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PROSERVICE BLOG

4 Reasons Tanioka's Seafoods Works with ProService

Handling the paperwork, compliance, and other back office tasks that come with managing employees is a big job for any...
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3 Minutes ...With Seina Rahim!

By ProService Hawaii
“Three Minutes With” is ProService’s employee spotlight series that provides personal and professional insight into our rockstar “PROhana”. Today we’re chatting with Seina Rahim.

Co-Employment Basics: A Quick Guide for Employers

By Kelly Bass
When you hear the term “co-employment,” what comes to mind? A lot of employers think it means working with a staffing agency, leasing employees, or giving up control over their employees to an outside company. These common misconceptions couldn’t be...

The Basics of Health Insurance: What Your Employees Need to Know

By Shawn Ibara
It’s important to educate your employees about health insurance, especially during open enrollment season. Once you’ve selected your employee health plans for the new year, you should educate your team about any plan changes and walk them through...

Voluntary Benefits: A Winning Strategy for Employee Retention

By Shawn Ibara
In today’s competitive workplace, employee benefits have never played a more important role than they do now. Why? Because the workplace is changing. Low unemployment in Hawaii makes it hard to attract and retain workers, especially when employers...

Employer's Guide to Open Enrollment

By Michelle Steitz
Succeeding in business starts with building the right team. In Hawaii’s competitive job market, employers need to be attractive to employees just as potential hires must appeal to employers. The result? Competitive employee benefits have never been...

Engaging Hawaii's Next Workforce: Gen Z

By Janina Abiles
For years, the spotlight has been focused on Millennial members of the workforce, but that’s about to change; Generation Z is growing up fast. The oldest members of Gen Z were born in 1997, so they’ll be turning 22 in 2019—and entering the workforce...

What is a Professional Employer Organization?

By Kelly Bass
It’s common for employers to link up with an outside partner to support tasks like payroll, benefits administration and employee paperwork to save time and money, and so they can focus on more substantive work. Of those who do, many choose to work...

State vs. Federal: Which Wage Laws Apply?

By Tiffany Donnelly
Federal wage laws, like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), apply to employers across the nation. But when you have employees in a state like Hawaii that has its own wage laws, how do you know which one applies to you?

Are You Making These Common Wage & Hour Mistakes?

By Tiffany Donnelly
Wage and hour compliance can be complicated, but it’s important to get it right. That’s because mistakes can be costly. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Honolulu investigated companies at several Hawaii...

6 Ways to Keep Employees Motivated This Summer

By Janina Abiles
Whether it’s the long sunny days, the allure of the beach, or the distraction of having kids home from school, summer is a prime time for employees to start feeling a little checked-out. Countries like France embrace this challenge by closing shop...

5 Secrets to Attracting Talent in a Candidate-Driven Market

By Michelle Steitz
Hawaii has been seeing record-low unemployment, with the unemployment rate staying below 3 percent, for the past three years, and employers across the country are fighting for talent in a candidate-driven market. Attracting good people in a strong...

Five Ways to Bring Your Employer Brand to Life

By Ruth Erickson
In an earlier post, we discussed how to get started creating an employer brand as well as the importance of a positive candidate experience to attract and hire top talent. Let’s take the conversation a step further and discuss specific tactics you...

Six Ways to Recognize Employees and Drive Engagement

By Ruth Erickson
National Employee Appreciation Day may have passed, but it doesn’t mean employee recognition should end. In fact, according to Forbes, recognition is the number one thing employees want in order to stay inspired and produce great work.

How to Get Started Building Your Employer Brand to Attract New Talent

By Ruth Erickson
No matter the size, every company has a unique story to tell, and it can be used to create a compelling employer branding message that will not only help retain current employees, but attract top talent. In today’s candidate-driven market,...

4 Performance Management Best Practices for Employee Satisfaction

By Janina Abiles
According to a survey conducted by Energage, two-way communication is the largest differentiator in the leading companies noted as Top Places to Work. More so, numerous studies have shown a clear correlation between open, honest communication with...

Don't Let Rising Labor Costs Hurt Your Business

By Jody Aadland
Did you know that you can find significant savings on your labor costs—everything from healthcare and benefits to workers’ compensation and employee perks? The answer is HR outsourcing.

