 Welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live from the downtown studios of Think Tech Hawaii in Holo Little Hawaii in the Pioneer Plaza. We are live every Thursday from 2 to 2.30 and then available on YouTube for viewing afterwards. We're a show that talks about positive stories in Hawaii, successful individuals and their companies. And we share some of the challenges that they've had and how they have overcome it. There was so much negativity a couple of years ago and occasionally pops its head up now about business in Hawaii. I wanted to do a show that was more positive and emphasized the success. We have just passed our 100th showing. So we've been doing this for a couple of years and we've got about 100 shows under our belt. So it's been very well received and we have a constant opportunity to show the successes in Hawaii. And today we're going to be talking again with Matt Delaney who's the Hawaii Group's President and CEO. It's been in Hawaii for many years and very successful, both as a company and individually. And then also his President and CEO of the Hawaii Employment, Sean Knox. So Matt and Sean, it's great to have you on the show today. Thanks for having us. Now, as I mentioned earlier, Hawaii Group's been here in Hawaii for quite some time. For the viewers, it may not be aware of the history. Can you explain a little bit about the Hawaii Group, Matt? Sure, thanks, Reg. The Hawaii Group started about eight years ago and we started with a company called Hawaii Human Resources, HIHR. And then we moved on to HI Employment, my partner, Sean. HI Accounting. And now we have a couple of healthcare companies as well, HI Nursing and HI Home Care. And in the past we had a marketing agency which continues to operate but supports our own entities. So there's a lot of moving parts here, a lot of different industries. I mean, that's a lot to coordinate and control. It's quite a bit, but it's fun. I wake up every day and I look forward to getting into work and sometimes I don't want to get a bed because I can't wait to handle what's next for the day. So when you work with great people and have great partners, it makes it a fun time. And that's probably one of the keys is having those great people there to help you and take you where you want to go with it. Absolutely. And I guess you've got one of those here today. You got Sean Knox here. Yep, Sean and I have been partners since actually July 10th, July 4th, 2010. So next week will be our seven-year anniversary and couldn't be any happier. We have different strengths and weaknesses and Sean's strengths are clearly some of the things that I lack and I've just been so impressed with him since day one and now we're into seven years with HI Employment and every year Sean's been able to grow the company double digits and it's been fun. No pressure? Yeah, exactly. But I'm sure you'll continue that for a while, right? Well, we'll see how 17 does, but we're hopeful. Oh, we're good. Sean, tell us a little bit about yourself. Sure, yeah. Local boy, born in Kaua, raised in Hilo, went to elementary school on the Hamakua coast, was able to get off the island for a little while and went to college in Tacoma, Washington. My wife and I then moved out to England for a few years. From one island to another? Absolutely. They're one wet climate to another and so we were looking for the opportunity to come back to Hawaii. I was fortunate enough to land a position managing the local Robert Hap office. Did that for a few years and my wife and I decided to have a goal of it on our own and we started an agency called Poi Employment in 2005 and yeah, it's been a roller coaster since then. Very good. Joining forces with Hawaii Group, I mean, it's a very dynamic organization. I mean, we're constantly got something going on. Yeah, absolutely and I think that's what really drew Matt's attention to Poi Employment as a strategic partner and as well as myself to a strategic partnership with Matt, his accounting team and his payroll team. When my wife and I started the agency in 2005, we had a good run for a few years and we got knocked sideways by the recession and so we need to look for an exit strategy and typical local style. My insurance broker was a guy I went to Hilo High School with and he knew Matt and he said, you know, she really does connect with Matt again and I knew Matt from his Mark resort days and we just started talking and my wife has now been able to move back into her chosen profession as a therapist at Schreiner's Hospital. She loves what she does so she was a fantastic bookkeeper, payroll person but we just needed to evolve and Matt had the accounting and the payroll in the house and it allowed me as a business owner to focus on what I enjoyed doing and I knew best which was finding talent for the businesses of Hawaii. And that's the contribution you're making. That's your comfort, your passion if you will. So that's great and one thing about Matt and I don't want to put words in your mouth but you're always looking for an interesting opportunity that kind of fits into what you're doing. I mean, that's worked very well for you in the past. Yeah, absolutely. We, you know, kind of joke that we service our clients and whatever they ask us will do and that's really part of the reason we got into the staffing and recruiting was our HR clients were calling us up saying, can we have a receptionist today? And trying to explain that, hey, that's not really what we do. It's our plans to grow with it. So then when I met reconnected with Sean, I had worked together with him. We hired a CFO through Robert Hafs and Sean helped us. And so right there was that opportunity then there was the accounting, right? And then healthcare is a whole another story. But you know, I joke as soon as a client asks us to wash our car, wash their car, we'll start up H.I. Car Wash. Well, sure enough now Sean's brought in the majority of the rental car agencies and all the neighbor islands. So we were washing a lot of cars now. So we're definitely opportunistic and look to fill that need where people need help. Well, I'm pernunistic in a positive way. I mean, it's all geared to, you know, supporting the client relationships that you have. And when they have a need, you're able to take advantage of that and provide that service to them. So it's all positive. Oh, definitely. Yeah. It's a great thing. And I think that, you know, being reactive, you know, takes a certain mindset. I mean, you gotta be flexible, right? And nimble, I mean, you never know what's gonna be coming up. Yeah. So, and you guys are pretty good at that. Yeah, we've also been blessed with some good key hiring decisions along the way. When we really want to focus on our executive placement market, we were able to bring in Barbara Gus, who has over 20 years of executive placement experience. When we wanted to go after the industrial staffing division, we hired someone with that background. One area that's really exciting that we really enjoyed watching it grow is our educational staffing services. We provide substitute teachers to the private schools here in Hawaii. Big demand for them. