Having just survived a record-breaking W-2 season, our Software Year End Team deserves a huge shout-out.

Last year, we were responsible for 456,000 W-2s. This year, we sent out a whopping 700,000 W-2s and 1099s. That’s an increase in capacity of more than fifty percent. If you’ve ever been recruited to help stuff wedding invitations, you know that printing, folding, sorting, and mailing doesn’t happen overnight (or, it does, but it’s a very, very long night).

This year, we decided we actually needed more physical space to meet the growing demand. So we rented extra office space in the building and increased our printer fleet by two. (These aren’t your everyday printers, either. They’re so large, they should have their own zip code).

Even more important to the process is the human element. It was an all-hand-on-deck situation: we hired temporary staff to augment our existing Year End Team and had the printers running round-the-clock with staff working two shifts. As in past years, we stuck to a strict review process with readers pulling five percent of the W-2s and verifying their accuracy by hand. Five percent doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up to 35,000 forms.

To be honest, we kind of love the flurry of activity around here because it means we’re taking a huge burden off of our clients’ plates. It feels good to accomplish something so huge. There’s never a dull moment in January.