4 Laws of Habit Change: Advice From Our February Growth Series

By Ruth Erickson
Our first Growth Series event of 2019, “Atomic Habits: Compound Tiny Changes Into Remarkable Results,” took place on February 27 and featured James Clear, New York Times bestselling author, as our keynote speaker. We were honored to have him share...

Best Practices for Conducting Effective Interviews

By Tyler Tuipulotu
Employers in Hawaii are becoming increasingly frustrated with the state’s very low unemployment rate, and as a result, the challenge of finding skilled talent to fill open roles. To compete, employers should look at how they are recruiting and...

Should You Keep HR In-House or Get an HR Partner?

By Jody Aadland
Before we dig in to the debate, let’s quickly define what goes into HR, or Human Resources. Essentially, HR is anything and everything that relates to the management of your workforce. It involves recruiting and hiring new employees, assessing,...

Six Creative Ways to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

By Michelle Steitz
Do you have a “Best Boss Ever” mug on your desk? Or did your staff bring in treats to thank you for your leadership last October? National Boss Day is commonly celebrated across offices, but what about honoring your employees for their hard work?

5 Trends Reshaping the Work of HR in Hawaii

By Jody Aadland
HR as we know it has changed, especially here in paradise. It might be difficult to pinpoint why and how things have shifted, or when it started to feel different, but if you’ve been in business long enough, you know that managing employees, labor...

Five Ways to Advance Your Leadership Skills in 2019

By Ruth Erickson
Better leaders create better teams, which results in greater efficiency, productivity, and confidence. But becoming a more effective leader requires spending time and resources on learning and developing your skills.

5 Hacks to Kick Your Productivity Into High Gear

By Ruth Erickson
Whether you’re your own boss or a manager of a team, productivity in the workplace is a hot issue right now. We all want to work smarter, not harder, to get things done...and enjoy work/life balance in paradise too.

Do's & Don'ts: Are You Asking the Right Interview Questions?

By Janina Abiles
Have you ever made a bad hire? You’re not alone. Surveys have found that 48% of all new hires have to be replaced in the first 18 months. Hiring the wrong person can be an expensive mistake too—on average, a bad hire can cost a company 30% of the...

3 HR Predictions for 2019

By Michelle Steitz
It’s an old saying that the only constant is change—and that certainly applies to the world of HR. Even as employers are still getting used to changes like tax reform and Hawaii’s new “salary history ban”, it’s important to keep looking forward and...

Setting Goals? Focus on This Instead

By James Clear
This article is an excerpt from Atomic Habits, James Clear's New York Times best-seller. Join us forGrowth Serieswith James Clear on February 27, 2019 to learn about how to improve 1% every day through tiny changes. Registration is still open. Use...

How to Get 1% Better Every Day

By Ruth Erickson
What are your most important goals in life? What habits fuel those goals? And what would happen if every day, you were able to get 1% better at each of those habits?

Your 2019 HR Calendar

By Ruth Erickson
It’s the start of the new year and chances are you’re busy locking down your plans and major milestones for 2019. And if you haven’t started yet, it isn’t too late. In fact, we’ve made it easier for you by creating a 2019 HR Calendar!

5 Creative Ways to Keep Your Healthcare Staff Happy

By Ruth Erickson
Whether your practice has been treating patients for years or you are just getting started, you need great employees in order to be successful. Failing to keep high performers can leave your practice understaffed, with a less qualified workforce,...

How to Write Job Descriptions That Attract the Right Candidates to Your Private Practice

By Chris Wakukawa
Attracting top talent in the highly competitive Hawaii market is challenging, and it’s especially hard for the healthcare industry. Like attracting patients into your practice with effective advertising, how can you get in front of the right...

An Employer's Guide to Hawaii's New Salary History Ban

By Tiffany Donnelly
Earlier this year, Governor David Ige signed a bill into law which prohibits employers from asking job applicants about their salary history. Hawaii’s Equal Pay Act, also known as the Salary Ban Law, takes effect on January 1, 2019. So what do you...

The Holiday Bonus Guide for Small Businesses

By Ruth Erickson
With the end of the year quickly approaching, many small business owners are starting to consider giving their employees a holiday, or year-end, bonus. And it’s not a bad idea! According to World at Work, 82% of employers give out bonuses.