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, there's definitely a need there for qualified, well-trained educational professionals to come in and work with our kids. Yeah, just out of curiosity, you know, I've had people on the show before that talked a little bit about some of the talent that our military has as far as their spouses are concerned. Sure. And it's been suggested that maybe there's a good opportunity for substitute teachers or temporary teachers from that piece of the military, the ones of the spouses. Have you explored that at all? Is that a viable option? Or what's your thoughts on that? Yeah, definitely. We enjoy our relationship with the military spouses and the military divisions completely. I mean, the talent that comes in with the servicemen and women, they come in with experience, they come in with a good work ethic. Yeah, they may only be available for three, three, four years, but you get a really great candidate in that company. Well, and how long does they teach your last anyways when they're new to Hawaii? I mean, it's usually just a year or two anyway. So it's, you know, you can't look at, I can't look at that as a negative necessarily, but it's a good pool of talent. Absolutely. They've got the right mindset and they have that work ethic. So it could be an interesting, and it sounds like you've already explored that as an opportunity. It's good. Yeah. How are you dealing with the labor market in today's world? I mean, it's, by definition, I guess we're full employment. So it makes it hard to find good people these days. Yeah, yeah. It's a tough market out there. And then it transcends all the islands. There's no easy place to recruit right now whether you're in Kona or you're over in Lihue. Each island has its own unique challenges, but it's tight. It definitely is tight. Hawaii's at a 4.8, I'm sorry, a 2.8 unemployment rate and Oahu itself 2.4. So what we just had to do is pivot our business model and where we may, a few years ago, have been focused on reaching out to new businesses, trying to get them to sign up with Hawaii Employment. We're spending all of our time and effort on the recruiting side. We're making, we're increasing referral bonuses to our existing pool of 600 employees. We are increasing our advertising both online and in print. We're going out into the military community and let them know what we have available. So it's about developing relationships with people out there that can hopefully send business as well as talent over to us. So we have that resource when our clients call us. Right, and you can handle all-size companies. I mean, small companies, large companies. I mean, is there any limitation to what you can do? There's really not. We handle small employers to huge. There's always a need and the nice thing about H.I. Employment is we're one of the few, if not the only one here in Hawaii that is very diversified and really handles all industries. A lot of agencies focus on a specific niche and they're really good at that. So that's really helped us whether the different storms and economic periods we've gone through because if tourism goes down, we do a lot of tourism, but we have a lot of other industries that we service. So it's a nice position for us to be in. Yeah, it's good to be diversified. Sure. And not have undue concentration in one particular revenue source. Yeah, that's a wise move. But you've got some real interesting opportunity. I mean, the healthcare side of what you're doing too offers some very attractive opportunity. Sean actually helped us get our healthcare division going and then that group. So now we have a president that runs that. So on the nursing side, it's very similar where we're providing staff on either a temporary or contract basis to hospitals, the state hospital, the correctional facilities. And now we do home care, which again similar, we're providing staff. We work for the insurance companies in the hospitals and ultimately our end client is the family and the children or the patient. And so they're similar to H.I. Employment. We are always trying to find the best people. People that will enjoy what they're doing will provide great service. We'll deal with a smile with dignity, especially on the healthcare side. It can be some sensitive situations. And do you find enough people to be able to fill the needs here? Do you have to go other places to find the talent? Similar to H.I. Employment, we look everywhere, every island, but the reality is we do have to go to the mainland. There's definitely a nurse shortage here in Hawaii. So we are constantly recruiting from all places. So what Sean has done with H.I. Employment and we've done throughout Hawaii Group is really tried to create a reason for these temporary employees or these healthcare employees to wanna work for us. So for us to be the preferred agency, we of course want the clients to come to us and be the preferred agency. But we've done that by trying to create benefit packages that you typically find in full-time employment versus temporary. So we're out there with 401Ks. Once you work a certain amount of hours, you get bonuses, healthcare, all of those things that typically you probably wouldn't find as a temp employee. So we're constantly trying to kind of think that way and what would somebody want to make us their choice. Very interesting. We're gonna have to go on break real quick. But when we come back, let's talk a little bit more about retention. And