Fairly Staffing adds compliant payroll for dental clinics

Fairly Staffing has launched a payroll system for dental clinics in partnership with Nmbr. The product is aimed at temporary dental workers, who are often treated as contractors.

The launch comes as the Canadian government increases scrutiny of worker classification. Budget 2025 signalled tighter enforcement against employers that misclassify staff as independent contractors. Dental clinics are among the businesses exposed because they often rely on temporary hygienists and assistants to cover shifts and keep appointments on schedule.

Fairly Staffing has added payroll functions to the platform that clinics use to book and manage temporary staff. The system calculates deductions, remits Canada Pension Plan contributions, Employment Insurance premiums and income tax to the Canada Revenue Agency, sends net pay to workers' bank accounts, and produces payroll records.

For clinics, the issue is that temporary workers may still be regarded as employees for tax purposes, even when hired for short periods. When a worker performs duties inside a clinic, uses the clinic's equipment and follows its timetable, the Canada Revenue Agency may view that person as an employee rather than an independent contractor.

That distinction has financial consequences. Employers that classify workers incorrectly can face penalties and liabilities tied to unpaid deductions and remittances.

Sector gap

The new system is intended to close a gap between recruitment tools and payroll administration in dentistry. Clinics have typically had to use separate systems to find temporary workers and then manage payment and deductions through another provider, or treat workers as contractors and leave payroll obligations unresolved.

Nmbr provides the payroll infrastructure behind the service. It focuses on embedded payroll software, allowing other software businesses to place payroll functions inside their own products rather than sending users to an external payroll platform.

For Fairly Staffing, that means clinics can manage booking and payment in one workflow. The service was built around the needs of dental practices that may need to pay someone for a single day of work.

"Temporary staffing has always been essential to dentistry, but the industry has never had payroll infrastructure designed specifically for it," said Amir Reshef, chief executive officer of Fairly Staffing.

"Payroll systems can't help clinics find staff, and they aren't built to pay someone for a single day of work. Temp platforms can help clinics find a professional, but they don't run compliant payroll. With our proprietary technology, powered by Nmbr's payroll engine, we've brought both together for the first time in one platform, solving a problem the dental industry has lived with for decades," Reshef said.

Compliance focus

The compliance question has gained prominence as tax authorities and governments pay closer attention to sectors that depend heavily on temporary and contract labour. For smaller employers, the challenge is often practical as well as legal. They may need flexible staffing to keep operations running but still face the same payroll obligations as larger organisations.

Embedded payroll providers such as Nmbr are trying to address that by moving the compliance process into industry-specific software. Instead of requiring users to transfer worker details into a separate payroll product, the payroll engine sits behind the booking or workforce management platform and handles deductions, remittances and documentation there.

This approach reduces the need for software companies to build payroll systems from scratch. Payroll is difficult to develop because of the tax rules, reporting requirements and remittance processes involved, which often lead companies to rely on third-party products.

"Payroll compliance is becoming increasingly important as regulators tighten enforcement around worker classification," said Simon Bourgeois, Chief Executive Officer of Nmbr. "The embedded payroll infrastructure that we offer allows companies to handle those requirements directly inside the software that businesses already use. Fairly is a great example of how vertical platforms can solve real operational challenges while ensuring payroll is handled compliantly from day one."

"By combining Fairly Staffing's platform with Nmbr's embedded payroll infrastructure, the partnership gives dental clinics a compliant way to manage both temporary and permanent staff in one system, helping practices maintain operational flexibility while reducing payroll risk," Bourgeois said.

Fairly Staffing focuses on staffing for the dental sector, connecting clinics with temporary professionals. Nmbr is a Canadian provider of embedded payroll software for businesses that want to add payroll functions to their own applications.

The launch reflects a broader shift in workforce software as providers combine hiring, scheduling and payment tools in one system, particularly in sectors where temporary labour is common, and tax treatment is under closer review.