Employer Taxes 101—FICA, FUTA, SUTA Decoded

By Chris Wakukawa
Labor costs, which can be made up of wages, benefits, insurance, taxes, admin, and more, can account for up to 70 percent of your total business expenses. While many employers think there’s little they can do to reduce these costs, there are...

A Complete Checklist for Your Year-End Tasks

By Danielle Achziger
As the holidays quickly roll in, it is time to consider all the tasks on your payroll and HR to-do list. Tis the season for surfing santas and sandmen, but also year-end paperwork too. Things like processing annual and holiday bonuses, rounding out...

What's Trending for Women in Business

By Michelle Steitz
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, women-owned businesses account for 31% of all privately-held firms in the United States. That number jumps a bit to 37.5% for women-owned firms in Hawaii, according to a recent census ...

9 Podcasts for Small Business Owners

By Ruth Erickson
From business management books to leadership seminars, there are a vast variety of ways for small business owners to learn best practices from the experts. And with smartphones readily available, it’s easy to download and listen to actionable tips...

Infographic: Workers' Compensation Costs in Hawaii

By Ruth Erickson
Did you know that labor costs can account for up to 70% of total business expenses? Beyond an employee’s salary or wage, there are other labor costs that can add to an employers’ bottom line, including Workers’ Compensation. While many employers...

4 Reasons Why Companies Offer Student Loan Repayment Assistance

By Michelle Leon-Guerrero
As a leader in human resources at your organization, you’re always looking for ways to better serve and engage your employees. After all, engaged employees are happier and more productive. In fact, Gallup reports that “companies with highly engaged...

4 Types of Insurance Every Employer Needs in Hawaii

By Susan Gante
Labor costs, which can be made up of wages, benefits, insurance, taxes, admin, and more, can account for up to 70% of your total business expenses. While many employers think there’s little they can do to reduce these costs, there are actually ways...

Building a Culture of Feedback: Key Insights From Our Fall 2018 Growth Series

By Ruth Erickson
Our fall Growth Series event, “Build a Healthy Feedback Culture,” took place on September 19 and featured Sheila Heen, New York Times best-selling author, as our keynote speaker. We couldn’t have been more thrilled to welcome her to the islands.

5 Things to Do After a Difficult Conversation at Work

By Michelle Steitz
Giving feedback can result in difficult conversations at times. It can be easy for managers to miscommunicate or deliver feedback without enough empathy, just as it can be easy for employees to become defensive.

The Power You Didn't Know You Had When it Comes to Controlling Labor Costs

By Ruth Erickson
Labor costs, which can be made up of wages, benefits, insurance, taxes, admin, and more, can account for up to 70% of your total business expenses. While many employers think there’s little they can do to reduce these costs, there are actually ways...

Infographic: What's Your True Labor Cost?

By Ruth Erickson
When you’re trying to figure out how your labor costs impact your bottom line, it’s important to think beyond payroll. In addition to employee wages, there’s a long list of benefits, taxes, insurance, and administrative costs that can add up.

What Hawaii Employers Need to Know About Tax Reform

By Michelle Leon-Guerrero
It hasn’t even been a year since President Trump Signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but it looks like we’re not done with tax reform yet. This summer, Congress began discussing a second round of changes, dubbed “Tax Reform 2.0.” While this latest...

6 Things to Keep in Mind When Delivering Employee Feedback

By Ruth Erickson
Being a great leader means giving feedback that inspires growth and improves performance. It’s both essential to an employee’s individual growth and development but also to the health and well-being of your company. Contrary to what you might...

Why You Need to Concentrate on Customer Experience

By Ruth Erickson
No matter what type of business you manage, your customers’ experience is an important part of marketing. More likely than not, the way they experience your product and/or service can actually make or break your marketing efforts to new buyers.

How to Re-Energize Your Team

By Chris Wakukawa
A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Employees who are happy tend to work better, stay at their jobs longer, and produce higher quality results than those that are unhappy at work. And the benefits don’t end there. High-performing employees...

