Our Story

Over the past 50 years, we’ve grown into a leader in staffing and human resources. From the beginning, our mission has always been to make business simple for Hawaii’s employers and jobseekers.

Our Story

Over the past 50 years, we’ve grown into a leader in staffing and human resources. From the beginning, our mission has always been to make business simple for Hawaii’s employers and jobseekers.

Our Humble Beginnings

In 1969, Bill Guss opened Labor Services, Inc. to provide a flexible workforce to Oahu shipyards. From his office 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.

Our Humble Beginnings

In 1969, Bill Guss opened Labor Services, Inc. to provide a flexible workforce to Oahu shipyards. From his office 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.

Our Leaders

Barron Guss
CEO and President

Barron Guss is the second-generation of ALTRES, adopting the company and principle of “Making Business Simple,” from his father Bill Guss. Barron pioneered the HR outsourcing industry locally and nationally and is widely known as one of the foremost experts.

Kerry Kopp
ALTRES Staffing President

Kerry Kopp joined ALTRES in 1981 and learned the business from the ground up. Now, he guides ALTRES Staffing with a steady hand and clarity of vision that inspire loyalty and dedication from the ALTRES Ohana.

Our Leaders

Barron Guss
CEO and President

Barron Guss is the second-generation of ALTRES, adopting the company and principle of “Making Business Simple,” from his father Bill Guss. Barron pioneered the HR outsourcing industry locally and nationally and is widely known as one of the foremost experts.

Kerry Kopp
ALTRES Staffing President

Kerry Kopp joined ALTRES in 1981 and learned the business from the ground up. Now, he guides ALTRES Staffing with a steady hand and clarity of vision that inspire loyalty and dedication from the ALTRES Ohana.

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 become 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.

  • 2020
    simplicityHR by ALTRES becomes one of the Top 10 PEOs in the nation as selected by ManageHR Magazine.

ALTRES Family of Companies

Founded in Honolulu in 1969, ALTRES is Hawaii’s leading employment administration company. Helping Hawaii’s businesses grow, ALTRES offers the most comprehensive package of reliable staffing, recruiting and outsourced HR services coupled with unrivaled HR and job search technology.