State launches new website to connect remote workers

HONOLULU — The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) announced the release of a new website that consolidates programs for residents seeking remote work opportunities and employers looking to hire Hawai‘i residents for remote work.

This new website (invest.hawaii.gov/remote) provides residents with direct links to partners of the Hawai‘i Remote Work Pilot Project and the local American Job Center (AJC). Registering on this site sends an automated message that notifies the AJC that Hawai‘i residents are interested in remote work opportunities in their county of residence.

“The Hawai‘i Remote Work Pilot Project website creates a digital online presence that is helping to pivot the State towards a digital economy and focus on creative and technology innovation as part of the Hawai‘i 2.0 Pillars and Goals.” Gov. Ige said in a release. “Coupled with the launch of AWS Cloud Based Training in April of this year, this is another tool targeted at expanding the export of professional services to increase Hawai‘i’s economic resilience.”

Current remote work partners providing opportunities for Hawai‘i’s residents include:

• Instant Teams – Remote Ready Hawai‘i Project, building a team of locally-based workers who are qualified residents, to address remote customer service needs through paid training, internship and placement on a team

• Nexrep – Selecting workers from Hawai‘i to provide customer service solutions.

The new website provides businesses located outside of Hawai‘i with labor law information for hiring or employing a remote Hawai‘i workforce; including Unemployment Insurance, Prepaid Healthcare, Temporary Disability Insurance and Workers Compensation.

“The new Hawai‘i Remote Work Pilot Project website consolidates all of DBEDT’s remote work demonstration projects in one convenient online site for both Hawai‘i’s residents and businesses interested in hiring Hawai‘i residents,” Mike McCartney, director of DBEDT, said. “The vision for this new site is to create an online presence for current and future remote work and digital livelihood opportunities such as the new partnership with NexRep, that brings together remote work opportunities, remote business hiring opportunities and is linked with the Workforce Development Council’s Workforce Resiliency Initiative that provides both digital assessment and training opportunities for the residents of Hawai‘i.”
Source: The Garden Island