9 Questions to Ask Employees to Gain Actionable Feedback

By Michelle Steitz
Annual planning for next year is upon us. As you make decisions for the coming year, you’ll want to have a crystal clear understanding about where your employees stand. What do they think is working? What needs improvement?

How to Get Your Team to Listen, Engage, and Care

By Ruth Erickson
Ensuring that employees are engaged, invested in, and included is crucial for retaining talent and driving company growth. When it comes to internal communications, implementing the right tools and strategies can be an important factor for employee...

Soliciting and Receiving Feedback: How to Do It Well

By Michelle Steitz
Giving, receiving, and acting on employee feedback is essential for organizations that want to improve their company culture. Nearly 60% of surveyed employees and 72% of employees under 30 want feedback from their bosses daily or weekly, according...

How to Prep Your Business for Hurricane Lane

By Ruth Erickson
UPDATE: As you may have heard, all ProService Hawaii offices will be closed on Friday, August 24 as the islands prepare for the worst of Hurricane Lane. As your client experience is still our top priority, if you have an HR-related issue on Friday,...

Sheila Heen, New York Times Best-selling Author, to Headline Fall Growth Series Event

By Ruth Erickson
Gaining feedback from within your organization is essential to learning, growing, and innovating, especially as your business scales. But giving, receiving, and using feedback can be challenging.

Making Plans for Next Year: Why Feedback and Candid Conversations Matter

By Ruth Erickson
Next year may seem like a world away, but from an annual planning perspective, it’s just around the corner. As we cruise into fall, many of us are thinking about annual planning for 2019. We’re assessing what worked well, what we’d like to do...

Why Gender Diversity is Great in the Workplace

By Michelle Leon-Guerrero
Here’s a math problem that doesn’t quite add up: There are over 6 million jobs available in the U.S. today, yet more and more females are leaving the workplace. Another variable to add to the equation is the fact that, according to Gallup, only 35%...

Summer Reading: 6 Books on Becoming a Better Leader

By Michelle Steitz
Whether you’ve recently stepped into a leadership position or are looking to master the art of running a successful business, these six books share the skills necessary to become a more effective leader.

The Importance of Learning and Development Opportunities

By Michelle Steitz
In today’s business world, employees want more than a stable paycheck and decent living–they want fulfilling careers. That’s about more than money: People want to learn new skills and to understand how their work contributes to the company’s success.

4 Common Mistakes That Drive Job Candidates Away from Small Businesses

By Chris Wakukawa
Finding the right people to hire–those with the right experience, skills, and growth potential–is challenging for businesses of all sizes. Even more for small businesses, the NIFB Small Business Optimism Index recently found that 88% of small...

6 Ways to Boost Customer Happiness

By Ruth Erickson
Did you know it’s much easier to keep a loyal customer than acquire a new one? Returning customers spend more and buy more often, and refer friends and family. In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, strengthening your customer relationships...

Top 5 Tips to Get Fully Staffed: Key Insights From Our Summer 2018 Growth Series

By Ruth Erickson
Our summer Growth Series, “Get Fully Staffed: Finding & Keeping Great People", took place on June 27th with keynote speaker Eric Chester, with our largest audience ever. Eric has written six books about employee engagement, workplace culture, and...

New Innovations to Enhance the Benefits of Doing Business

By Ben Godsey
Building upon a nearly 25 year commitment of helping local businesses succeed, I’m thrilled today to announce the launch of new and enhanced services from ProService Hawaii that will further grow the benefits of doing business in the islands.

6 Factors for Your Engagement Program

By Ruth Erickson
When it comes to developing an employee engagement plan, the importance and necessity of it is enthusiastically agreed upon by most business owners—regardless of the industry or company size.

Ready, Set, Play: Four Activities to Build Better Teams

By Michelle Steitz
Team building, when it is done right, can unite people and boost team performance. When done the wrong way, it can create the opposite results.. Many of us have begrudgingly taken part of a trust fall or scavenger hunt with no real bonds formed...

6 Essentials to Make Sure Your Next Job Candidate Comes to Work for Your Business

By Chris Wakukawa
Finding the next hire for your business can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. In fact, the NIFB Small Business Optimism Index found in April 2018 that 88% of small businesses hiring or trying to hire reported few or no qualified applicants...

