Everything is more expensive these days, especially in Hawaii. When you’re a company trying to attract talented candidates, that means your wages might have to go up as well. But it’s a fine line between offering competitive wages that bring you talented employees and getting dangerously close to losing your profits, as the cost of doing business also has continued to rise.

In Hawaii, the industries in which wages have increased the most include healthcare (up around 4%) and construction (up around 5%) when looking at the past year, but those are far from the only industries feeling the pinch. There’s decreased worker availability due to migration, retirement and other causes, plus those who have already secured jobs are unlikely to be looking for another.

There’s also just the cost of living and that’s on the upswing too: a 4.7% increase in the consumer price index means people are paying more for goods and services, so they expect to be paid a wage that allows them to afford to live.

As an employer, you might be feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. How do you navigate these delicate, difficult and expensive times?

Bishop & Company, a Hawaii-based staffing agency with decades of experience helping companies like yours handle adversity and challenging times, is here to help.

Be competitive.

You might have to raise wages in order to attract talented candidates, but you don’t need to go overboard. Look at what your competition is offering and make sure you’re in the same ballpark. If you can offer more in direct pay, do that! It doesn’t need to be excessive, but every bit above the local average helps. If you can’t increase your wages for incoming employees, consider other offers, like better health insurance premiums, flexible scheduling, remote or hybrid work opportunities, more PTO, etc. Anything that you can offer to help your company sound like a great place to work could be the difference maker you need when looking for new employees. Also, put time and energy into your company culture. Embrace practices and policies that put your workers first, making them feel supported, welcomed and valued. Talk to your employees about what they like about working at your company and find out where improvements could be made; then do your best to make those changes. If your current employees are happy where they are, they’ll tell their friends – easy recruitment!

Consider alternative arrangements.

If you’re going into a busy season, or have an unexpected absence or a big project falls into your lap, and you’re thinking of bringing on more workers, you might be able to hire additional staff on a temporary basis. At Bishop & Company, we are able to help you secure temporary employees for as long or short a stretch as needed; these employees come in with most of the skills they need to provide assistance to you right away. Bishop & Company, as a staffing agency, has access to people looking for short-term contract or temporary work, who are ready to join your team with little notice, and there’s no expectation of permanent pay or full-time benefits. This can be a great way to boost your staffing numbers! We can work with you to understand your needs, in terms of how many people, the kinds of skills they need to have, and how long you think you’ll need them, and we can take care of the rest. You’ll have temporary staffing ready quickly, much faster than the traditional hiring process, and we handle onboarding and payroll. It’s so easy!

Know when to call in reinforcements.

Finding new job candidates is tricky in the best of times. You want to hire employees who are competent, skilled and energized to join your company, and you want to find them in the most efficient way possible. When you’re dealing with higher business costs while trying to consider the increased cost of living, it can feel like you’re fighting a losing battle — or at least fighting uphill in the rain. Bishop & Company is here to help. We’re experts in finding the right candidates for companies. We can work with you to make your job posts attractive to the kind of candidates you’re looking to entice; we can review resumes and conduct initial interviews and skills assessments before passing along the candidates we think would make the best fit for your team. We can even make sure the salary range you’re offering is competitive and can help provide candidates with information about your company culture that will help land the right candidates for the position. The decision is still yours; we just help you have more time to focus on the work at hand.

Work with Local Staffing Experts

Your first priority is keeping your company running smoothly no matter what other challenges are coming your way. By enlisting Bishop & Company as your staffing partner, you can do just that, knowing you have a trusted partner in your corner to make the hiring process faster, more efficient and easier for you.

Spend a few moments reviewing our services and see how Bishop & Company can help you today, then give us a call!