2019 was an incredible year of growth for the cannabis industry; mergers and acquisitions, multi-state expansion, new state licensing, and an explosion of new jobs created. Operationally, more businesses began adopting best practices from the retail and hospitality industries and implemented technology systems to connect all facets of business for stronger insights. There have been focused efforts on hiring, engagement, and training to improve employee retention. Plus, the momentum for widespread acceptance of cannabis legalization is truly unstoppable.
These favorable advancements haven’t come without a variety of challenges, including continued banking access stalls, compliance hurdles, and environmental tragedies. While most legal markets in the nation are struggling to keep up with the demand for qualified talent, select California enterprises laid off an average of 30% of their workforce due to numerous obstacles. Most notably, the vaping crisis shed light on the need forconsistent regulation and testing. Additionally, lack of access to capital has significantly slowed down business growth nationwide.
According to a survey Wurk sent to leading enterprise U.S. cannabis businesses, the largest human resource challenge in 2019 was managing rapid growth and scaling the workforce to meet demand. Managers felt pressure to ensure hiring plans were strategic, yet could meet the constant change of the industry, and many learned that employee turnover was directly related to a lack of training and effective performance management practices.
2019 tested the resiliency, patience, and commitment of many in the industry. As 2020 begins, consider this: this is a passionate community that has the experience, determination and gumption to persevere no matter the roadblocks. As pioneers in cannabis HR, leaders are responsible for providing the right support and resources to the people of the industry, so momentum continues.
In 2020, recognize these 9 trends in cannabis Human Capital Management:
Employee Training & Performance Management
While more than half of the US has some form of cannabis legislation in place, the industry still lacks a standardized education and training program for employees in each vertical. Compliance and risk management programs have been developed by vendors like Cannabis Trainers, and states such as Massachusetts are mandating that operators take part in these sessions. A portion of marijuana businesses have created internal training programs and will invite producers in-house to offer product education to budtenders.
Although there’s been progress in this category, the industry is still a long way away from providing consistent, reliable education to employees. In the coming year, HR leaders will have self-developed or outsourced courses on compliance, at a minimum. More and more operations will expand their employee development to include product and plant specifics, responsible selling best practices, and even positive psychology coaching.
Reducing employee turnover will remain a focus for cannabis HR leaders in 2020. Operators will take a fresh look at how performance management is handled and whether it aligns with company culture. One approach to replace the annual review will be “continuous performance management,” where frequent one-on-ones are scheduled to improve communication, address issues fast, and ensure employees are engaged in the organization. HRIS platforms can support these conversations with people data so managers can combine the human interaction with trending evidence in order to spot at-risk employees before they jump ship.
Employee Experience
People are a business’s largest asset, which means not only can they be the most substantial expense, they are also the biggest revenue generator. The Employee Experience (what people encounter, observe or feel over the course of their employee journey) will begin to be a part of cannabis HR strategy into the new year. By gathering insights about this unique workforce through surveys, interviews, and conversational documentation, cannabis businesses will start to define an Employee Experience that parallels the company’s mission, vision, and values.
Forbes recently included “tending” people as an HR trend to be aware of in 2020. The idea is to cultivate employees and support their growth, rather than manage them. This intentional relationship-building practice evokes a sense of community and wellbeing. Harvard Business Review notes that tending goes a long way in mitigating the “workers as machines” phenomenon. If crucial talent feels they are just a cog in the Multi-State Operator machine or an unseen hourly inventory manager, the likelihood of them voluntarily departing the business will rise.
Standardization vs Customization
Recognition must be given to leadership in 2019 for leaning on other industries for processes to effectively manage a mostly hourly workforce. While cannabis businesses are still in start-up mode, there are labor tasks and procedures that mirror those in the fast food, hospitality, and agricultural segments that can help shape standards. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, but it’s obvious that the intricacies involved with the seed-to-sale process require customization.
In 2020, HR will balance enforcing best practices and the need for agile, tailored decision-making. When it comes to talent acquisition, for example, a hiring manager may draft a job description that includes vital soft skills, like reliability, communication skills, organization, adaptability, and leadership. In new cannabis markets, following a cookie-cutter model won’t generate the talent pool needed to build a business.
Being innovative with tried and true methods will allow leadership to solve bottlenecks today, not in the future.
Data-Driven Decision Making
According to Deloitte’s 2018 Human Capital Trends report, 85% of companies see people analytics as a high priority, but only 42% believe they are either ‘very ready’ or ‘ready’ to meet expectations. Over the years, cannabis executives have taken action to implement a technology foundation that supports compliance, streamlines processes, and reduces cost. Yet, there is still a lot of runway left to cover.
The focus will shift from technology as a ‘nice to have’ to technology as a major transformational driver in the years to come. Organizations will recognize the benefit of all-in-one solutions that enable better business decisions based on data. Human Resources will remain on budget by comparing actual spend per department, location, and cost center to predicted payroll spend. Managers will rely on people analytics to identify what elements impact turnover and employee engagement. Even in the most fast-paced, ever-changing industry, HR professionals will have the ability to predict future trends for talent, finance, and workforce planning.
Managing Rapid Growth
Massive expansion has created immense pressure for all positions in the cannabis vertical, notably for HR professionals. With most companies growing through M&A activity, not organically, the structure of business is evolving faster than most can realistically manage. This surge will only continue in 2020, demanding the expertise of the HR department to effectively discern new opportunities and build the workforce of the future.
According to the PwC CEO survey, 77% of CEOs believe the biggest threat to their business is the lack of availability of key skills. With CEOs so concerned about talent, cannabis HR managers will shift focus to increasing productivity of their existing workforce as opposed to hiring additional staff. Data will help inform HR professionals on who the top performers are and what conditions are supporting their success.
Outsourced HR Solutions
Employee relationship management should be made a priority for every business, but in-house cannabis human resources may not be an option for all. Small businesses may wait until they reach 40 or even 75 employees before bringing on a full-time HR manager. Constantly evolving labor laws and the risks involved with cannabis payroll will drive some business owners to outsource HR services to cannabis-specific partners.
From employment taxes to employee benefits to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), there are many aspects of workforce management that owners may not have the resources or experience to maintain. In an industry already strapped for financial support, one mistake in adhering to the work and pay rules for a specific municipality can amount to a hefty fine. The risk involved with managing cannabis people is high and this liability will drive licensees to depend on cannabis-friendly HR and Payroll partners.
Diversity and Inclusion
Key states had strict requirements surrounding diversity initiatives in the cannabis application process in 2019 and this focus will only grow in the decade to come. HR departments will develop stronger D&I plans with innovative ways to recruit, to communicate the importance of unique perspectives and to support peers across the organization.
Sadly, the industry saw a decline in the number of women execs at the end of the decade. Vangst found that of the 38.5% of employees that self-identified as females in the industry, only 17.6% of these women held a “Director” or “Executive” role. This compares to 82.4% for self-identified males.
As momentum gains, the industry will continue to attract like-minded, experienced professionals from mainstream, big box corporations. This past year, KushCo Holdings appointed former Nestle and Cetera Financial Group HR Executive, Rhiana Barr, as their Chief People Officer and Harborside brought on a female HR leader from big pharma. This trend will progress as the industry continues to prove legitimacy through international acceptance and financial opportunity.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Giving back to the community has been a challenging push for cannabis businesses as many non-profit organizations and volunteer programs are still hesitant to partner with plant-touching operations. Thankfully, this trend is taking a turn in a positive direction. Take for example, Cresco Labs, who launched the SEED initiative in 2019 to “ensure that all members of our society have the skills, knowledge and opportunity to work in and own businesses in this industry.” Companies all over the nation are contributing to those most affected by the War on Drugs by donating to non-profits like Last Prisoner Project or collaborating on expungement events.
Human Resources will attract a wider talent pool and increase employee satisfaction in 2020 by providing thoughtful opportunities for employees to be involved in CSR efforts.
Wellness and Benefits Offerings
For years, marijuana businesses have had to worry about basic employee resources, like ensuring they have access to banking and can receive a direct deposit. Although this will remain a hurdle for many, more doors have begun to open for managers to offer benefits, and even 401(k). Insurance and 401(k) brokers that are transparently serving the industry are becoming more and more prevalent into the new year. While Section 280E hinders employers from offering a 401(k) match, some production-focused entities may be able to deduct contributions to their employee benefits plans, where dispensary entities may not be able to—even when they’re owned by the same parent company.
Partnering with cannabis-friendly brokers and financial advisors will only benefit HR professionals as these offerings are still difficult to obtain and execute.
They say a year in cannabis is like 7 dog years… The industry has made it this far, not without flaw and frustration, but certainly with grit and determination. Organizations have the strength to power through 2020 with a solid foundation, the right toolset, and the best people around.
Heather is an experienced marketing professional with a demonstrated history of work in cannabis technology and digital strategy. Skilled in customer relationship management, online marketing, immersive experience design and communications, Heather brings a unique combination of creative ideation and project management. As Director of Marketing for Wurk, the first workforce management company designed specifically for the cannabis industry, Heather develops key messaging to inform the market about effective human resource management and to support the advancement of the industry. With previous experience at MJ Freeway, the leading provider of seed-to-sale software solutions for marijuana businesses, Heather brings a unique understanding of cannabis chain of custody and the various challenges operators face in this highly regulated space. Heather earned a bachelor’s degree in communication design and marketing from Metropolitan State University.
