The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is facing a large staff shortage going into this legislative session with nearly one-third of its positions currently unfilled, according to its new CEO Stacy Ferreira.
Ferreira briefed lawmakers with the House Finance Committee on Thursday, saying that OHA currently has a 29% vacancy rate — which is about 45 empty full-time positions.
"To address this large number of vacancies, I’ve worked closely with HR on the following. We’ve added in language to all job descriptions to accept years of work experience as comparable for education requirements. We’re providing second reviews to resumes and applications that were initially disqualified," she said.
"We’re also going to be working closely with Willy Kauaʻi Director of the UH Native Hawaiian Student Services to establish a recruitment pool from the over 800 Native Hawaiian graduate students currently enrolled or expected to graduate."
Ferreira says some of these vacancies may remain unfilled, with the salary savings going to raise compensation for hard-to-fill, highly specialized positions.
Ferreira took over at OHA in November 2023 and has made it a priority to address the agency’s large number of vacancies. She was selected from a pool of more than 550 applicants to replace Sylvia Hussey, who left the agency in July.
Ferreira comes to OHA from the state Legislature, where she spent the last four years, from October 2019 to 2023, as budget chief for the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