that's an important part of the equation as well, right? This is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're here with the Hawaii Group talking with the CEO and president of not only the group itself, Matt Delaney, but also of the Hawaii Employment side, Sean Knox. We're gonna take a quick one-minute break and we'll be right back. My victory was finding the strength to be a champion. My victory is having a job I can be proud of. At DAV, we help veterans get the benefits they've earned. My victory was finishing my education. My victory was getting help to put our lives back together. DAV provides veterans with a lifetime of support. My victory is being there for my family. Help us support more victories for veterans. Go to DAV.org. Aloha, welcome back to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're here talking today with the Hawaii Group and the Hawaii Employment, the both CEO and presidents of both areas. And we're learning a lot about the employment situation, the temporary and permanent executive placement and the Hawaii Group itself. It's got a lot of different moving parts to it. And today we're just focusing on Hawaii Employment. So Sean, Matt, welcome again. We were just talking a little bit about retention and how important that is. I mean, finding employee, getting them into the company, getting them started, whether it be a part-time or permanent position is a big part of the effort. But then once you get them, you got to keep them. And now what are some of the, if we could use the word tricks of the trade that you're going to employ to keep these people happy that they're not going to go anywhere? Yeah, fair enough. Unfortunately, there's no silver bullet out there. We don't have that secret recipe, but it really comes down to knowing your employees and what's important to them. Is it the right benefit package? Do they need to have the family medical plan? Is it strictly compensation? Are they purely driven by numbers? Is it the environment itself? Are they maybe a little bit more financially comfortable? They're just looking for the right type of environment in which to spend their day. Because really, we spend more time with our coworkers and our family a lot of the time. And so that plays a big part of it as well. It does, because once they're gone, then you got to start that process all over again, which can take months to find somebody and bring them up to speak and get them to the point where the person is at last. So it's equally, if not more important, to keep them around. Now, Matt, I'm curious. There's multi-generations in the workforce these days. There's different age groups. There's the baby boomers. And then there's the next one. The next one I kind of lose sight where we're at sometimes, the X's and the Y's and the Z's. Knowing what motivates people. That got to be a little bit of a challenge too, right? Because it's different. Definitely different. And the way they communicate the different generations is very different. So we're learning to adapt to the new generation with using apps, texting, different methods than your traditional ways of not only finding people, but communicating. And a lot of the technology has really helped us. So for example, we have some large clients, the convention center where there's a lot of shifts. And now we have some technology we don't have to call 200 people when there's a big event. There's technology that we can text, we can email. They can confirm right on their handheld whether they want to work that shift or not. So some of the technologies really helped us, but getting back to really on the recruiting side, we're now branching out, trying to recruit social media. In the old days, you would place an ad in the newspaper and people would look up where jobs available. And now there's so many different outlets that we're constantly trying to find where the next generation is looking for jobs. That's right. And then that can be quite effective because I'm now getting into the social media and I know I've got a lot of communication capabilities today. I didn't have 15 years ago. And it's made life, I think, interesting, maybe even challenging, but a lot more productive. You get a lot more done using the technology that's available today. Now switch gears just a little bit here. If there was an employer, somebody that was looking for some talent, how would they reach out to you and let you know what needs to be done? I mean, do they just pick up the phone? Do they go to the website? How does that work? Call 695-3974. Or go to our website. It's www.hi-employment.com. It's very user-friendly. It has an option there to send us an email requesting information from the agency. It comes straight to me. And I check my emails quite frequently. And we'll get back to you within an hour. Really? Wow. That's impressive. Yeah. Just some follow-up to get more information as to what exactly the client is needing, really drill down. So we have a clear understanding of what the expectation is. So on the flip side of that, we do the right due diligence on the back end of it to make sure the talent that we're securing meets up with the needed client. Right. And so once they reach out and they make contact and they've shared some information back and forth as to what they're looking for, what they think they're looking for, because sometimes what they might need is a little different. So you can help out with that a little bit too, right? Yeah. We always try to meet with the client at their property. It always makes sense to know as much about them as possible, because not only our individual or our business is looking for the right set of skills or the position that they're hiring for, it's got to be a culture match, too. I mean, sometimes, yeah, if you're bringing an attempt for a day or two, not as important. But if you're bringing on someone an administrative professional on an attempt to hire a basis, yeah, you really want to make sure that the person that comes on board can sync with your team. Right. And then once you get a good picture of what they're looking for, what kind of vetting process do you do? I mean, is there a process that you do the initial interviews, or you send out two or three people for them to pick? How does that part of it work? Sure. It really