Nick Sayers, co-founder of the vertically integrated, Michigan-based cannabis company Highway Horticulture, with its flagship dispensary, Sunset Coast Provision Center, says a focus on finding employees who take pride and ownership in their work is key to the company’s hiring strategy. Once on board, prioritizing treating each team member like an individual, creating a sense of community and support, as well as working toward internal advancement opportunities are at the core of the culture. Communication regarding corporate financial performance and addressing workplace challenges also helps set the entire team up for success in a “very volatile” industry, Sayers says.
Here, Sayers shares more about the company’s approach to hiring and creating a positive workplace environment that landed it in the No. 2 spot in CBT’s Best Cannabis Companies to Work For – Dispensary list.
On hiring and most important and telling interview questions:
Nick Sayers: Honestly, the most telling answers we get are often to the question, “What is the thing you’re most proud of in your career?” You get a sense of who takes pride in their work and who is just looking for a job and a paycheck. Due to the nature of our industry and how hard it can be, we are looking for passionate people who take pride in what they do.
On onboarding and training:
Sayers: I think making sure they know who to contact for questions or issues. Making sure they are set up with a sense of community from day one with resources to help them through the transition of a new job.
On professional growth:
Sayers: We expect our managers to have monthly one-on-ones with each of their team members. Our inventory manager started as a budtender and showed a real aptitude for Metrc and compliance. She was promoted to inventory control specialist and then, when we had an opening on the retail management team, she was promoted to inventory manager and has been a huge key to our success on the inventory and compliance side of retail.
On benefits and advancement opportunities:
Sayers: We offer excellent traditional benefits like free medical, dental, and vision, but one of the biggest draws is the opportunity for advancement. We’re still a new company in a lot of ways and have been able to promote from within more often than not. As we grow, our individual team members grow with us.
On supporting a work-life balance:
Sayers: We encourage family above all and try to be very understanding when team members have to be out for family issues. Of course, we have to balance that with needing people in their roles to be on time and at work. We have a generous PTO plan and encourage productivity with extras like trade samples.
On prioritizing employees’ well-being:
Sayers: Our managers are very understanding and compassionate when it comes to our team members’ health and well-being. We’ve referred them to our Employee Assistance Plan when they’ve needed help with substance-abuse issues, and we have an employee resource rep on-site once a week to assist team members who may be having trouble paying bills or rent. Overall, we treat each of our team members like individuals and not just like a resource that needs to be managed.
On encouraging employee feedback:
Sayers: We conduct surveys often, have town hall meetings with our co-founders and will always encourage people to submit questions beforehand that our leaders can answer.
On which benefits seem to be most important to employees:
Sayers: Medical, dental, and vision are always the most important, followed by opportunities for growth and work-life balance.
On inspiration for creating a great place to work:
Sayers: We are all fans of books like “The Culture Code” and “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” podcasts like “HR Happy Hour” and “Redefining Work,” plus just networking with other companies in our industry and our communities.
On the importance of corporate transparency:
Sayers: We try to have quarterly town hall meetings where we share the ups and downs of the business that quarter, how the company is performing against our plan, and what is coming up in the next quarter. Our industry is very volatile, so having constant communication with our team is key.
On celebrating milestones/special events:
Sayers: We celebrate everyone on their one-year anniversary by presenting them with a die-cast pin of our logo and a photo with the co-founders, which goes up on our intranet. Same with two-year anniversaries, but the team member gets a custom Yeti water bottle with our logo and a quote [“Two Years on This Highway”] on [it]. We haven’t decided what to do for our three-year anniversaries yet, but a few of those are coming up!
On ensuring fairness and trust are maintained:
Sayers: Our head of talent and culture and our talent and culture coordinator act as ombudsmen when there are issues of fairness or mistrust. We try to be as fair as possible, but each team member knows they can come to the talent and culture department if they feel they are being treated unfairly and an investigation will be conducted.
On talking to the team about the challenges many cannabis businesses experienced during the past year:
Sayers: We believe in “radical transparency,” so we have been very honest with our team when we have experienced downturns.
Editor’s note: This conversation has been edited for length, style and clarity.
