About Us
Making business simple is our goal
In 1969, Bill Guss moved his family from New York to Hawaii with every intention of retiring. It was nice… for about a week. Restless, Bill noticed how much trouble a Navy shipyard was having in finding quality, productive workers for short-term projects.
Bill couldn’t resist the opportunity, and as a result, Labor Services, Inc. was born. At the company’s original location near Waikiki Beach, Bill raised a flag outside of the building in the morning to signal nearby surfers that work was available that day.
The business grew quickly. As the company’s clients faced new business challenges, the Guss family found new business solutions—clerical staffing, receivables management, and outsourced human resources services.
Each business line had one idea in common: Making business simple. It made sense to bring all of these business tools together under one roof. And so in 1993, the group of family-owned businesses became ALTRES: ALTernative RESources for Business.
In 2001, a corporate headquarters and service center was built on Kapiolani Boulevard to house their two Honolulu-based business units, ALTRES Staffing and simplicityHR by ALTRES.
Today, ALTRES Staffing is Hawaii’s largest staffing and recruiting company, with six offices across the state, and simplicityHR by ALTRES serves as the human resources “back office” for more than 2,200 local businesses. For over 50 years, we’ve been Hawaii’s #1 HR outsourcing company.
Company Timeline
1969
Bill Guss opens a labor services company to provide a flexible workforce to Oahu shipyards. From his office lanai in Waikiki, he would raise a blue flag just after sunrise—a sign to surfers on dawn patrol that there was work available that day.
1971
The East Coast corporate headquarters of Xerox, IBM and Motorola find it difficult to provide payroll and HR support to their Hawaii-based employees 5,000 miles away. We fill a need and pioneer the outsourcing of HR administration in Hawaii.
1981
We establish Hawaii’s first professional employer organization (PEO) and becomes a national leader in the PEO industry, providing HR administration and support services to both commercial and nonprofit clients.
1988
The ALTRES companies expand from Hawaii to the mainland, opening up and buying businesses in California, Arizona and Utah.
2000
ProEmp Journal names us the #1 professional employer organization (PEO) in America.
Our company becomes one of the first PEOs to be accredited by the Employer Services Assurance Corporation, demonstrating our industry leadership and adherence to strict financial, operational and ethical standards.
2003
After 15 years of continuous expansion and growth outside of Hawaii, we decide to focus exclusively on serving the Hawaii business community once again.
2008
We reach the milestone of 5,000 worksite employees. This is the total number of client employees on six islands who receive their paychecks, health care plans, employee benefits, and worker’s compensation coverage through ALTRES.
2009
We celebrate our 40th anniversary and for the 5th consecutive year, we are ranked one of Hawaii’s Best Places to Work.
We reinvent our HR division as simplicityHR and become the first provider in the nation to provide multiple tiers of HR administration services.
We are named “Innovative Company of the Year” by Pacific Business News.
2011
We release HR Symphony®, our fully-integrated, single-login, human resources information system (HRIS) and web portal
2013
We launch the HR Symphony® mobile app, now business owners and employees have access to all aspects of HR right in the palm of their hand.
2018
ALTRES is named as a finalist for Pacific Business News Titans of Tech
2019
ALTRES is proud to celebrate 50 years of business in Hawaii!
2019
HR Symphony®, simplicityHR by ALTRES’ easy-to-use, integrated HR information system, was recognized by HR Tech Outlook Magazine as a Top 10 Cloud Solutions Provider for 2019.
2019
CEO and Founder, Barron Guss became Chairman of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) Board of Directors.
2020
simplicityHR by ALTRES becomes one of the Top 10 PEOs in the nation as selected by ManageHR Magazine.
2020
CEO and Founder, Barron Guss advised Congress on aspects of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and formulated proprietary software to simplify clients’ financial reporting for Paycheck Protection Program.
2020
The ALTRES Foundation donated $250,000 and helped to facilitate the delivery of more than 24,000 family-size boxes of fresh food to underserved communities statewide.
2023
The HireMaui campaign was launched in response to the devastating Maui wildfires, aiming to assist residents who lost their jobs in finding new employment opportunities.
Contact Us
(808) 791-4919 or click below to request a quote
HR Outsourcing in Hawaii
Download our free guide now!
