Scarborough, Maine – February 8, 2012 – Dresser & Associates, the leading Sage HRMS (formerly Sage Abra HRMS) business partner in the nation, announced today that it continues to grow its team and its operation, adding two new positions focused on serving existing clients and acquiring and retaining new clients.

“The cornerstone of our business success is our continuing goal to exceed our customer’s expectations,” said Mark Dresser, president of Dresser & Associates. “We work to accomplish that goal through customer communications and a commitment to exceptional service.”

Emily Mattos was recently hired as the company’s new Marketing Coordinator. Mattos is a graduate of the University of Maine and a lifelong resident of the state. Her role is to enhance Dresser & Associates’ presence across various social media outlets, including the company’s popular blog and its newly redesigned website. Mattos will also initiate and oversee new marketing campaigns tailored to both existing customers and prospective customers and support the organization’s larger marketing efforts.

“Emily’s role will be one of continuing our level of service to our customers while looking at new ways to more effectively reach them,” said Dresser. “As more of our customers rely on Twitter, LinkedIn and the newest forms of media, we want to be there providing timely and pertinent information.”

Abby Gustafson is Dresser & Associates’ new Account Executive. A graduate of Florida’s Eckerd College, Gustafson’s primary roles will be to support the company’s existing client base and to help drive new customer acquisition.

Dresser calls the Account Executive position one of the most important roles within the organization: “This position has the most communication with our customers. The Account Executive’s role is to serve as our customers’ go-to person. We want our Account Executives to identify small issues and resolve them before they can escalate to become larger problems. They are the key to our strategy of exceeding our customers’ expectations.”

Dresser & Associates is the most successful Sage HRMS business partner in North America, an achievement Dresser attributes to the quality team he has assembled: “We have a knowledgeable, conscientious, and highly committed team. Each new hire adds to our strength and enhances our ability to deliver professional, personalized service to our clients. It has always been our goal to be considered a trusted partner in our clients’ operations, and it is through the dedication of our employees that we achieve that goal. I’m proud to welcome both Emily and Abby and know that their contributions will be appreciated by our clients.”

About Dresser & Associates

Dresser & Associates was founded in 1991 as a management consulting firm and became a Sage North America business partner in 1997. Headquartered in Scarborough, Maine, Dresser has regional offices in Georgia, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Dresser is one of the leading National Partners for Sage with customers in 38 states offering Sage HRMS (formerly Sage Abra HRMS), Abra HR and payroll software from Sage North America. They have been named to the Sage Chairman’s Club for five consecutive years. Dresser also offers on-going human resource management services on a consultant or outsourced basis, providing consulting services to improve operational and management performance. Dresser is dedicated to the continuing professional success of its customers and business partners. Learn more at www.dresserassociates.com or by calling (866) 885-7212.

This represents a fundamental change in your obligation as an employer in terms of local Earned Income Tax collection. The changes were effective January 1, 2011, but will become mandatory on January 1, 2012. While each municipality and school district will determine the income tax rate, collection of the EIT will be done by a single county-wide tax collector.

Highlights of Act 32

• Act 32 pertains to all municipalities and school districts except Philadelphia
• Some counties enacted it in January 2011 – it must be implemented by all companies with locations in PA by January 2012
• It is a law that streamlines and standardizes the local EIT system
• Reduces the number of local earned income tax collectors from approximately 560 to 21
• The appointment of collection responsibility falls on countywide committees made up of representatives from local municipalities and school districts
• The committees established tax collection districts and elected tax officers to collect the EIT
• Act 32 requires uniform withholding of earned income taxes and remittance to a single local collector or Tax Officer
  • Under Act 32, employers are required to withhold the higher of the employee’s resident earned income tax amount (rate of total resident EIT where they reside) vs. the employee’s municipal non-resident earned income tax amount (rate of non-resident EIT where they are employed) and remit to the workplace tax collector

To learn more, please register for our free webinar: Pennsylvania Act 32 – Collecting Local Earned Income Taxes in Pennsylvania or click here for more information. Don’t miss out on what you need to know so that your company’s payroll department is in compliance with the many mandated changes!