Designed specifically for the cannabis industry, Wurk allows employers to protect and streamline their operations, while providing an environment where people are a priority every step of the way. The intuitive, all-in-one solution automates the most complicated and risk-prone processes associated with hiring, scheduling, and paying employees. Learn more at enjoywurk.com.
Committee Blog: Working With Your Local Government as a Cannabis Cultivator
The regulated cannabis industry is inextricably linked to politics, and all politics is local — so when trying to open and operate a cannabis business, you’re almost sure to need to work with local government in some way.
To help our members understand how to start these relationships right, the NCIA State Regulations Committee hosted a webinar on how to approach local government earlier this year. That focused on identifying your relevant local authorities, how to introduce yourself, and how to properly navigate those relationships.
Once you’ve figured out who to talk to and have gotten in touch with them, they’ll often have questions about the cannabis industry, and there is plenty of good information you can proactively share as well. To help NCIA members inform their local governments about the wide range of issues surrounding our industry, we’ll be diving even deeper with a series of blog posts.
We’ll be starting this series where the whole cannabis supply chain begins: cultivation. Future posts will touch on processing, retail, and more. Even though states categorize their licenses differently, with some issuing stand-alone cultivation licenses and others combining cultivation with processing (or sometimes issuing vertically integrated licenses, with retail too), we’ll be focusing in on the various operations individually.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
When elected officials hear about a new business wanting to open in their town or city, their first question is usually, “how many jobs will it bring?” Mayors, city and town councils, departments of economic development, and other government entities are often laser-focused on building up the local economy, so explaining how your business will help them towards that goal is integral to moving your project forward.
Lucky for them, cannabis cultivation is a very labor-intensive endeavor, and you’ll likely be hiring dozens of people to staff your facility. If you’re an experienced operator who knows exactly how many people you need to hire and in what roles, let your local government know! They’ll be interested to see the range of responsibilities and necessary experience, from entry-level trimmers to mid-career managers to botanists with a Ph.D. If you’re still figuring out your exact staffing plan, providing a range of possibilities will help them understand the scale of your project. Be sure to avoid pie-in-the-sky estimates that you’ll never be able to reach — in the long run, it’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to make it seem like you were pulling a bait-and-switch. Also do not forget to include all the contract jobs created by constructing or retrofitting your facility.
Beyond the sheer number of hires you’ll be making, it’s important to talk about the compensation and benefits that you’ll be providing to your employees. If you’re starting everyone above the state’s minimum wage — or better yet, starting everyone at a living wage (generally thought to be at least $15/hour) — highlight that! If you’re providing health insurance or other benefits to your hourly employees, let them know! Elected officials like to see companies doing better than the bare minimum, and love to see companies that do even more.
Your physical facility will also have an economic impact on the community that’s worth talking about. If you’re buying your building, you’ll be paying property taxes, and you can let your elected officials know just how much you’ll be contributing to the tax base. Mayors and councilors always love to see unused space being occupied, so if you’re making use of a vacant or neglected building, be sure to let them know. This goes double if you’ll be making improvements to the building that increase its value (and triple if you’re using a local construction company to make those improvements).
Finally, consider whether you will be providing any additional revenue to the local government. While some state cannabis laws do allow for local taxes, these typically apply to retail rather than cultivation. Massachusetts and some other states also make heavy use of “community host agreements,” or CHAs, where a business commits a percentage of its revenues to the local government for a limited period of time. If either of these applies to you, be sure to provide elected officials with the relevant parts of state law, and the specifics you’re willing to offer. If you plan to financially support any charities, provide details — and if you’d like some guidance on what local charities are doing the most good, just ask, since most officials would be happy to tell you some of their favorites.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Elected officials also care about public safety, but usually follow the lead of their police chief and fire chief, for whom safety is their one and only priority. It’s good to proactively highlight the ways your facility will improve public safety — if you’re installing outdoor security cameras or floodlights, those can protect your neighbors as well as yourself, and there have been multiple cases where cameras on a cannabis business have helped solve an unrelated crime.
It’s important to remember that police and fire chiefs are spread thin and need to know a little about a wide variety of topics. Unless there are already cannabis businesses in their town, they probably haven’t read the state security requirements to open a facility, so providing an overview of the state law can help demonstrate how tightly regulated you will be. Knowing that the state already has rules for waste disposal, product storage, and controlled access areas can alleviate many of their initial concerns.
Once you’ve explained the security features of your building and run through the state requirements for cannabis businesses, you should address any lingering fears or questions that they may have. Two of the most common concerns are the safety of employees while transporting product or cash, and the risk of your building being targeted by burglars looking to steal product.
Regarding employee safety, explain how you will be shipping product to processors or dispensaries. Are you delivering it, are they picking it up, or are you using a third-party transporter? If you are transporting product yourself, explain both the state requirements and your own operating procedures, from GPS tracking to using two employees for each delivery.
You should also go into detail about your banking relationships. Many people outside the industry assume that it’s 100% cash, but if you’re part of the large majority of cannabis businesses with bank accounts, let your local officials know, especially the police chief. They will be much more comfortable if they know your customers will be wiring payments directly to your bank, rather than dropping off duffle bags full of cash at your facility.
Regarding burglary, be sure to re-emphasize your security measures, from cameras and fencing to access control and alarms. Explaining the cannabis life cycle may also be helpful — since plants are not useable products for most of their life, they’re poor targets for theft. This means that cultivation facilities are not prime targets for burglars, but in the rare cases that they are targeted, you can point to examples where cameras have led to burglars’ arrests.
COMMUNITY IMPACT
While economics and public safety are almost always the top two concerns of local governments, they may also be worried about other impacts on the community and how your business will affect residents’ quality of life. Common questions include whether your facility will emit any odor, and if it will increase traffic in the area.
Cannabis is famous for its strong odor, so it’s understandable that people would ask about it. Whether your state requires it or not, it’s advisable to use charcoal scrubbers or other odor mitigation technology to prevent your plants’ odor from escaping the building. Knowing that you’re taking steps to address this concern will help elected officials feel comfortable welcoming you into their community, especially if it’s in a densely populated area.
Traffic concerns may arise, especially if there are recent news stories about mile-long lines at dispensary grand openings. You can address this easily by explaining how cannabis cultivation facilities are not accessible to the public, and the main people coming to your building will be employees and inspectors, not customers.
When built and operated properly, cannabis cultivation facilities should be virtually indistinguishable from any other commercial warehouse. Unless you have very explicit signage (which we do not recommend), most people driving or walking by will not even know that you’re a cannabis business.
GOING FURTHER
Even after you have addressed all of your local government’s concerns, there will probably be even more questions — and that’s okay! This is a great opportunity to keep the dialogue open. Be sure to stay up to date on state laws and regulations so that you can serve as a resource for local officials. Because they’re spread so thin, they will appreciate having someone like you as a go-to when they have questions about cannabis politics or the industry.
If you’re able to offer tours of your facility, that’s a great way to build relationships with your local officials while educating them about your business and the cannabis industry as a whole. They may also appreciate invitations to events hosted by state cannabis regulators, or local industry conferences where they can get broader exposure to the cannabis world.
And of course, it’s important to be a good member of your community. Whether it’s participating in local projects, supporting local organizations, or organizing your own trash clean-ups or other events, staying active and visible will help the community know that they can count on you being a good neighbor.
Be sure to stay tuned for future installments in this series, where we will be addressing other cannabis license types. Our next blog will focus on processors.
The 2019 Cannabis Compensation Survey
NCIA is pleased to join forces with FutureSense to announce the first formally executed survey created for the cannabis and hemp industries. A growing number of companies have been looking for data and best practices for their executives and employees. This survey provides benchmark data to better understand compensation trends and remain competitive for talent in the marketplace.
2020 may be filled with unpredictable and new challenges. Compensation data and best practices are the foundation of any human resources and growth initiative. Pay is an effective supporting tool for any employee-oriented effort. As participation in the survey increases, so will our understanding of what is working and why it is effective.
We encourage you to read through the preliminary results laid out in the report and then consider taking the survey yourself by clicking on the links at the bottom of each page.
A new data release is planned for the first quarter of 2020. It will be followed by quarterly updates for the remainder of the year. We are accepting rolling submissions of the survey and will update and rerelease results on a quarterly basis. Participation is easy and we can help! If you’d like to participate simply go to www.CannaCompensation.com, select the “I Want To Participate” button, and fill in your information. FutureSense will contact you with instructions.
Closing out 2019, jobs in the cannabis industry have been at the forefront of a national conversation. With more states coming on board with medical and adult-use legislation, the industry is continuing to grow. Industry leaders are looking to attract and retain talent from within and outside of the industry by using competitive compensation strategies.
Several companies launched salary surveys in 2019, including us – FutureSense, LLC. We started on this journey to offer our compensation consulting clients accurate survey data. Surveys happen to be one of our areas of expertise. We partnered with the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) to launch the first-ever comprehensive, compliant, and actionable compensation survey to be released in January 2020.
