration of July 2012. It's paired with a three-year, $510 million energy reform effort in conjunction with the departments of Agriculture and Energy as part of a larger push to change the way the US military sails, flies, marches, and thinks. "As a nation and as a Navy and Marine Corps, we simply rely too much on a finite and depleting stock of fossil fuels that will most likely continue to rise in cost over the next decades," announced Navy Secretary Ray Mabus at the launch of the program back in 2009. "This creates an obvious vulnerability to our energy security and to our national security and to our future on this planet."

Click to Read the Full Article in the Atlantic

Expanded 3D coverage in Google Earth

Expanded 3D coverage in Google Earth Google continues to expand 3D buildings coverage in Google Earth for cities around the world. Recently added cities include Canberra, Australia; Berne, Switzerland; Anaheim, CA and Reno, NV, among many others throughout Europe and the United States. Learn more

Improving Economy

New Home Sales and Consumer Confidence Jump

"New home sales surged 15.6% in January to a 437,000 unit annualized rate; December sales were revised up. This is the strongest pace since 2008, a recession year, but it marks a step in the right direction; home builders have been struggling with depression levels of activity since the onset of the financial crisis."

Read the full article on the Economic Minds blog.

The Geography of America's Freelance Economy

"A recent report estimates that there are about 17 million full-employed freelancers, or independent workers, a number than swells to more than 40 million, roughly a third of the workforce, when you include temps, part-timers, contractors, contingent workers, and those who are under-employed or work without employer-sponsored health insurance, 401Ks or FLEX accounts, according to a post by Whitney Johnson in the Harvard Business Review."

Click to Read the Article