Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
THE PEARL HARBOR AVIATION MUSEUM STORY
Established in 1999, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum preserves aircraft, artifacts and personal stories to educate visitors about America’s first aviation battlefield of World War II, as well as the nation’s continuing journey through groundbreaking aeronautic and technological advancements. The museum welcomes nearly 250,000 visitors a year including some 40,000 students. The historians and employees of Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum work hard to honor the veterans’ legacy and use their stories to educate and inspire future generations.
As the museum’s Executive Director Elissa Lines explains, “We are not only sharing history but we are using the stories of the past, and the legacy of our greatest generation, to teach the values of leadership.”
“I consider the team at ProService Hawaii an extension of our staff. They help me find the solutions that fit our organization, our resources, and our vision.”
– Elissa Lines, Executive Director
The Challenge
Like many museums, the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum relies on community support to further their mission. While admission fees help pay operating costs, there are still considerable financial demands needed to maintain, promote and enhance the museum. “As a nonprofit, it is important that we commit our resources to the program delivery,” says Lines. “We began to realize that in order to properly manage our administrative functions, we needed to look at outsourcing talent to conserve our time and funds.”
Adding to these ongoing challenges, the museum was going through a transition period that required them to adopt a strategy of growth and expansion despite limited resources. Lines recalls,
“With us moving from the mindset of a startup organization, to one for which more planning and higher level management was required, we wanted to ensure that employees weren’t feeling left out of the process. We reached out to ProService to help us better navigate our challenges and come to solutions that work for all involved.”
THE SOLUTION
The ProService team set up a strategic planning session with the museum leadership team to address the nonprofits’ needs for human resources services including payroll processing, retirement plans, and health insurance benefits. Additionally, the ProService team wanted to focus on further developing the culture and spirit within the organization.
“It was eye-opening to get to work with the talented professionals at ProService who understand the law, can take on our administrative burdens and who share in our commitment to our employees. Connecting with ProService really helped us to see it was possible to achieve the highest level of human resources at the lowest possible cost.”
Being a nonprofit no longer meant that the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum had to compromise on the HR benefits and resources it provided to its staff . Lane notes that ProService assisted the museum in supporting individual employees who faced unique medical challenges, providing them with a better understanding of the services available to help them manage personal situations. The ProService Hawaii team assisted museum staff with managing school loans, pregnancy, retirement questions and more.
“With ProService offering us the level of HR services that typically only major corporations have, we were able to be more strategic and meaningful in what we could offer our team. For a small organization, we are proud of the health and retirement benefits we are now able to provide.”
THE OUTCOME
With ProService Hawaii as their PEO co-pilot, the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum can focus on their mission of preserving a legacy of leadership without the added burdens of time-consuming HR administration. The museum can also be more competitive in their hiring process and retaining top talent, despite nonprofit budgets, through offering large company benefits for their dedicated team.
“ProService brings to the table ten different employees that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to hire, while helping us to better provide for the incredible team that we are able to employ,” says Lane. “It’s simply one of the most productive relationships that we have.”