As we dove deeper into the industry, we found that there were several other surveys in action. We also learned that our survey holds a few essential components that other surveys were missing.
These components include:
Compliance – Creating a compliant survey is not easy. Other surveys provide no acknowledgment of DOJ and DOL regulations around reporting pay data. Most other data sets do not indicate as to how many incumbents represent each data point, nor how heavily weighted any one company was in the data. Our survey follows all DOJ and DOL regulations.
Broad & deep data – At first, other surveys represented these values as minimums, averages, or maximums. Further research showed extreme data points that were not in line with normalized data. Based on our 30+ years of survey experience, these are clear signs of thin data. Our data has always been presented in percentiles, showing breadth and depth.
Usable & actionable data – Companies need much more than a handful of “hot jobs” to build out their compensation programs. HRT and compensation professionals need detail and ranges. Our survey provides extensive ranges and detail for professionals and companies to understand the market and put these findings into action.
When reviewing final survey data, we generally expect there to be data for a minimum of 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles, each calculated using standard statistic formulas. We also expect there to be a normalized difference between each level of no more than one or two standard deviations from the norm. In much of the other industry data, there are only minimums, maximums, and averages reported. Even more concerning is the wide range of pay for some jobs. In certain cases, we have seen data with no ranges (clearly data for only one or two individuals). In other cases, we have calculated rough deviations of six or even ten standard deviations from the norm.
As an example: one of the industry’s premier recruiting firms did a great job outlining the current trends in the industry and providing info on hot jobs and benefits. The narrative is great, but the pay data used to support their findings is limited to less than 30 positions and does not indicate whether it is compliant with all rules. It’s simply not data that businesses should use to set their pay levels. As an independent third-party survey provider, we’re aiming to provide compensation and benchmarking information that can be used to determine pay, without any bias.
Our report currently covers compliant data for more than 85 positions in 11 job families. As participation in our survey continues to grow, we will continue to expand the number of reportable job titles and family benchmarks. Our goal for 2020 is 200+ jobs with compliant and reportable data. We will also begin to present data by demographic breakouts, like location/region, company size, and revenue. The elements will make the data increasingly useful to any compensation/HR professional or executive looking for pricing for key positions and the foundations for the structure of a viable pay program for their company.
We are big believers in collaboration, not competition, and welcome the opportunity to explore designing a single set of data with other industry providers currently creating their own survey. The goal must be to represent the industry at-large. Good data is critical. Our growing industry cannot afford to promote the use of bad data any longer.
The report summary will be released to NCIA members in January of 2020. For more information or to sign up to participate please visit: www.CannaCompensation.com
Dan Walter, FGE, CECP, CEP, is a Managing Consultant at FutureSense, a holistic human capital consulting firm. He has worked in the field of compensation since 1994 and was previously the Founder and CEO of Performensation. His expertise includes equity compensation, incentive pay, executive compensation, and talent management issues. Dan is an industry thought leader for all forms of equity, including stock options, restricted shares and units, stock purchase plans, and performance-based programs. In addition to his focus on plan design, he has been the architect of software solutions and administrative and technological best practices used by many companies. Dan has coauthored several books on compensation and is a popular blogger on the topic. He is also a popular speaker and does dozens of presentations every year. Dan is also on the NCIA’s Human Resource Committee.
Matt Finkelstein, is a Consultant at FutureSense. Matt has worked in the compensation field with FutureSense for six years and has also spent thirteen years as an organic farmer & gardener. Prior to joining FutureSense, he was managing small family farms & developing educational gardens around California, with an emphasis on regenerative practices and design. As a farmer, Cannabis has always been integrated into his own operations and he has also spent a lot of time on cannabis-specific farms. Matt brings his breadth of knowledge from both fields and serves as the primary project coordinator for FutureSense’s cannabis compensation endeavors. Matt is also on the NCIA’s Cultivation Committee.
About FutureSense, LLC FutureSense provides integrated solutions to build and sustain human capacity and optimize organizational performance. FutureSense specializes in people, pay, organization, and strategy, offering unique and comprehensive services to create solutions that make a difference. For more information, visit http://www.futuresense.com.
Committee Blog: What The Recent Layoffs in the Cannabis Industry Mean
Many in our industry have heard about the recent layoffs announced by cannabis companies, including some of NCIA’s members, in the U.S. NCIA’s Human Resources Committee views the layoffs as an unfortunate but sometimes necessary part of business, and overall remain optimistic about the industry as a whole.
On the face of it, the recent headlines regarding cannabis industry layoffs appear grim. One of California’s best-known cannabis brands announced a reduction of 20% of its labor force. Another grower is reported to have had a similarly sized cut. Listening to the news coverage, one might have the impression that the industry as a whole is going through a massive negative upheaval. This could not be further from the truth.
At the same time, we have seen hiring trends in 2019 that are overwhelmingly positive. According to an article in Forbes earlier this year, the cannabis industry added almost 65,000 jobs in 2018, with a substantially greater amount expected for this year. Clearly, cannabis is a significant growth engine for employment across the U.S. Add in Illinois, Massachusetts, and other states legalizing cannabis for medical or adult-use, and the numbers continue to grow. The state of the cannabis industry is strong!
Since its founding nearly a decade ago, NCIA has dedicated itself to promoting the growth of a responsible and legitimate cannabis industry. During this time, the industry workforce has swelled to over 200,000 people, and new people are joining us daily from coast to coast. NCIA’s HR Committee, which is comprised of human resource practitioners devoted to bringing best practices to the cannabis industry, carefully monitors hiring trends and other people-related developments.
NCIA’s Human Resources Committee regrets any job losses for their impact on the lives of employees and their families. History has shown that layoffs often happen in high growth industries. These reductions in force occur when companies who have over-invested ahead of anticipated growth must adjust their labor counts to rapidly shifting business dynamics. While painful in the short term for employer and employee alike, this represents a chance for other companies to acquire top talent, and for that top talent to secure new and exciting opportunities.
NCIA’s HR Committee is unwavering in its faith that the cannabis industry will continue to grow as an economic force in this country for many decades to come, and that these short-term changes will make the industry better, stronger and more resilient in the long run.
There are many ways you can get involved and help. Attend NCIA’s national trade shows and regional networking events to get your foot in the door of our dynamic industry. Start a business. Educate yourself on the latest issues, and contact your congressperson. Whatever road you choose to take, we look forward to welcoming you as our partner on this amazing journey!
So far, the cannabis industry is willing to elevate female executives more than other industries. And it’s been this way since adult-use legalization started to spread among states in 2014. That’s when a huge opportunity opened up for people with some leadership experience and a cool idea. Women who had hit a glass ceiling in more traditional industries saw a chance to make a rewarding career shift. Long-term success isn’t a given for anyone making this move, but it’s easier to get in and get noticed if you have a niche product, a specialized service, or fill a particular wellness need.
I fear the inroads women have made for higher ranks at canna companies are getting needlessly tougher. As our industry continues to mature and expand, larger amounts of funds are needed to get a business off the ground or scale a business, but securing funds could become harder if you’re female.
From the moment I first started helping cannabis companies, I was riveted by its diversity and inclusion. In my years of working with some of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley, I was used to male-dominated cultures. It didn’t matter what I role I held — I started as an engineer in aerospace and later became involved in operations, marketing and sales, and professional services — a lopsided imbalance was often in play.
But with cannabis, this industry has seen a higher proportion of women rise to great heights. More than one-third of executives at cannabis companies are female. That’s remarkable when you also take into account that females hold only 21 percent of senior-level roles at other types of companies, according to Marijuana Business Daily survey figures. On a more anecdotal level, however, I suspect from what I’m hearing that the gains women have made could waver. With industry maturity, even at this early stage, comes the zealous interest of deeply pocketed investors (most of them men).
Why the Shift?
Female leaders in cannabis have made great strides, but history threatens to repeat itself. For instance, this statistic would make anyone wince: Female founders across all industries acquired only 2.2 percent of venture capital in 2018, according to PitchBook. And those who are able to get the funding they need don’t get as much as men in the same position.
We’re in the midst of rapid growth, and big-name investors are noticing. While I don’t want to generalize, it’s widely known that investors are more likely to be white males. This puts the more equitable playing field created by cannabis at risk.
In some ways, it’s natural that as more money comes in, there would be a shift. That’s the tradition, as more men have traditionally beendominantin business. I don’t buy into this tradition and it’s what attracted me to the industry — the cannabis industry is known for being non-traditional. We’ve been cracking glass ceilings and we’ve been shedding corporate conventions. The result has been fast growth, satisfied customers, and innovative products. I think we can attribute some of that to the diversity at work.
How can we ensure that women get their fair share? There are loads of opportunities here for entrepreneurs and seasoned executives, across genders, to make their mark. What matters less than someone’s gender is the ideas they have, their plan for making their business thrive, and whether they have a solid foundation for truly understanding the company as they make big decisions. When you encounter women entrepreneurs, I encourage everyone to give them a shot, hear out the business plan, and assess the opportunity they’re presenting with an open mind.
