Mid-March is a good time to be Irish (and a bad time to be Julius Caesar). This year, it's also a good time to be in the staffing industry.  

On Thursday, COATS and Essential StaffCARE will host a webinar on how health care reform is likely to impact the staffing industry. We're already at full registration, but don't worry; we'll let you know when we've posted the slides and audio of the webinar so you don't miss out on any of this great information.

COATS is also making improvements and updates to our COATSsql and COATS Standard staffing software. These tweaks will make it easier to use online applications, and will keep your company up-to-date with new tax changes. As always, don't hesitate to let us know what improvements you'd like to see in COATS Staffing Software. Let's see if we can make next month even better! 

Online Applications

We've listened, we've discussed and we reviewed. Because of your feedback, Online Applications will be updated in April to include additional required fields. In the future, the first name, last name, city, state, zip, phone, referral, position applying, and date available will become required fields. We are also adding a behind-the-scenes check to ensure the applicant has reviewed each tab. If they haven't, they will be redirected back to each tab until they've clicked on each one.

March Updates

The FICA change from 6.2% for employers and 4.2% for employees was mandated and reflected in the January update. The reports released in March will have the Payroll Register and Quarterly Registers reflect the actual wages paid, and the 941 will reflect the calculated wages for checks and balances.

Currently, Michigan, South Carolina and Indiana have different FUTA rates than the rest of the country. These updates were reflected in January. The reports released in March will have the Payroll Register and Quarterly Registers reflect each rate for each affected state.

Future Updates

COATS is identifying key reports that have rather slow process times. Your input is appreciated! If you've noticed significant slowdown in certain reports when pulling the Crystal Report to screen, please send us your feedback.  We are currently reviewing the Trial Balance, P&L, Owner's Equity, Balance Sheet, AR Register, and AP Register to increase the report processing speed.

Keeping Your In-House Employees Informed on Health Care Reform

We're gearing up for our webinar with Essential StaffCARE this Thursday on "The Impact of Health Care Reform on the Staffing Industry." That webinar will cover the unique ways the new health care laws may affect staffing firms, with an emphasis on your candidates. But what about your in-house employees?

One of the most contentious and far-reaching issues of the past year or so has been health care. It seems like every week, there's a new development in health care reform: a new legal challenge or ruling, a new legislative initiative, a new press conference. You're probably feeling a little overwhelmed, confused and anxious about health care reform. We promise you, your in-house employees feel the same way, only more so.

The best way for you to counteract misinformation, confusion and anxiety among your employees is to communicate with them regularly about health care reform and its implications for your company. Here's an outline for how to do that.

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