is client-driven. Some clients, when they need 10 guys to help move furniture or pack in for an event at the convention center, we just send them to 10 individuals. It's our job to make sure that they can physically do the job that they have proven to have a decent track record of showing up on time and are reliable and professional and just appropriately, as opposed to maybe someone, if you're looking for a long-term accountant in your office, we go through financial screening. We can do credit checks, if need be, criminal checks, most of our labor employees. And we do the preliminary interview. And we want to make sure that when we're talking to the employee that we have a clear understanding of what they're looking for, so we're not trying to fit that square peg in a round bowl. And from there, we're able to communicate with the client a little more articulately and specifically why this person is going to enhance their office and really, well, be a good addition. Be a good fit. Yeah. Matt, I mean, you've got a lot of different companies that kind of fall under your umbrella, the accounting and the temporary, the health care. You know, I guess if you've got a client somewhere else that you're taking care of and they have a need, I mean, they don't have to go chasing this down. You've got a pretty seamless way of referring to business over to make sure that they get what they're looking for. Right. That was the concept behind the Hawaii Group. With HR started, the volume came there. And again, people needed temps. People wanted accounting. And so we have hundreds of clients throughout the combined entities. And so we kind of get the heads up, right? If we're doing accounting for a company and working with their people, we're usually the first to find out that somebody's going on maternity leave or somebody's moving. And then we can recommend, you know, Sean and his team to him, vice versa. So it's really a great cross-marketing ability for us to really be that one-stop shop. And the more we gain the trust of our clients, the more they're coming to us and kind of back to the car wash thing, you know, hey, I need an attorney. They're coming now to us to refer them to somebody. Because if they're trusting us with their accounting, they were trusting us with their HR and payroll and staffing were a trusted, you know, really partner for them. And we want to be at the table and they come to us. It's truly an integrated back office support, you know, almost as a partnership with your clients to make sure that everything that they need is being taken care of. Yes, you know, let them focus on their core business and we'll take care of the back office. And the back office generally is compliance related. It generally doesn't make you any money, but it's things you have to do. There's regulations. There's taxes. The government and so. I'll tell you what, Matt, you don't pay your payroll taxes one time. That's going to cost you. Big time. There's some big penalties with that. Big time. So, you know, it may not be a revenue generator, but it sure could save you some real heartache down the road. Yes, and it's peace of mind. You know, the majority of business here in Hawaii are small, 19 or fewer employees. The majority of those have nine or fewer. So they don't have the ability to have their entire own payroll team or staffing or recruiting. And so it really gives them peace of mind. And I truly believe the majority of businesses out there are small. They want to do things right. They want to have insurance. They want to go to bed at night knowing if something happens that it's taken care of. There's quite a few people out there that don't either economic reasons or they, again, just don't know where to go and maybe aren't intentionally not following the laws. They just don't know any better. And so, is companies start learning more and wanting to, again, peace of mind, they come to us knowing they'll focus on their core competency and we'll protect them on the back end. And their core competency generally is going to be the revenue generating piece of this. So they don't have to get bogged down with all this back office. Yes. You know, it's a great partnership. Now, we've got about a minute left and we talked about the employer piece of how they find. How do you go about finding the employees? You know, because you need both sides, right? Absolutely. We'll give you a minute to quickly describe that. Sounds good. Call 695-3974. So that goes to our front desk. Each island has its own recruiting team. We have offices over in Kona, Kahlui, Lehuwe, at the convention center, and right down the street here at Topa Center. Walk on in, introduce yourself to the team, or go online. We have an online application. We're called the office. We'd love to talk to you, see what kind of opportunities we can find for you. Again, we service everything from agriculture to hospitality, administrative to general labor, substitute teaching, executive professionals. Right. And you know, you've always got to have that inventory there. So you're always looking for good people. I mean, it's really a never-ending process. No, we're always recruiting. Yeah, that's good. And I would imagine that most companies, you know, I mean, I was a small business at one time. I still am now on a micro level. But when I had a couple hundred employees for me, I was always keeping those, you know, the ears to the ground to look for good people to bring in. And it was just never-ending. It was constant. But I appreciate you taking the time to come over and talk to us today. It sounds like the Hawaii Group is doing very well, and you're leading a great piece of it. You know, it's a very important piece of it for Hawaii, as well as, you know, for the small business community in Hawaii. So thank you very much. Thank you. All right. This is business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We were here today talking with the Hawaii Group and H.I. Employment, you know, with Sean and with Matt. Found out that they're very busy. They're growing. They're doing very well. And if you're an employer looking for good employees, they're a place to go. We broadcast live every Thursday from two to 2.30 from the downtown studios of Think Tech Hawaii. Hopefully we'll see you next week. Until then, aloha.