At a glance
For years, payroll at Naturopathie Integrative Clinic looked like this: a CRA calculator in one tab, a spreadsheet in another, and whatever time Lindsey Jordan, BScN, CON(C), the clinic’s co-owner could find once her three kids under five were finally in bed.
Each payroll run took about two hours. Year-end took even longer.
“It was very disjointed. There were a lot of moving parts, and it wasn’t very cohesive,” says Lindsey.
Today, payroll is a review and a click. More than 20 employees and contractors are paid through Wagepoint, source deductions are handled automatically, and T4s and T4As are filed with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
More importantly, Lindsey and her husband, Dr. Sheldon Jordan, ND, have gotten back time they can spend on the business, their patients, and their family.
“It’s definitely brought down our anxiety about payroll and bookkeeping. We’ve had more of a life since using Wagepoint, where now we can spend more time with our family and kids and each other, and focus on our strengths within the company.”
When payroll became too much to manage alone
Naturopathie Integrative Clinic opened in December 2017, with a focus on patient-centred care. As the clinic grew, so did the team: naturopathic doctors, a massage therapist, an acupuncturist, nurses and others, with a mix of employees and contractors, all working different schedules.
Lindsey, a registered nurse, had been managing payroll herself for a long time.
“I had struggled on my own for nearly five years trying to make some sort of system work, and became increasingly frustrated as our team grew and payroll needs became more complex,” she says.
The problem wasn’t just the time. Lindsey didn’t have the financial expertise to easily turn all those numbers into a clear picture of how the business was doing.
Finding the right bookkeeper
That changed in 2022 when Dr. Jordan met Holly Penney of Nova Ridge Bookkeeping through a networking group.
Holly specializes in wellness clinics, and already understood the day-to-day of running a business like Naturopathie Integrative Clinic. “Onboarding Holly was a turning point in our small business because it was the first time we were outsourcing tasks,” says Lindsey.
Once she had the clinic’s books organized, Holly took a look at how payroll was being handled.
“It’s the 21st century,” she remembers telling the team. “We have better tools you can use now, and they’ll also save you time, headaches and efficiency.” Holly recommended Wagepoint, her platform of choice for all of her small business clients, and they have never looked back.
One system, and a lot less to think about
The clinic moved to Wagepoint in January 2023.
As they expanded, they brought on a payroll administrator to run pay every two weeks, with employees and contractors submitting hours or invoices ahead of time. “That really takes the burden off both of us,” says Dr. Jordan.
Handing off payroll was also a test of how much they trusted the system.
“This is positive, this is growth, this is the next step. It’s allowing us to let go of things as a way forward, rather than feeling like we have to do it all ourselves, or that outsourcing means we’re failing.”
– Lindsey Jordan, RN, BScN, CON(C), Co-owner of Naturopathie Integrative Clinic
And when something does go wrong, it doesn’t have to derail payroll. One pay period, the administrator forgot to hit send on a run. The team didn’t catch it until the next day, when the money hadn’t left the account. They contacted Wagepoint, and a customer service representative helped them find another way to get the payment processed on time.
Everyone was still paid on schedule.
“Reaching out to Wagepoint, the customer service representative was able to help us find another way to ensure the payment would process on time,” says Lindsey.
Wondering what it would take to move your own payroll over? Book a free demo and we’ll walk you through it.
Better payroll data means better business decisions
The benefits of getting payroll under control went beyond saving time.
Because payroll runs in Wagepoint, Holly’s team can pull the reporting it needs straight from the clinic’s account.
That information now feeds into the monthly KPI reviews: profit margins by location, spending on support staff and contractors measured against industry benchmarks, and a running conversation about the clinic’s next move.
The data has become a tool for making bigger business decisions.
“We had to make a big decision to close down one of our satellite locations,” says Dr. Jordan. “Holly provided us with real-time information about how profitable the clinic was in each location, and that helped us make the difficult decisions before it became a bigger problem.”
It’s also given Lindsey bandwidth to support other parts of the business.
“I get to be in more of a consulting role for some of Dr. Jordan’s oncology patients. I’m part of the higher-level decisions of where the company’s going, who we’re going to hire, what’s next. I can still have my foot in the door, just in a different way.”
– Lindsey Jordan, RN, BScN, CON(C), co-owner of Naturopathie Integrative Clinic
January, without the scramble
Before Wagepoint, year-end was one of Lindsey’s least favourite times of year.
“The numbers never seemed to add up at the end of year, despite my best efforts to manually enter all the data correctly,” she says. “The payroll deductions would not be rounded up or down quite right, or the annual incomes wouldn’t match.”
Some years, that meant reissuing a T4 after an employee’s accountant flagged a mismatch. “January was always a bit of extra angst for me because I would be trying to tie up everything and it was just not streamlined,” says Lindsey.
Now, year-end is smooth sailing. With T4s and T4As sent in automatically, the clinic hasn’t had a single discrepancy in their year-end numbers.
“Since we started using Wagepoint, January just became a totally different month. There is never any difference between our numbers and the CRA’s numbers.”
In Wagepoint, all Lindsey has to do is review each T4. “Then I could just click send and all the rest was done for me,” she says.
A partnership built on trust
Both sides of this partnership are already thinking about what comes next. “We have dreams of opening another clinic, and of course we would have Holly on board right from the beginning,” says Dr. Jordan. “It’s what makes it possible for us to even consider growing the business. It’d be impossible for either Lindsey or I to maintain accurate books across multiple locations without her.”
“It’s worth every penny to have the reassurance that someone with experience in your field is paying attention to your bottom line, and ensuring that our time and money and talent is all being optimized.”
Payroll you can hand off, on your terms
Naturopathie Integrative Clinic didn’t have to choose between running payroll themselves and handing it off completely. With Wagepoint, they were able to do both: train a staff member to run pay every two weeks without ever touching the clinic’s bank accounts, and lean on a trusted bookkeeper for the bigger picture, on their own timeline.
Whether you’re ready to bring in a bookkeeper, hand payroll to someone on your team, or keep running it yourself with better tools, Wagepoint is built to work the way you want to run your business.