There is still time to build upon the momentum women have made. Let’s all, especially men and investors, make a concerted effort to fully support women-led businesses and recognize the need for diverse talents and skillsets. I made a similar call in a blog post for my firm, and I was pleased with the reaction — it really hit a nerve. Women in our industry clearly want to talk about this. The consensus is that when different perspectives are voiced, smart ideas and decisions rise to the top.
As vice president, Maureen Ryan leads the business development functions at Kukuza Associates, a finance and accounting firm dedicated to the needs of cannabis companies. She spearheaded Kukuza’s parent company’s (RoseRyan) 2014 entrance into the cannabis marketplace and developed Kukuza’s finance solution to address the common pain points across cannabis companies. Check out the Kukuza Rapid Diagnostic to find out if you have the right finance pieces in place to scale your business.
Looking Back On Ten Years Of Cannabis Reform – The Road Behind, The Struggle Ahead
By Morgan Fox, NCIA Media Relations Director
NCIA’s Media Relations Director, Morgan Fox
August in Washington D.C. means heat, which is probably a big reason why lawmakers take the month off and return to their home states before coming back to confront the issues of the day. With this Congress – which has been more supportive of cannabis policy reform than any in history – out on recess, it seems like a good time to reflect on how far we’ve come as a movement and as an industry, we well as to recognize how much farther we still need to go.
I’ve been working exclusively on cannabis issues for more than a decade, and when I started my first job in the field at the Marijuana Policy Project all those years ago, the landscape looked much different. At the time, there were only a handful of states with effective medical cannabis laws, and no states where it was legal for adults. Opponents would consistently claim that cannabis has no medical value with a straight face, and people would believe them. The nonsensical argument that providing medicine to sick people would somehow lead all teenagers to become addicted to hard drugs often ruled the day and frequently delayed reform efforts. Access to cannabis, even in states with good laws, was limited and hard fought. Cannabis consumption by anyone except the most seriously, visibly ill people was largely portrayed as criminal and immoral.
Now, cannabis is legal for adults in 11 states, D.C., and two territories; 33 states and several territories have comprehensive medical cannabis laws; and nearly every state allows cannabis in some form. Tens of millions of people can now safely access cannabis without fear of arrest. Dozens of states are looking at cannabis policy reform legislation every year, and we can expect to see several ballot initiative campaigns taking place next year.
As more and more states have regulated cannabis in some way, new legal markets have emerged, allowing the industry to grow and thrive in many ways. At the start of my involvement, there were a shockingly small number of cannabis businesses, and the problems they faced were quite different than what we tend to deal with today. Non-existent access to banking was of trivial concern when the threat of raids by armed federal agents was a daily concern. Videos of jack-booted thugs pointing rifles at disabled patients and dragging dozens of plants out of smashed windows were commonplace. Long prison sentences for cultivators and providers were the norm.
New state laws and increasing public acceptance helped to ease the crackdown on the cannabis industry, but the real game changer came in the form of an unexpected federal policy directive. In 2013, Deputy Attorney General James Cole issued a directive to federal prosecutors, telling them not to target businesses or individuals who were in compliance with state cannabis laws. Known as the Cole Memo, this directive did not carry the force of law and did not prevent the enforcement of federal prohibition. Some Department of Justice employees took it more seriously than others. However, it did drastically reduce the number of prosecutions of state-legal cannabis businesses, and gave people enough confidence to really pull out all the stops. Since then, the industry has grown and professionalized by leaps and bounds. Huge trade shows, once unheard-of, are now commonplace and attracting people from a wide range of professions. Businesses no longer hide in the shadows, but are actively competing for exposure. There are now more than ten thousand licensed plant-touching businesses in the U.S., and many thousands more ancillary businesses working in the cannabis space. According to a recent report by Leafly, more than 200,000 jobs have been created by the legal cannabis industry.
One of the most important changes to happen over the years is the increased and deeper focus on justice in the cannabis reform movement, including equity in the cannabis industry. Legalization has always been about freedom and justice, but it has largely been talked about in the general sense of the injustice of criminalizing people for consuming a substance that is objectively safer than alcohol. The disproportionate harms inflicted on people of color and the destructive impact that prohibition has had on entire communities for generations were well known to many, but it wasn’t until the ACLU released its groundbreaking report that these facts started gaining more attention in the public sphere. It has still taken far too long for this issue to come to the forefront of the cannabis policy debate, but things are moving in the right direction. Most modern legalization legislation now contains provisions related to expungement, community reinvestment, and equity in the emerging cannabis industry, and indeed these are now required in order to be taken seriously by voters, activists, and policymakers. But it wasn’t always so.
During the ballot initiative campaign for Amendment 64, which would go on to pass in November 2012 and make Colorado the first state in the nation to regulate cannabis for adults, polling showed that including even a limited provision to expunge minor cannabis convictions would have killed the chances of victory. Fast forward to this year, where legislation to make cannabis legal in New Jersey stalled because it did not go far enough to address the disparate harms caused by the war on cannabis. Illinois, the first state to regulate cannabis through its legislature, included language in its legalization bill which passed earlier this year that will expunge the vast majority of marijuana convictions and will help to ensure that people of color can take advantage of the opportunities being created by the legal cannabis market. And even Congress is starting to come around, with multiple active bills containing restorative justice provisions being considered and a House subcommittee holding a groundbreaking hearing on the issue this summer.
Speaking of Congress, the differences between now and then could not be more stark. Until somewhat recently, there was little appetite for addressing cannabis policy reform, and tremendous opposition from both sides of the aisle. While states continued to pass cannabis legislation, most federal lawmakers wouldn’t go near the subject except to shut it down. Even those whose own states had passed good laws were actively undermining their constituents. In 2014, an amendment was added to the annual spending bill that codified the protections outlined in the Cole Memo, but only for medical cannabis programs. Despite this provision being included in all subsequent budgets, it was never extended to adult use programs. Progress on stand-alone bills related to cannabis was generally slow and did not receive serious consideration in either chamber.
This Congress has been extremely different. Dozens of cannabis bills addressing all sorts of issues have been introduced, often with bipartisan support. Hearings have actually been held and taken seriously in the House and Senate, often with mostly supportive testimony. The SAFE Banking Act, which would provide safe harbor for financial institutions to work with cannabis businesses and increase access to capital for small businesses and disenfranchised communities, has seen unprecedented movement and support this year. In the House, it has 206 cosponsors and was approved with a bipartisan vote in the Financial Services Committee. It now waits to be called for a vote, which it will likely win. In the Senate, despite some lingering opposition, key committee heads and Republican leaders are softening their stances and held an informational hearing on the bill last month. More comprehensive bills such as the Marijuana Justice Act, the FAIR Act and the MORE Act are being given more attention than we’ve ever seen for legislation that would deschedule cannabis. It seems that politicians are finally catching up to public opinion and are more comfortable with supporting reform in the open.
Some of the credit for this can be given to the media. When discussing this topic, I always like to relate a story told to me by my first boss in cannabis policy reform. In the late 2000’s, he called CNN’s newsroom to pitch a story about a new positive cannabis study. He identified himself and his organization at the beginning of the call, which prompted the person on the other end to start laughing so hard they had to put my boss on hold. When they finally returned, they greeted him by saying “OK, Mr. Marijuana. How can we help you?” Needless to say, the story did not get picked up.
For years, we’ve had to deal with a media environment where cannabis policy reform was treated as a joke at best, and as a horrible scourge at worst. Stories were riddled with bad puns (I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the phrases “blunt truth” or “clearing the smoke” or “hazy proposition” in headlines), or only referred to cannabis as “pot” or something equally stigmatizing. Many of them took prohibitionists at their word as they spewed falsehoods and fear, while giving limited or no space to reformers. Most major media outlets were not even interested in looking at the issue to begin with.
All that has changed. Cannabis is finally being taken seriously, and news organizations are devoting massive resources to covering it and even creating cannabis beats for dedicated journalists. Dozens, if not hundreds, of cannabis-specific publications are now available, with advertisers clambering for space in them. The coverage is much more fair, and the puns are (mostly) gone. Changes in the way the media talks about cannabis have certainly had a positive impact on how the public, and by extension lawmakers, thinks about this issue.
It can be tempting to look at all this progress and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, and in some senses it is deserved. Tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding individuals around the country will no longer be saddled with the disastrous consequences of having a criminal record every year. Hundreds of thousands are gainfully employed in an industry that is steadily displacing the illicit market while making cannabis safer and less stigmatized. The federal government is getting closer and closer to making real progress on cannabis issues. Support for legalization is a ubiquitous topic in the 2020 presidential field and has become almost a prerequisite for being considered as a serious candidate. Two-thirds of Americans think cannabis should be legal for adults. All of this is a world away from where we were a decade ago, and the benefits being reaped because of the hard work of advocates are significant.
But we have a long way yet to go.
There are still roughly half a million cannabis arrests in the U.S. annually, mostly at the state level. The majority of states have yet to regulate cannabis for adults, and support for doing so in many of them is still very weak. Advocates and industry leaders need to redouble their efforts to reach out to lawmakers, voters, stakeholders and communities, and work with them to pass sensible cannabis legislation. Even states with relatively good laws still need help: home cultivation is still illegal in Washington state, for example, and Vermont and D.C. do not yet have regulated cannabis markets or legal sales.
