Each month, we reach out to cannabis cultivation company owners and managers, requesting business insights, growing advice and more to share with you. This month, we’re turning the spotlight on those businesses’ employees.
What matters most to employees, and how are cannabis companies handling what’s most important? We asked about leadership, work environment, pay and more, and we are thrilled to introduce the results in our first annual “Best Cannabis Companies to Work For—Cultivation” issue.
Cannabis Business Times partnered with The Best Companies Group (BCG), an independent research firm specializing in identifying great places to work, which helped conduct the study in the fall of 2019. Cultivation companies that met the requirements were encouraged to complete the application process, which included: an Employer Benefits and Policies Questionnaire, where leaders had a chance to shed light on their company polices, practices, benefits and demographics; and, the Employee Engagement & Satisfaction Survey, in which employees ranked statements such as “This organization treats me like a person, not a number” using a scale ranging from “Agree Strongly” to “Disagree Strongly.”
Though results from both surveys factored into which companies received the designation as the “Best Cannabis Companies to Work For,” answers from the employee engagement survey were weighted higher at 75% compared to the information from the employer questionnaire at 25%.
Four companies earned the “best” distinction, and you can read about four of them in this issue. In addition, Darren Brisebois, president of top-ranking OGEN by Bloom Cultivation, will discuss how the Canadian company fosters a positive culture during the Cannabis Conference, April 21-23.
When reviewing results from the employee survey, a few things stood out. Overall, cannabis companies seem to be cultivating good supervisor/employee relationships. Best companies received a 93% agreed response rate to “My supervisor treats me fairly,” while others received 87%, for example.
Averages for the work environment category were also high, in the 80% range for both “Best Companies” and other companies groups, as employees responded favorably to statements like “My physical working conditions are good” and “I feel physically safe in my work environment.”
However, both best and overall company groups missed the mark when it came to pay and benefits. Averages for questions about pay and benefits were the lowest of the survey, at 76% for the “Best Companies” and 61% for others. Other companies received a 60% agree rate to the statement “My pay is fair for the work I perform,” while best companies received a 77% rate, for example.
Good teams are essential to creating successful companies, and keeping people happy, especially in a competitive job market, is important. Participating companies in the “Best Cannabis Companies to Work For” research can purchase their results to find out where they excel and what they can improve. For more information and how to participate in 2021, visit bit.ly/Best-Cannabis-Companies.
