The Avionté leadership team has combined extensive experience working within the staffing industry. That’s why, when talks of the Affordable Care Act enactment first surfaced, they knew what had to be done. While others were still unaware of the effects the ACA would have on the staffing industry, the team tackled the pending challenge head-on and built out ACA solutions for staffing firms within Avionté Staffing Software that would help our clients navigate ACA and remain compliant.
March 2016 was an extremely busy time for Avionté clients. As ACA deadlines quickly approached, our clients were feeling the pressure. The solution? We assembled a team of ACA experts, to be known as the “War Room Team”, who bucked down in the Training Room for the month, and became fully invested in helping fielding client ACA questions and helping client’s process ACA requirements.
The team, along with Assisted Payroll Services and Client Managers (pictured left), were instrumental in helping over 150 Avionté clients complete their 1095’s for 2015! Now, six weeks after it all wrapped up, the team – bonded forever by ACA blood, sweat (and luckily no tears!) – gave a recap of the experience and offered up some advice to clients for next year’s preparations…
Kristine Olson, who joined the Avionté family in 2015 as Senior Compliance Analyst, is a true expert on all things ACA. She led the Avionté War Room Team to victory by helping coordinate the best responses to tickets and ensuring technical issues were escalated and being worked, while also providing ongoing ACA training and working with the Payroll Services Team on Greenshades questions.
“I was the War Room leader and worked with clients directly, answering questions and training,” said Kristine. “We had an amazing team; a really brilliant and dedicated bunch of employees who worked tirelessly and for long hours in an effort to bend over backwards to serve our clients.”
One of those team members was Client Manager Kevin Tompkins, who was hired on by Avionté in February and jumped in to help the War Room Team just a few weeks after starting at Avionté.
“Ultimately, the War Room was a great special assignment as a new hire,” Kevin said. “It truly felt like we were in it together, and we were going to get out of it together.”
Erica Hjelle, another one of our newest Client Managers, had a similar experience.
“As a new employee of Avionté, I was given the opportunity to jump right in and help undertake the challenge of ACA,” she said. “It was a challenge at times to make sure everyone was on the same page, but between the work of our amazing War Room Team and our great clients we were able to get the job done!”
When asked for advice for clients, after the craziness let up, all of our ACA Veterans touched on preparing early and taking the time to understand the law. Rachel Graff, a Training Specialist at Avionté, said being ready is all about tracking and keeping up with ACA law changes.
“Track everything consistently and attend every webinar about ACA,” she said. “Read all documentation pushed out by Avionté and read the IRS website’s instructions to gain a better understanding of the law and reporting requirements.”
Kevin agreed.
“My biggest recommendation for clients would be not to wait until the last minute to review your data for ACA,” he said. “It’s like when you’re on the road and running late; you swear you’ve hit every red light plus you’re stuck behind Granny’s Buick LeSabre. Yet, it seems to only happen when you desperately need to get through the traffic.”
Our expert Kristine advises this:
“I would encourage clients to work ACA into their daily business practices and ensure they have clear processes around the hiring, onboarding, tracking, offers of insurance and more.”
Clients: ensure you’re in a better situation in 2017 for 2016 reporting.
Avionte offers ACA compliance in one system. Learn more on how Avionte does ACA for Staffing.
Our “ACA Survivors”, from left to right. Top row: Bart Schultz, Malik Ibrahim, Lucas Zweig, Kevin Tompkins, Adam Modrell, Kristine Olson, Zach Hayes, Erica Hjelle, John Woods, Danny Sayotovich and Josh Sayotovich. Bottom row: Tou Lo, Hugh Gilpatric, Alec Hedlund, Becky Fox, Mariya Krasny and Rachel Graff.
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