State and local restorative justice efforts have had limited success, to put it generously. Funds intended for community reinvestment have been diverted or delayed, and equity programs are sometimes being exploited by predatory operators. High application fees, arbitrary license caps, criminal record bans and other unnecessary barriers of entry are preventing marginalized people from becoming a part of this industry. Decreasing arrests, while vitally important, cannot be the only gain made by disproportionately impacted communities as we continue to reform our cannabis laws.
Despite growing support for change in Congress, cannabis is still a relatively low priority for most federal lawmakers. Without constant pressure on them, reform will come slowly or not at all. NCIA’s in-house federal lobbying team, as well as outreach efforts like our annual Cannabis Industry Lobby Days, help keep this conversation going at the Capitol and sway legislators to our side. Federal legalization is far from inevitable, and we are committed to maintaining and increasing our efforts to make sure it happens.
But we need your help. Now is the time to get involved, get active, and help end prohibition once and for all while we build a responsible, competitive, and inclusive cannabis industry. We still have much work to do, but if the accomplishments of the last decade tell us anything, it’s that we can do this together.
Member Blog: Compensation in Cannabis – Is The Data Actionable Or Just Interesting?
By Dan Walter, FutureSense LLC
Everyone wants to know how much to pay people (or how much to get paid.) In a world of instantly accessible google searches, it can be maddening that pay data for the cannabis industry is hard to find. Even when you locate information, it probably isn’t compelling (or legally compliant). What’s the problem and how do we fix it?
Here are the most basic rules:
FTC regulations require the information provided by survey participants (companies) to be based on data more than three months old. Actionable survey data can only be supplied for positions with more than five respondents. No individual participant’s data can represent more than 25 percent on a weighted basis of the reported statistic.
Any data that does not meet these minimum requirements is interesting but is unlikely to provide a solid foundation (or a legal defense). Data collected directly from employees or talent searches are almost always non-compliant.
Actionable survey data will also give you ranges for each position. At the very least, usable survey data will provide statistically relevant minimums, midpoints, and maximums for each position. More comprehensive data will usually provide quartiles or percentiles for each job. To be blunt. Median numbers are the playground of thin data. If all you see is a median, you are probably looking at data that isn’t actionable. The median may be interesting, but it isn’t much more than that.
Many providers in the cannabis industry have spent their time and money trying to help companies with better pay data. Some of the data is accurate, and some are not. Some of the data meets legal requirements, and some are just fun to have. How should a company decide which data is actionable and which is only interesting? The paragraphs above provide some insight into assessing the information out there. NCIA and FutureSense are working diligently to augment that information with a data set that respects the breadth and depth of the cannabis industry (truly an industry of industries).
This is what makes your participation in the 2019 NCIA Cannabis Compensation Study, powered by FutureSense, so important. We have executed pay surveys for decades. Our goal is to provide actionable data for every position in the cannabis industry. Your participation is crucial! Participation is simple, FutureSense does most of the work. Also, many of the industry HR, Recruiting, and Accounting service providers are already set up to submit your data quickly.
Contact us today, or contact your service provider and ask them to collaborate for you! We will update this post as new providers get on board.
Committee Blog: The Employee Onboarding Process
by NCIA’s Human Resources Committee Kara Bradford of Viridian Staffing, Kerry Arnold of Canndescent, Heidi Quan of Murchison & Cumming LLP, Nichole McIntyre of Urban-Gro, Michelle Whitmore of H2 Talent, and Mark Hackett of Emerge Law Group
You’ve found, interviewed, hired the right person for a position in your business, and they have just accepted your job offer. Congratulations! Now what? In the second part of our three-part series, the HR Committee shares insights on the Onboarding of employees. Onboarding new employees can be critical to ensuring happy and productive workers that understand the culture and expectations of your company. Having an organized procedure for bringing on a new hire is crucial for both the company and the new employee. Your company should be as prepared and ready as the new employee is expected to be for their first day. This can be a missed opportunity to make a great impression on your new employee.
In order to help your company with the onboarding process, a new hire checklist can be utilized to help ensure that you are covering all the necessary areas for a successful and smooth entry into your workforce. We have prepared two checklists for the onboard process. One is more administrative in nature while the other is designed to assist managers to help smoothly integrate and transition the new employee into your company. In some companies, a Manager may need to perform the tasks on both checklists if the company does not have an HR Manager.
HR Manager Checklist
Starting with the HR Manager Checklist, it’s best to make sure that you’ve received a signed offer letter and/or employment agreement prior to the start date being determined. Some companies also prefer not to set a start date until the background check process has completed. Once this is completed, there are a series of steps to take prior to the new employee starting. You may need to order hardware/software, cultivation tools/equipment, etc. On their first day, it’s a best practice to have the worker complete all paperwork, including any W-4 documentation/I-9, etc, prior to starting on the job. We’ve also included instructions for I-9 completion.
Data has shown that employees don’t leave companies, they often leave managers; so provide your managers with the resources they need in order to inspire more confidence in the new employee for their manager. If the Manager isn’t the individual filling out the paperwork with the employee, have the manager greet the employee as soon as necessary paperwork is completed. Having a manager focus their attention on a new employee as much as possible during that first day will help to solidify the new employee’s sense of belonging to the organization.
Employee Onboarding Checklist For Managers
The manager should take time to introduce the new employee to all co-workers and other organizational stakeholders they may interact with while helping to familiarize them with the facility. The manager should then spend time setting/reiterating expectations of what the position entails and conveying any goals/metrics that the employee is required to meet. Finally, the manager should spend time training the new employee and setting them up for success, or delegating this to the appropriate subject matter expert on the team to do this.
We often have companies tell us they are struggling to retain their employees. By providing an exceptional onboarding experience from the very first day, this will help the new employee to realize you value them and the talents they are bringing to your company, thus helping to feel welcomed and continue their contributions longer to your firm.
In our next HR Committee Blog Post, we’ll provide a checklist with recommendations on how to handle Terminations.
Think about that number for a minute. Ten thousand. Just a handful of years ago, some cannabis conferences were struggling to attract 500 people.
This explosion in the cannabis industry has had a profound effect on our nation:
Tens of thousands of businesses have started – spurring economic growth and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. According to Leafly, there are now more than 211,000 cannabis jobs across the United States. More than 64,000 of those jobs were added in 2018.
Legal cannabis is currently the greatest job-creation machine in America. The cannabis workforce increased 21% in 2017, gained another 44% in 2018, and is expected to grow another 20% in 2019. Those are record-setting numbers.
Real estate is another sector that is booming thanks to legal cannabis. A recent study led by a by a University of Mississippi economist concluded that legal retail cannabis in Colorado increased housing values. Researchers compared cities that permitted the sale of cannabis with those that did not and found that the availability of recreational cannabis in a given area created strong housing demand and higher increases in property values.
Clearly, legal cannabis is creating jobs, opportunities, and economic growth.
But there is a dark side to the cannabis numbers. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, arrests for cannabis possession account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. In 2017, 659,700 were arrested in the U.S. for cannabis. Over 90% of those arrests were for simple possession. Moreover, 46.9% of people arrested for drug law violations are Black or Latino, despite making up just 31.5% of the U.S. population. Additionally, over 200,000 students have lost federal financial aid eligibility because of a drug conviction.
As a nation, we must ask ourselves, how does imprisoning someone or taking away their chance at receiving an education because they possessed a small amount of cannabis (or other drug), make our country better, stronger, or greater?
Since this blog is dedicated to numbers, I’ll leave you with this one: It takes 100,000 atoms to become visible to the human eye, and even at that amount, it is only about the width of a human hair.
But it takes far fewer people to make a difference in society. Our last presidential election was won by the candidate that received over 2 million fewer votes, but won the electoral college by having just a few more votes in some key states. Just 0.2 points or about 10,000 votes separated the candidates in Michigan. Only 0.7 points or about 22,000 votes made the difference in Wisconsin.
This is not a time for us in the cannabis industry to be complacent. We have won some hard-fought victories, but there is still much to do, many wrongs to right, and a lot of work ahead.
My hope is that everyone in this amazing industry will share the belief that while we have a lot to be thankful for, we still need to keep moving forward and progressively for a better future.
Get involved. Make your voice heard. And vote.
Enjoy the conference!
CEO Kary Radestock
Kary Radestock, CEO, launched Hippo Premium Packaging in March 2016 offering an array of services to the cannabis market, including: Marketing Strategy, Brand Development, Social Media, Public Relations, Graphic and Web Design, and of course, Printing and Packaging. Radestock brings over 20 years of award-winning print and packaging expertise, and leads a team of the nation’s top brand builders, marketers and print production experts. Hippo works with businesses looking for a brand refresh or an entire brand development, and specializes in helping canna-business get their products to market in the most beautiful and affordable way possible. Radestock’s Creative Collective of talent and experts, allows her to offer world-class solutions to support the unique needs of the Cannabis Industry.
