Everee, a leading payroll software built for staffing and gig work, today announced it has been named to Fast Company’s 2026 Most Innovative Companies List, one of the publication’s most prestigious annual recognitions honoring organizations that are shaping the future of business through innovation. Everee was ranked No. 11 in the Human Resources category.
The recognition places Everee among a global group of companies defining how industries evolve and highlights its work rethinking how payroll operates in an economy where work is faster, more flexible, and increasingly on demand.
“We built Everee to modernize payroll for how people work today,” said Brett Barlow, CEO of Everee. “Faster, more flexible pay is becoming a competitive advantage for businesses, and they need infrastructure that supports it without added complexity. Fast Company’s recognition reflects how quickly that shift is taking hold.”
Everee’s 2025 workforce research found that 61% of clinicians would choose one healthcare staffing agency over another based on same-day pay availability, while 70% of gig drivers said they prefer daily or instant pay. For the businesses Everee serves, keeping pace with those expectations has become a core operational priority.
In 2025, the company:
- Launched the industry’s first pay-cycle-free payroll system, enabling businesses to process fully compliant W-2 payroll on demand
- Enabled real-time gross-to-net payroll processing across all 50 states, automatically calculating taxes, deductions, and benefits without batch runs
- Expanded integrations with eight leading workforce and staffing platforms, enabling embedded, same-day payroll across thousands of businesses
- Introduced custom-branded pay cards, including the Expedite Visa® Pay Card with dlivrd, allowing companies to offer instant access to earnings within their own applications
- Processed almost $2 billion in payments, reflecting rapid adoption of real-time payroll infrastructure
The result is a payroll system that allows businesses to pay W-2 and 1099 workers with the same speed while maintaining full compliance, removing one of the longest-standing limitations in payroll systems. As flexible and contingent work continues to grow, payment timing has become a key driver of worker financial stability and retention, making faster, more reliable access to earnings a competitive advantage for businesses.
This kind of progress is happening across industries, reflected in this year’s Fast Company Most Innovative Companies honorees.
“Our list of the Most Innovative Companies is about spotlighting organizations that don’t just adapt to change—they drive it,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “The companies we honor this year are redefining what leadership looks like in 2026, pairing bold ideas with measurable impact and turning breakthrough innovation into real-world value. They are setting the pace for their industries and offering a blueprint for what sustained innovation can achieve.”
The full list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies honorees can now be found at fastcompany.com.
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