How to Reduce Healthcare Costs for Your Business

By Michelle Leon-Guerrero
Healthcare costs can be a significant drain on many small businesses bottom line and are an important consideration when planning operating costs and budgets. Small businesses often struggle with attracting and retaining top talent when the costs...

We Before Me: 4 Ways to Build a Team-First Work Culture

By Ruth Erickson
As a manager, when you think of your workforce, there are two primary entities involved: the individual person and the collective team. But it’s the relationship between those two that is the most important.

4 Creative Ideas for Reducing Employee Churn

By Michelle Steitz
Many companies focus their efforts on hiring the best and brightest employees, but what about making sure the great ones you have stick around?

Can Diversity Help You Attract and Retain Employees?

By Ruth Erickson
Having employees from different backgrounds creates an enriched, engaged company culture that’s good for business. Even so, there’s a large wage gap in the U.S.– with women making 20% less than their male counterparts. Additionally, racial wealth...

How to Write Job Descriptions That Attract the Right Candidates

By Trisha Nomura
Attracting the best candidate means creating the perfect job description. You want an employee that will step into the office and get along with their coworkers, know how to get the job done and be able to bring new insights and ideas to the table.

What Hawaii Business Owners Can Learn From Other Businesses’ Parental Leave Policies

By Michelle Leon-Guerrero
With all the recent buzz around the advancement of Hawaii’s paid family leave legislation passing through the House and Senate, with the addition of a study to conduct a thorough analysis on the best way to frame the law awaiting the Governor’s...

Hear Me Out: How to Really Listen to Your Employees

By Ruth Erickson
It can be challenging to keep a consistent pulse and tune into what your employees are thinking (instead of what you think they are thinking.) Getting their feedback is important and responding to their needs, their ideas, and their suggestions goes...

Cultivate Engaged Employees With These 5 Mad Libs

By Ruth Erickson
When I participate in leadership forums, it’s not uncommon to hear similar questions float to the top of the discussion: How can I motivate my employees? What tips do you have to encourage and show my team I appreciate them? What’s the best way to...

Making it Personal: How Positive Employee Relationships Impact Your Business

By Trisha Nomura
Whether you run a restaurant, manage a business, or own a shop, you can sense when there is tension in the air amongst co-workers. Answers are curt; service is affected; the days are long.

Your 5 Step Guide to an Employee Coaching Program

By Ruth Erickson
What if your company could teach employees new skills, develop leadership skills, and improve overall satisfaction...for free? I’m willing to bet you would jump at the chance to get this in place. Well, with an employee coaching program, you can.

8 Simple Ways to Improve Employee Wellbeing

By Trisha Nomura
When you feel good, you perform well. Whether that’s physically, emotionally, or mentally, wellness plays a critical role in overall performance. And while this is commonly known amongst athletes, taking care of your well-being actually positively...

10 Ways to Recognize Employees for Under  $30

By Ruth Erickson
Just like your people, rewards are not all created equal. But the undertone of all rewards is the same: A job well done. Great work. We appreciate you.

7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Disciplining Employees

By Samantha Switalski
Management is a tough job! From motivating employees to handling customer complaints - there’s never a dull moment when it comes to running a company. You love to see your employees succeed, but when they make mistakes, what’s your course of action?

The Value of Investing in Your Employees

By Samantha Switalski
In today’s modern workplace, investing in your employees is critical to your success. At ProService Hawaii, we’ve found that employers who invest in the growth and development of their employees are more likely to attract the most talented...

5 HR Rules Every New Business Must Know

By Samantha Switalski
Congratulations! You’ve taken the leap into small business ownership, started growing, and now you’re ready to scale your team. At ProService, we understand that coordinating the administrative details of your business is no easy task, especially...

How to Keep Your Best Employees

By Jody Aadland
Below is an excerpt from ProService Hawaii’s latest ebook “Employee Retention in Hawaii: Strategies and Insights for Small Businesses”. We spoke with 5 local employers who have implemented innovative, successful employee retention programs and asked...

Is a PEO Right For You?

By Jody Aadland
Do you struggle to keep up with all the paperwork running a business requires? From payroll and administration, to employee health and retirement benefits, to workers' compensation insurance, state and federal compliance issues, and even worker...