Small Business Committee Congressional Hearing – The Cannabis Industry’s Unlocked Potential
by Michelle Rutter, NCIA’s Government Relations Manager
On Wednesday, June 19, the House Committee on Small Business will hold a hearing entitled “Unlocked Potential? Small Businesses in the Cannabis Industry.” This is the first time in history that this committee has ever considered this topic! As the nation’s oldest and largest trade association, NCIA is proud to represent thousands of small businesses at this hearing.
The hearing will “focus on the opportunities the legitimate cannabis industry presents for small businesses in states with legal cannabis, as well as entrepreneurs from traditionally underserved communities. The hearing will also enable members of Congress to explore the challenges currently faced by those businesses, and also those of “ancillary” or “indirect” cannabis businesses who may not be directly involved in the production or distribution of cannabis products.”
NCIA has been proud to work very closely with the House committee on this hearing. As a result, Dana Chaves, who is chairwoman of NCIA’s Banking Access Committee and the Senior Vice President and Director of Specialty Banking at First Federal Bank of Florida will be testifying at the hearing!
Other witnesses will include Shanita Penny, M.B.A., President of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, Eric Goepel, Founder & CEO of the Veterans Cannabis Coalition, and Paul Larkin, who is the John, Barbara, and Victoria Rumpel Senior Legal Research Fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
The Committee memo also states “the marijuana legalization movement brings new opportunities for entrepreneurship and business start-up in the cannabis industry. Because this is such a nascent sector, legalization also allows policymakers to increase equity and diversity in the cannabis industry, which can take the form of addressing financial barriers to market entry and ensuring the industry reflects the local community.” It also recognizes that “because this is such a nascent sector, legalization also allows policymakers to increase equity and diversity in the cannabis industry, which can take the form of addressing financial barriers to market entry and ensuring the industry reflects the local community.”
According to a recent Leafly report, “Annual [cannabis] sales nationwide are nearing the $11 billion mark. And the number of Americans directly employed in this booming industry has soared to more than 211,000. When indirect and ancillary jobs—think of all the lawyers, accountants, security consultants, media companies, and marketing firms that service the cannabis industry—are added, along with induced jobs (local community jobs supported by the spending of cannabis industry paychecks), the total number of full-time American jobs that depend on legal cannabis rises to a whopping 296,000.”
NCIA applauds the House Committee on Small Business and Chairwoman Velazquez (D-NY) for discussing this important topic. NCIA is proud to represent all of the cannabis industry’s small businesses!
Partner Blog: The Top 10 Reasons to Participate in a Compensation Survey (And How to Use It)
By Dan Walter, FutureSense LLC
Compensation surveys don’t sound like much fun. In fact, they seem like a pain in the neck for everyone involved. Why then should you participate? Heck, why should the NCIA and FutureSense even make an effort to spearhead such an effort? Our driving force is a goal to see this industry reach its potential as quickly as possible. The National Cannabis Industry Association(NCIA) and FutureSense have joined forces to create CannaCompensation, our industry’s first comprehensive compensation survey.
One of the most common questions we hear is: “How is compensation survey data used?”
Companies in many other industries (if not most other industries) generally use the resulting data to determine how much the market pays each position and level in an industry. Data is reported in quartiles or deciles and allows companies to determine their own “compensation philosophy” for paying staff members. Companies use this information to set annual pay ranges, determine incentive compensation levels and track pay trends. Nearly every industry, from golf course management to construction, technology, and healthcare use surveys to create defensible compensation data.
A formal survey, such as CannaCompensation, must adhere to specific guidelines to ensure anonymity, carefully balance responses so data from big companies doesn’t overwhelm the data from smaller companies, and also avoid antitrust issues (these are DOJ regulations).
The following Top 10 List provides a bit more information about why you should sign up today for the 2019 CannaCompensation survey.
Pay is the largest expense at most companies. This is especially true for high-growth businesses. HR uses between $0.65 and $0.80 of each dollar your company’s revenue. This leaves an only tiny bit for real estate, marketing, security, product improvement and everything else your company needs. You better make sure you are getting your money’s worth. Paying even slightly more effectively can provide material benefits to budgets throughout your organization.
Our industry pays people well, and politicians need to understand that. Finances drive policymakers. Data that shows how well the cannabis industry pays employees relative to other comparative business will go much farther than scientific proof of the efficacy of our product, or the public’s desire to have easier access. The NCIA will use the results of this survey to further the cause of every company in and supporting, the cannabis industry.
Every company should comply with legal expectations and regulations. Compensation survey data is the de facto standard method for setting pay in nearly every industry. Most importantly, it is a sound defense against industry collusion and price-fixing. Antitrust laws are no joke. A well-run compensation survey provides competitive market data in an entirely confidential structure. Data resulting from the CannaCompensation survey will comply with the Safe Harbor guidelines established by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice.
Replacing a good employee is ridiculously expensive. The total cost of replacing an employee can be 150-200% of their annual salary! Every employee you keep saves you money, builds your knowledge base, and creates a more employee-friendly environment. Pay is seldom the only reason people leave, but your competitors will be perfectly happy to try and “buy” your best people.
More confidence in your pay data means more confidence in your hiring process. Other high-growth industries, like the technology sector, depend on reliable data to shorten the hiring lifecycle. Cannabis companies are growing incredibly fast. There’s no time to recover from mistakes, and every extra day you spend negotiating with someone is one more day they can’t help you grow.
Current pay data is either very limited, likely to be biased or too generic to apply to many cannabis positions. There are a few data sources, for a limited number of positions. These include data that mainly comes directly from employees. This data has been measured in other industries to be 125-135% higher than company-reported data. Data aggregators like Payscale, Salary.com, and Payfactors can be very useful as a component of your pay data but tend to lack the specificity needed in our industry. We can all probably agree that the head of a blueberry farm is not on par with the head of a legal grow operation.
Unique industries use unique data. Most high-quality compensation surveys are focused on narrow industry definitions. This allows similar companies to know that the pay data they are using is relevant and likely to be used by their peers. Healthcare companies don’t care what financial firms pay their accountants. Construction firms don’t care what software companies pay their project managers. The world of cannabis business is incredibly broad and very deep. Our pay data must be equal to that challenge.
Your investors will increasingly demand that you pay people correctly. Investments in cannabis companies continue to increase. When a Private Equity or Venture Capital firm invests many millions of dollars in a company, they need to know that you’ve handled the nuts and bolts like FLSA rules, gender equity, and general competitive pay. They expect to see defensible pay ranges for every position. They want to know that you aren’t wasting money on employees and that you aren’t at risk of losing people over compensation issues.
When hiring people away from other industries, it is critical that you can show your value proposition. Biologists, distribution chain professionals, security experts, finance pros, and countless other potential hires can choose to work in any number of other industries. Some may be passionate about our industries, but many may be curious but trepidatious. Jumping into an industry that is not fully proven can be difficult for someone with experience in and job offers from a more traditional industry. Great pay data will provide you with ammunition to compete. This has been incredibly effective for other emerging industries in the past.
Most importantly, participating helps you win the war for talent. Great people are hard to find in any business. They are even harder to hire. This is a major issue for any industry that is inventing itself on the fly. Your competitive advantage may come from your business model or product, but you cannot succeed without the right people to execute your vision. This survey will not only provide pay data, but it will also provide basic job descriptions and leveling information that will allow you to understand both entry-level and senior positions. If you don’t use this information to win, your competitors certainly will.
Regularly using a reputable and comprehensive compensation survey is a best practice of every company that is successful over the long-term. The cost of participation in 2019 is simply a bit of your time. The benefits pay for themselves and carry into every aspect of your business. It is a simple way to get the most out of your largest monetary investment.
Sign-up by June 14 to participate. Data collection takes only 30-60 mins on average.
VIDEO: The Benefits Of Legalization
In this third installment of NCIA’s animated educational video series, we explore the benefits of legalizing cannabis nationwide and beyond. Learn how ending federal prohibition can improve public safety and add economic opportunities to our communities, and how you can help.
Join NCIA today help us push cannabis reform past the tipping point!
The 2018 Farm Bill and the Return of Hemp to American Farms
by Michelle Rutter, NCIA Government Relations Manager
HISTORY
Farming and agriculture has long been a part of North American history. When the Great Depression hit in the 1930’s, both President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Congress knew that the United States would struggle until the agriculture industry became prosperous again. As a result, many New Deal programs dealt with farming, but arguably the most notable agriculture related legislation was the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, which was the first version of what we know today as simply the “Farm Bill” that is updated roughly every five years.
TODAY
Now, for the first time since the end of World War II, states are slated to soon be able to create federally legal hemp programs under the 2018 Farm Bill, which President Trump is expected to sign into law any day. The bipartisan legislation, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and House last week, would allow states to submit plans created by their respective Secretaries of Agriculture in coordination with their governors and chief law enforcement officers to the Department of Agriculture to grow and process hemp and hemp-derived products.