To help make business life easier for Sage Abra HRMS users, exciting new enhancements and modifications have been made to human resources, benefits, time off, payroll, training, employee self service, benefits open enrollment, and more. The improvements will streamline processes, enable go green initiatives, and provide government compliance updates, company handbook information, job descriptions, and competitive salary information. Taking advantage of these tools can help improve competitiveness and profitability.

To find out more, watch Johnny Laurent, vice president and general manager of Sage Employer Solutions, or view the Sage HRMS 2012 (formerly Sage Abra SQL HRMS) feature sheet. To hear about additional improvement, please register for the free webinar, “What’s New in Sage HRMS 2012?”

If you are unable to see this video, please watch it on our YouTube Channel

Hiring new employees can be a complicated process. From writing job descriptions and determining salary range to holding interviews and extending an offer, there’s a lot to think about. Thanks to social media and cloud-based computing, the recruitment aspect of bringing on new employees has been simplified. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) allow HR departments to be more organized and automated from beginning to end by providing a central location and database for a company’s recruitment efforts.

An ATS is similar to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System, but is designed for recruitment purposes. It makes finding, keeping track of, and managing applicants easy and ensures that positions are filled as quickly and efficiently as possible. It can be implemented on an Enterprise or small business level and enables the electronic handling of a company’s recruitment tracking process. Almost all major corporations use an ATS and the use of these systems is expanding into small and medium sized businesses through Software as a Service (Saas).

In a recent interview with Kyle Lagunas, HR Analyst at Software Advice, Mark Dresser was asked what trends he sees as having the largest impact on the ATS market. Dresser commented:

With the recession and the tight financial market of the past few years, I think companies have realized that they needed to start doing more with less. What they used to do with 10 people, now they’re trying to do with 7 or 8 – and they need to attract and retain the best quality people. These companies need a system that can automate the process – that helps them find ways to attract the best candidates. Where once it was only large companies using these systems, we’re now seeing more of the smaller companies tapping into ATS in order to improve their hiring processes and stay competitive.

Read the entire interview with Mark Dresser of Dresser & Associates, Jason Barnett of EON Applications, and Susan Vitale of iCIMS.

Scarborough, Maine – August 11, 2011 – Dresser & Associates, the leading Sage Abra HRMS business partner in North America, today announced the launch of its newly redesigned corporate website, www.dresserassociates.com. The new site offers quick and easy access to hundreds of pages of payroll and HR product and industry information, video tours, news, tips, training schedules, newsletters, and much more. Visitors will be rewarded by the site’s broad visual appeal, engaging and informative content, and intuitive navigation.

“We have a tremendous amount of information to share with our clients, prospects, and alliance partners,” said Mark Dresser, president of Dresser & Associates. “Organizing this information in an accessible, intuitive, and visually attractive way was the primary goal for our redesign. The early feedback we’re receiving indicates we’ve met that goal!”

Dresser & Associates offers an array of services and resources that reach far beyond Sage Abra HRMS sales and support. In the past year alone, the company has introduced a new free HR/Labor Law Legal Hotline, hosted multiple conferences and webcasts, and boosted the firm’s social media presence to better connect with clients through Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and its corporate blog.

“To continue to grow their success, our clients want access to the tools and information that help them make better, more strategic business decisions,” added Dresser. “Payroll and Human Resources professionals must remain informed of new regulations, in touch with best practice approaches, and work to continually refine and hone their departments’ efficiencies. Our goal is to have our website serve as the portal to connect these professionals with the information, resources, and advice they are looking for.”

About Dresser & Associates

Dresser & Associates was founded in 1991 as a management consulting firm and became a Sage North America business partner in 1997. Headquartered in Scarborough, Maine, Dresser has regional offices in Georgia, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Dresser is one of the leading National Partners for Sage with customers in 38 states offering Sage Abra HRMS (formerly ABRA Suite), Abra HR and payroll software from Sage North America. They have been named to the Sage Chairman’s Club for four consecutive years. Dresser also offers on-going human resource management services on a consultant or outsourced basis, providing consulting services to improve operational and management performance. Dresser is dedicated to the continuing professional success of its customers and business partners. Learn more at www.dresserassociates.com or by calling (866) 885-7212.