Consultant reports early progress: 10 interviews, 8 working sessions; workstreams to run in parallel

GuideHouse told the county it has completed early discovery work and begun stakeholder engagement. "The team has completed 10 interviews and 8 working sessions so far with approximately 70 plus additional interviews planned over the course of the next 2 months," Callie Seymour said while reviewing progress to date.

The consultant described two interlinked streams of work: Workstream 1 will review administrative rules, policies and procedures—especially Department of Personnel Services (DPS) rules—and Workstream 2 will assess HR practices, roles, processes and organizational structure across departments. GuideHouse said change management is embedded throughout both workstreams to promote adoption and that year two will focus on training and implementing recommended changes. The firm cited prior projects (including work with large California jurisdictions) as examples of outcomes and said similar approaches will be tailored to Maui County.

Council members asked the firm for examples of measurable improvements; GuideHouse said similar projects have reduced hiring cycle times by "30%" in some cases and up to "50%" in isolated examples, but cautioned that public‑sector constraints limit how quickly private‑sector hiring speeds can be matched.