Helping Lab Operators Who Are Fed Up with Payroll BS, Compliance Confusion, and Being Treated Like a Liability Instead of a Legitimate Business

You didn’t launch your lab to become a compliance officer. But here you are—deciphering tax codes, juggling variable schedules, and getting ghosted by payroll vendors the moment you mention cannabis. It’s frustrating. It’s unfair. And you’re not the only one dealing with it. At Paragon, we built this for you—the labs ensuring product integrity and safety, who still get sidelined by the very systems that should be helping you grow. You’re the last line of defense for quality. We make sure your team gets paid, your audits are clean, and your mental load gets a little lighter.

Let's Talk Emergency Relief

Get Paid Without Payroll Drama

We automate payroll processing, filings, and tax deposits—so you're not fixing errors between potency runs or microbial analysis.

Multiple Departments? No Problem

We accurately classify chemists, techs, drivers, and admin staff—making pay and compliance clean, quick, and audit-ready.

Built for Work That Happens in Gloves, Not Cubicles

Our mobile punch and offline sync keep time tracking accurate—whether you're working in cleanrooms or onsite field testing.

Finally loose unnecessary stress and focus on what matters most.

The Real Problems You’re Facing

From batch log reviews to ISO compliance and METRC labeling, you're juggling dozens of moving parts. Add in rotating roles, state regs, payroll corrections, and systems that don’t “get” cannabis—no wonder it feels like your back office is broken.

Fumbled By People Meant To Support You

You've been dropped or denied just for working in cannabis.

Every Batch Is Tracked— Payroll Isn't

Classifying analysts, interns, and shift workers shouldn’t feel like a guessing game.

Too Many Hats, Not Enough Hands

You’re acting as HR, compliance, and ops—still unsure if your team’s pay is technically compliant.

Scale With Confidence

We Know Labs—and We’re Built for the Realities You Face

From scientific staff to logistical complexity, our tools are designed to support cannabis labs with compliant payroll and people operations.

Let's Talk

Compliant, Lab-Tested Payroll

Automated, 280E-conscious payroll built to handle varying shifts, roles, and licensing requirements.

Flexible Time Tracking That Works

Mobile and kiosk options with offline syncing—ideal for labs, mobile testing teams, or in-process QA crews.

Built to Scale with Your Certifications

Whether you’re ISO-accredited or scaling across multiple states, we keep your people process aligned with your growth.

Support That Knows the Law—and the Lab

Access real HR and compliance pros who understand license layers, testing protocols, and seasonal staffing.

Onboarding + Canna U Training

Bring new team members up to speed quickly with customized onboarding and education that meets lab standards.

The 3 Step Plan: From Chaos to Control

You’ve Done The Hard Part. Let Us Simplify The Rest.

You’ve juggled inspections, licenses, and provider drop-offs. Whether you're spreadsheet-ing timecards or just trying to stay audit-ready, we built this next part to be easy.

Schedule a Call

From hourly lab techs to salaried ops managers, let’s walk through your setup with a cannabis-specific payroll advisor.

Build Customized Solutions

We’ll show you exactly how Paragon handles time tracking, shift differentials, batch-specific cost centers, and more.

Onboard and Operate Smoothly

From implementation to user training, we help every department—HR, payroll, ops—gain control and cut confusion.

Talk to Us

Word on the Street

“I will say, I am quite impressed with Paragon’s commitment to the cannabis industry. From seeing ads, to your posts on LinkedIn on Paragon’s behalf etc. I am just very happy to see a company that is so openly stating that they support us. It’s a very nice change from what seems to be the norm. Two thumbs up to you guys at Paragon!

Also, I forgot to add, that not only is great to see the support of the industry, but Paragon seems to one of the few if not the only payroll company that seems to understand the pricing schedule that is realistic within this industry. Too many companies operate under the “cannabis tax” model when doing business with a cannabis company that further strains the success of the growth of this industry. So, I am very thankful that Paragon is not one of those companies and is realistic with their fees.”

Owner With It Weed

“We transitioned to isolved at the first of this year. Naturally, that came with a steep learning curve for our payroll processing. With other payroll software transitions in my career, this has been a very difficult process.
Ever since our implementation resource was introduced, it's been like having someone right beside me along the way to ensure things are 100% accurate. She's taken a ton of questions from me over the past few weeks and provided timely (and accurate) answers to every one of them. She made this transition easier than anything I've seen doing payroll for over 18 years. It's obvious she knows the system inside-and-out because she knew how to explain complex procedures in an easy-to-understand way. I could write paragraphs on how she walked me through our complex payroll and increased my understanding of the isolved platform. This is even more commendable since we are a PEO, which only adds to the complexity of how we are using the program.

In short, she is my hero!"

Owner UpSource PEO

"Paragon's service has been great. Implementation and support have been very responsive and helped us out when we needed to find a new provider and had tight timeframes. They made the process of switching providers nearly painless and they seem to really care and show a lot of empathy for our situation. A big thank you to their team."

CFO Drops Candies

Most Popular Dispensary Bundle & What it Costs

Managing operations in a cannabis lab means coordinating rotating roles, managing licenses, and tracking time across cleanrooms, field sites, and remote teams. That’s why most labs choose our Payroll + HCM Bundle with both Timekeeping and Scheduling Add-Ons—so your people, processes, and compliance stay locked in.

🔬 Payroll + HCM Bundle
$9 per employee/month + $95 base fee
Includes:

Streamlined mobile onboarding for lab techs, field testers, and admin staff
Role-based permissioning and license renewal alerts
Cannabis-specific compliance tools (I-9, OSHA, EEO-1)
Exportable reports for audits, ISO, and state inspections

📅 Scheduling Add-On
$3 per employee/month

Build shifts by role or room (e.g., microbiology, field sampling, compliance)
Adjust schedules in real-time as projects or test loads change
Keep teams aligned across departments and shifts with live updates

⏱ Timekeeping Bundle
$3 per employee/month

Mobile punches with GPS and offline syncing
Web kiosks and biometric clocks available for secure access points
Seamless integration with lab workflows or use our native system

Learn More About Pricing

We’re Built for the Real-World Lab + Logistics Grind.

FAQs

Whether you’re exploring Paragon for the first time or firefighting during a surprise inspection—lab tests, field reports, or state compliance pulls—we get it. Labs aren’t just another cog in the supply chain. They’re where compliance gets verified, where every decimal and data point matters. And most payroll providers? They’re just not built for the level of precision you need.

From tracking time across cleanrooms and mobile testers to ensuring your logs hold up during audits, you need more than a payroll vendor—you need a partner who understands the pressures of cannabis testing and the regulations that shape your day-to-day.

We’ve got you.

Here are the top questions we hear from lab operators like you—answered with insights from helping over 650 cannabis businesses nationwide.

Can our techs onboard from their phones or field sites?

What happens when compliance regulations shift?

How responsive is support?

Can we separate permissions between lab techs, compliance leads, and admin staff?

Let’s turn your what-ifs into wins.

Ready to Stop Wondering and Start Winning?

You're not here by accident. You're here because something’s not working—or because you know there’s a better way. We’re not just another solution. We’re the one built with your reality in mind.

So if you’re tired of guessing, tired of being underserved, or just tired of carrying all the weight alone—this is your moment. You're choosing a partner that gets it, shows up, and delivers.