A Decade of Partnership Grew PWC from 3 to 340​

PWC Hawaii Corporation has grown from a small team of three into a thriving business with 340 employees in just under 50 years. The growth was made possible in part because PWC decided to remove one of their biggest headaches by contracting with an HR outsourcing company in Hawaii to effectively manage their workforce. ​

Photo: courtesy of PWC Hawaii Corporation

PWC was founded in 1973 by three people who secured a contract washing windows for the Sheraton Maui Hotel at Kaanapali. At that time, the acronym stood for Pacific Window Cleaning. Business thrived over the ensuing decades, and the company was eventually redubbed the People Who Clean. It’s an apt moniker for an outfit that provides services including carpet cleaning, metal restoration, janitorial services, and drapery cleaning. “You name it, we clean it,” says company president and owner Ron Gess.​

Finding an HR outsourcing company in Hawaii​

As PWC expanded services from Maui to the entire state, the company workforce grew from three into the hundreds. Tracking hours using a traditional timecard system and manually fulfilling payroll for such a large number of employees became an unsustainable hassle. Gess knew that in order to continue growing and still manage employees fairly, PWC would need to outsource their human resources work. ​​

Theresa Munekata, Manager at simplicityHR by ALTRES shows Ron Gess, President and Owner of PWC, the ease of accessing the HR Symphony app from her smartphone. | Photo: courtesy of simplicityHR by ALTRES

Of all the companies that proposed, the team at simplicityHR by ALTRES, the leading HR outsourcing company in Hawaii, submitted the best proposal by far. The simplicityHR staff spent weeks understanding every facet of PWC’s business. The resulting proposal offered comprehensive solutions to PWC’s issues and a list of references Gess could call to learn about simplicityHR’s track record. “Their clients gushed about how great the service was,” Gess says. “So from there, we made the step, let’s go with simplicityHR by ALTRES.”​

The team at simplicityHR completely removed PWC’s biggest HR headaches. They transitioned PWC to digital timekeeping so employees could clock in and out using their fingerprint. Employees working at a location without a clock could check in and out using the HR Symphony mobile app. They also made it possible for PWC to hire a diverse workforce by verifying international citizens’ eligibility to work in Hawaii.​​

Confident he had the best HR outsourcing company in Hawaii on his team, Gess was able to focus his time and energy on sales calls, walk throughs, and other essential duties to continue PWC’s growth. simplicityHR also enabled PWC’s growth by providing payroll reports so the company could easily determine how much labor costs on a specific property, and then make an accurate bid for other properties of a comparable size. Today, PWC employs about 340 people.​

A successful day starts with PWC employees loading their vehicle with supplies and equipment. | Photo: courtesy of PWC Hawaii Corporation

‘HR from A to Z’​

Over the decade of partnership between PWC Hawaii Corporation and simplicityHR by ALTRES, the two companies have been through periods of thriving growth and existential crisis. When the pandemic struck in 2020, PWC continued operating in order to provide essential cleaning services to customers in need. The team at simplicityHR assisted PWC with securing a PPP loan to keep employees on staff. Just as important, when it came time to apply for forgiveness, simplicityHR provided an extremely detailed report of every employee and all the necessary information to ensure PWC could qualify for full forgiveness. ​

“Everybody can give you a song and dance about why they’re the best, but my experience with simplicityHR is that they are the best. They just know how to do HR from A to Z,” Gess says.​​

Interested to learn how we can help your business? To schedule a free consultation on the advantages of human resources outsourcing, contact simplicityHR by ALTRES.