SEED TO SALE
As the law is written, state applications would need to include methods for tracking land used for hemp production and audit producers to make sure that the hemp they are growing contains less than 0.3% THC. Programs would also need to be approved by the Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, in consultation with the Attorney General within 60 days of being submitted. Additionally, states would not be permitted to ban the transportation of hemp and hemp products through their jurisdictions, but production and sales would only be permitted in states with approved programs. The bill also contains a number of directives for research on hemp and hemp cultivation.
SCHEDULING
Hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) would be exempted from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in states with approved programs, but CBD will remain a Schedule 1 substance under the CSA and illegal at the federal level. The Farm Bill also does not impact the current Food & Drug Administration ban on CBD products or its ability to regulate the substance in the future.
INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT
The law prevents anyone with a drug-related felony from working in legal state hemp industries, preventing many people who have been impacted by the unequal enforcement of cannabis prohibition from participating in the economic opportunities created by new programs. However, a late compromise led to the inclusion of a ten-year sunset period from either the date of conviction or the start of the state program, whichever is more recent.
THE FUTURE
Marijuana’s “cousin,” hemp, is generally barred because it is part of the cannabis plant, despite the fact that it contains very little of that drug’s key psychoactive ingredient, THC. In 2014, Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) secured a hemp pilot program in that year’s farm bill. Since then, at least 35 states have taken up the offer and developed industrial hemp programs, and those states will be eligible to pursue a legal, regulated market when the bill is signed into law. The passage of this provision will surely bring about a new era for the agricultural industry, and the cannabis industry — when hemp returns to American farmlands.
VIDEO: The Benefits of Legalizing Cannabis
In this third installment of NCIA’s animated educational video series, we explore the benefits of legalizing cannabis nationwide and beyond. Learn how ending federal prohibition can improve public safety and add economic opportunities to our communities, and how you can help.
A recent report from Headset Cannabis Intelligence utilized Point of Sales systems to gather data from Washington and Colorado state cannabis dispensaries.
The general overview of dispensary budtenders is that they don’t tend to stay around long as the job role has a high turnover rate. In fact, nearly 60% of employees don’t last past two months – and only 40% make it past the first. To make new hires worth the time and cost retention is essential, otherwise any hiring dispensary will be hemorrhaging time and money that could otherwise be directed into the growth of the business.
With only 14% of employees lasting beyond three months, it’s obvious that the quality of onboarding and training is a crucial, determining factor of retention.
The type of welcoming into the workplace, type of training and management they receive in conjunction with the tools they receive for work all contribute to whether that stay past the two-month mark.
While the roles in cannabis dispensaries may come with their own challenges, there’s no clear reason why turnover is so high.
With the industry expected to grow from $9.2 billion to $47.3 billion over the next decade within the U.S alone, it could be that the growing opportunities available allow budtenders to choose and hop between employers within the industry, meaning that dispensaries need to compete against one another to retain employees. Alternatively, it could be the management, burnout, being overexerted or under challenged.
Either way, there are a number of employee management methods that help reduce the employee turnover rates by creating an engaging and hospitable working environment, which will in turn lead to the reduction of hiring and training costs, the boosting of team morale and consistency in the customer experience.
Promoting Workplace Harmony
The running of a dispensary requires management to constantly assess staffing costs and needs for the changing demands of the business. However, too much attention to the needs of the business and too little on employees can lead to the overworking of staff, burnout and an unpleasant working environment.
It’s worth noting that Headset Cannabis Intelligence identified that high growth dispensaries (40% growth) have fairly high turnover rates, while dispensaries with 20% – 40% growth tend to have more stable turnover rates.
With dispensaries that are growing slower and steadier, they do benefit from lower turnover. However, with rapidly expanding dispensaries, it appears it may not matter what the employee churn rate is. Although, regardless of the rate of expansions, employee churn harms the business’s bottom line in the form of hiring and training costs, inconsistent performance and customer experiences.
Effective employee management will maximize productivity as well as engagement. To do that it must involve adequate time off for employees to attend to their personal obligations, like education or family, and time for recuperation.
With a variety of employee management solutions available, it can be hard to know which tools will actually help. With employee organization being at the heart of engagement and productivity, a solid employee scheduling solution should be at the top of the list. Decent solutions will be able to assist in keeping employees’ needs in consideration during the scheduling process by setting working parameters like their availability, maximum working hours and shift lengths, resulting in easier organization with greater visibility of your available resources.
Alternatively, many solutions allow varying degrees of employee self-management. The amount is up to management, but it can range from complete self-management, where employees opt for the shifts that suit them, to allocated shifts where employees can arrange their own shift-swaps, drops and pick-ups with managerial approval.
However employees are managed, the truth is that a workplace that considers and accommodates the workers’ needs is appreciated and makes for a desirable working environment.
Communication/Involvement
The value of effective communication cannot be understated for operation efficiency and performance. Although widely understood, its importance is often overlooked with regards to employee retention.
A staggering $2,100 to $4,100 is lost by businesses each year with poor communication being the sole cause. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) identified in 2014 that the staff turnover rate was at 66% with that percentage increasing ever since.
People like to feel their role has a purpose and their input makes a difference if they are to remain performing optimally and satisfied in their role. The problem is that communication in businesses is in a usually top down manner.
The promotion of the bi-directional flow of information can be used to elicit feedback from employees on a regular basis. It encourages staff to alert management of any issues they’ve noticed, be it operational or otherwise. Utilizing the snippets of information gathered from employees can be used to drive positive change in both operations and the working environment.
By opening up dialogues with employees, be it weekly, monthly, or via an instant messaging app it shows their opinions and input matters, when acted upon. It makes employees feel like a valued team member and keeps them actively engaged in their role. As such, the working space becomes a much more positive and proactive place that employees enjoy working in.
Recognition and Reward
A cannabis dispensary’s employee schedule may not necessarily be constant from week to week, which can cause missed opportunities and events in their personal lives. If employees aren’t given recognition for their contribution and sacrifices towards the dispensary’s success, they can feel alienated and undervalued, causing them to look for somewhere where they will be appreciated.
That is why recognition and rewards of employee performance is so important. With over 70% of employees feeling disengaged in the company they work for it’s important that we treat employees as more than a cash machine. In doing so, they will see their work is appreciated and continue to remain engaged and productive. The reward itself doesn’t need to be large or over the top, even a few words of praise can be enough or an annual bonus.
It can be difficult to gauge performance solely by watching employees. That’s why a good workforce management solution can help, as it is possible for employees to log completed activities and add shift notes. This delivers and insight into workforce performance of each individual employee and makes it possible to identify those who deserve recognition or are ready for advancement.
Recognition encourages engagement from team members and employees tend to stick around for longer when they feel they are valued in the workplace.
Every dispensary is different and every team is a collaboration of different personalities that require different approach to management. There is no “one fits all” solution, but increasing the standard of employee management with an emphasis of improving the employees experience and sense of value will help to boost employees’ job satisfaction. Upon doing so staff turnover may not disappear, but will drop as job roles to employees today are more than a paycheck; they must carry meaning and value which needs to be communicated from management down.
Matthew Hughes is a British-born content writer with the mindset of a cat, he has a curiosity for the unknown, can be impulsive and can be won over with food. The best place to catch him will be in the offices of Ximble, a dynamic cloud-based workforce management system that simplifies employee scheduling, time tracking, and management. He also hates Sudoku.
The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act (Finally) Makes Its Debut
After more than two months since Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumerannounced forthcoming marijuana reform legislation, this week finally saw the bill’s introduction. The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act removes marijuana from the schedule of controlled substances, allowing states to determine their own cannabis policies without fear of federal interference.
The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, cosponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), would specifically remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, effectively decriminalizing the substance at the federal level and allowing states to determine their own cannabis policies without the threat of interference.
The full text of the bill describes further provisions, including providing funding to cannabis businesses owned by women and people of color through the Small Business Administration; funding studies on traffic safety, impairment detection technology, and health effects of cannabis; restricting advertising that could appeal to children; and setting aside $100 million over five years to help states develop streamlined procedures for expunging or sealing prior cannabis convictions.
“We commend Senator Schumer for joining the growing chorus of Congressional leaders stepping forward with alternatives to the failed prohibition of marijuana,” said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). “With millions of Americans already living in states that successfully regulate adult-use cannabis and support for national legalization at record levels, this legislation would finally align federal marijuana policies with mainstream voter sentiment.”
Video: Another Successful NCIA Lobby Days
NCIA’s Aaron Smith re-caps another successful Cannabis Industry Lobby Days! Watch this video to hear more about NCIA Members’ experiences and why you should plan to join us next year in D.C.
Are you an industry leader looking to invest in continued national advocacy for the industry but not yet a member of NCIA?
NCIA’s staff and professional lobbying consultants work year-round in our nation’s capital to build support for the cannabis business community and the policy changes needed for our industry to reach its full potential. That work has led us to the tipping point we are seeing today and it’s all been made possible by the financial support of our members.
Adding your name to the growing list of responsible businesses behind this effort will bring us even closer to reaching the day when the cannabis industry is treated fairly under federal law.
Already a member of NCIA but want to enhance your support for this vital work? Sponsor a quarterly Cannabis Caucus event in a city near you! All profits from event sponsorships support the efforts of our robust team in D.C.
