Barb Gamey
Co-founder,
Payworks
Jaclyn Christie
Vice President of Marketing,
Payworks
Learn how Payworks grew from a Winnipeg startup into the country’s largest completely Canadian-owned provider of payroll, HR, and time management solutions.
It’s been 25 years since Payworks co-founder Barb Gamey set out to provide Canadian employers with a homegrown solution for paying their employees accurately and on time — designed, built, and supported by a fellow local business.
“The vision for starting Payworks was creating an alternative to the providers already in the space,” says Gamey. “At that point, I’d spent 15 years in the industry and saw the market consolidation taking place and the outdated technology being used. I could start with a clean slate, both in terms of our product and our level of customer support. Our service philosophy was then and remains very different than what’s generally available in the market.”
Products built for Canadian employers
Payworks was ready to compete: today, the company serves over 40,000 businesses of all sizes and industries across the country with a full suite of modern workforce management solutions, including payroll, HR, employee time and absence management, analytics, and more. Each customer is assigned a knowledgeable client service representative, and two Canadian data centres keep their data within our borders.
Payworks remains privately held and 100 per cent Canadian-owned and operated. It’s also still headquartered in Winnipeg, as it has been since opening its doors — although those doors recently received an upgrade, as the company moved into a new 94,000-square-foot head office in late 2024. Payworks has grown to a thriving team of over 600 people in 12 Canadian cities, providing high-quality jobs in product development, information security, privacy and governance, customer relationship management, and more.
Supporting Canadian communities
Employees enthusiastically embrace Payworks’ purpose of “doing right by people.” Through its longstanding Pay it Forward program, which allows two paid days off per year to volunteer at charitable organizations about which they’re passionate, staff gave 2,200 hours back to their local communities in 2024 alone. The business supports over 250 organizations across Canada, and also partners with associations advocating for Canadian small businesses and their employees.
“We’re proud to be the largest Canadian-owned provider of payroll, HR, and time management solutions, built by and for Canadians,” says Jaclyn Christie, Vice President of Marketing at Payworks. “To get here, we had to be intentional about fostering shared culture and values across our national team, investing in the agencies strengthening our communities, and helping Canadian employers as they start, run, and grow their businesses and navigate payroll legislation. We’re honoured to grow alongside our clients and to support them — not just with products built here at home, but also through significant investment into the causes and communities they love.”
Find out how Payworks can work for you at payworks.ca.