America’s Own Homegrown Industry
Co-authored by NCIA and BDS Analytics
It all begins with the humble plant.
The fastest-growing industry in the United States relies 100 percent upon the simple cultivation and harvesting of one plant, cannabis sativa — its buds, its leaves, and the diversity of organic compounds the plant provides, including THC.
If the plant is grown indoors, as is most legal cannabis in the United States, it first needs a building before it ever digs roots and spreads a canopy. The building requires complicated lights, many of which are manufactured in the United States. It demands a wilderness of HVAC networks, to maintain a healthy temperature and humidity level. Irrigation systems, potting soil and soil amendments, complex sprinkler systems in case of fire, high-tech security systems — all of these and much more must be in place before the first plant begins to rise towards the light.
And these first steps produce jobs and work: real estate professionals, lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, HVAC specialists, irrigation experts, sprinkler and alarm installation technicians, factory workers. Once the building is ready, the company needs horticulture experts and trimmers, among others. And it requires ongoing work, too, from electricians and other trades specialists, as things break and need to be replaced or updated. The cultivation of the plant alone is a rapidly-developing career field.
But hands-on growing represents just one small patch of the cannabis landscape. Every step along the way, from seed to store, propagates work for people in hardhats, lab coats and blazers. And all of the jobs are Made in the USA. Even more, due to the patchwork regulatory environment, cannabis industry jobs also tend to root, and stay put, within individual states and communities.
Legal cannabis today in the United States is the ultimate homegrown industry. Detailed sales data from industry market research firm BDS Analytics reveals astounding growth within states where cannabis is legal. For example, during the first quarter of 2018 in Colorado, where sales of recreational cannabis have been legal since 2014, dollar sales of concentrates in recreational shops grew by 47.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 2017. Concentrates do not represent a tiny piece of the overall recreational marketplace: During this year’s first quarter, adult use concentrates sales hit $85.35 million, and captured a full 30 percent of the recreational marketplace. That’s an enormous chunk of the state’s mature adult use cannabis market, and yet sales still expand by close to 50% within a year.
And with all of that growth, quarter after quarter, comes increased need for workers.
States with laws that replace criminal marijuana markets with regulated industries are also benefiting from significant tax revenues that support important programs like school construction, law enforcement, and drug education. According to the National Cannabis Industry Association’s , the five states that allowed adult-use sales realized nearly $800 million in combined state tax revenue alone.
Industry investment and market research firms The Arcview Group and BDS Analytics predicted in their study US Legal Cannabis: Driving $40 Billion Economic Output that the industry will hatch 414,000 jobs in a multitude of fields both directly and ancillary related to cannabis by 2021 — everything from delivery drivers to retail sales pros to extraction technicians, warehouse workers, bakers, marketing gurus, and PhDs in pest control.
The industry’s impact is certainly felt in Colorado, which began retail cannabis sales for adult use on Jan. 1, 2014 — the first in the nation to do so. Many economic experts attribute the state’s lowest-in-the-nation unemployment rate, at least in part, to the cannabis boom.
Colorado’s ascending sales results, as well as those in the other cannabis-legal states, would likely resound with even more oomph if two difficult issues could be resolved: banking, and the ability to write off business expenses for cannabis companies.
As the industry’s leading national advocate, NCIA is working hard on both fronts.
The Small Business Tax Equity Act of 2017, co-sponsored by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), seeks to let cannabis companies operating legally under state law to implement business-related tax credits or deductions for expenses — the entire issue is often referred to simply as 280E (the applicable section of the tax code) as shorthand. For now, the federal government treats marijuana sales in legal states the same way it treats sales of illegally-trafficked drugs — needless to say, people illegally selling controlled substances cannot itemize tax deductions or claim business-related tax credits but NCIA believes that state-licensed businesses should not be caught up in the wide net cast by 280E.
Meanwhile, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act seeks to provide a “safe harbor” and additional protections for depository institutions that want to engage with cannabis companies that are in compliance with state law. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) are co-sponsors of this important legislation, which finally would, among other things, provide cannabis companies access to bank loans — taken for granted in most industries, but long outlawed in legal cannabis.
The success of the industry truly astounds despite such profound roadblocks. Success in alleviating such banking and taxation headaches would further stoke what is already the hottest industry in the country.
Research into the economic benefits of cannabis legalization and regulation is just beginning, and for now it remains too early to make definitive declarations about how legalization will influence the economic path of different communities. Undoubtedly the effects will vary from location to location — the effect on San Francisco, for example, may be entirely different from the effect on Fort Collins, Colorado.
One early study, conducted by the University of Colorado-Pueblo’s Institute of Cannabis Research, found that legalization in Pueblo, a diverse, blue-collar area about two hours south of Denver, could be responsible for the County’s recent success. In addition, the study rejected predictions that legalization would bring increased homelessness and crime to the region.
“When compared to similar communities in states where cannabis is not legal in any form, Pueblo appears to be doing better on a variety of measures,” the study says. “Overall, the positive changes that are noticed in Pueblo County, such as increasing real estate values, higher income per capita, and more construction spending may be attributed to legalization of cannabis in the state of Colorado.”
To date, cannabis still represents a fairly small slice of the employment pie in Colorado. A recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City estimated the industry directly supports 17,821 jobs today. The study’s author writes: “Employment in the marijuana industry is a relatively small share of total employment in Colorado, but in recent years it has been one of the state’s fastest-growing industries,” adding that between 2016 and 2017 jobs in cannabis rose by 17.7 percent.
The study also noted the effect Colorado’s cannabis industry has had on state government coffers; in 2017 alone, it added $247 million to the budget. Cannabis tax receipts go to a variety of places. The state’s Building Excellent Schools Today school construction program, for example, receives the first $40 million from excise taxes on wholesale cannabis, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper recently signed a bill that will drastically increase this amount. Local governments receive another 10 percent of the taxation haul.
Nationwide, the cannabis industry now supports close to 10,000 active cannabis licenses — that is, businesses that need licenses to grow, manufacture, distribute or sell the plant, according to CannaBiz Media, which tracks marijuana licenses. These “touch-the-plant” businesses are the sturdy and rapidly expanding trunk of a flourishing industry — without them, none of the other jobs and businesses that are sprouting up around cannabis sales today would exist.
But if touch-the-plant businesses are the trunks of the industry, the branches, leaves and flowers are the ancillary jobs — those that don’t grow, manufacture or sell marijuana directly. Of those anticipated 414,000 cannabis jobs by 2021, many will not sprout directly from licensed businesses. For example, software developers targeting the cannabis industry are flourishing. Entrepreneurs across the country are opening factories that make everything from plastic containers and child-safe bags for cannabis, to customized extraction equipment. New legal, public relations, marketing, and other professional services appear every day that revolve around the industry.
During a recent economic conference, Ian Siegel, the CEO of ZipRecruiter, which is a prominent job recruitment marketplace, said of cannabis: “Twenty-nine states have legalized marijuana [in some form]. There’s a 445 percent job growth in job listings in the category year-over-year.” By comparison, Siegel said other hard-charging industries like technology and healthcare lag far behind, with job growth at 245 percent and 70 percent respectively. He also noted that cannabis jobs expansion grew at a more rapid pace during Q4 2017, which saw an increase of 693 percent compared to the previous year.
As growth rockets ahead (new jobs, workers with new skills, growing tax revenues, etc.), the same trajectory is beginning to rise in Canada, where adult-use cannabis use is expected to begin later this summer. Despite Canada’s relatively small size — with a population of 35 million, it is smaller than California and dwarfed by the United States population of nearly 326 million — it enjoys a distinct advantage on the global stage: Canada allows cannabis exports. Growers and manufacturers in Canada ship cannabis to Germany, Israel and other countries that seek cannabis for their medical programs (only one other country in the world, Uruguay, enjoys legal adult-use cannabis use and sales). This is a fairly small market, for now. But as more and more countries embrace the medical, if not adult-use, benefits of cannabis, it is a marketplace destined to expand and grow increasingly dynamic. Permitting cannabis exports remains another NCIA priority.
Either way, the cannabis revolution is here, across the United States — where it all began. It is the ultimate homegrown industry, one we all should embrace, nurture and strengthen. It’s good for America, and good for America’s cities, towns and citizens.
This post was co-authored by the National Cannabis Industry Association, the largest cannabis trade association in the U.S. and the only one representing cannabis businesses at the national level and BDS Analytics, the leader in providing comprehensive cannabis market intelligence and consumer research. Learn more about NCIA by visiting: thecannabisindustry.org. Learn more about BDS Analytics by visiting: bdsanalytics.com.
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The running of a dispensary requires management to constantly assess staffing costs and needs for the changing demands of the business. However, too much attention to the needs of the business and too little on employees can lead to the overworking of staff, burnout and an unpleasant working environment. 
Matthew Hughes is a British-born content writer with the mindset of a cat, he has a curiosity for the unknown, can be impulsive and can be won over with food. The best place to catch him will be in the offices of 
After more than two months since Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced forthcoming marijuana reform legislation, this week finally saw the bill’s introduction. The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act removes marijuana from the schedule of controlled substances, allowing states to determine their own cannabis policies without fear of federal interference.
