Marijuana Business Magazine April 2019

April 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 43 The competitive salaries and the declining stigma around marijuana are drawing top-level talent—including Ph.D.s, Fortune 500 alums and Wall Street veterans—into cannabis, potentially driving up salaries even more as competition for candidates heats up with every new license granted and every new market that opens. “We see chemical engineers coming who have done extraction at other places (such as) Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson,” said James Yagielo, CEO of HempStaff, a hemp and cannabis recruitment and training business in the Miami area. “The cannabis industry is now paying comparable rates to what they’re making at those other large companies.” Salaries for positions in other sectors— like accountant, inventory specialist and warehouse worker—are “comparable” to cannabis, Yagielo added. That’s greasing the rails for candidates entering cannabis from other industries. Thanks to strong margins, many companies can pay lower-level employees well, too. Cura Cannabis Solutions, an infused oils manufacturer in Portland, Oregon, instituted a $14-per-hour minimum wage for all employees last November, while Eureka, California- based infused products company Papa & Barkley has a $15-per-hour minimum for all its employees. New employees are eligible for raises after three months. Providing hourly workers a strong starting salary and defined path that allows them to advance “pretty quickly” has helped the company find—and keep—the best people, said Papa & Barkley CEO and founder Adam Grossman. “We recruit with a mind toward retention and a long-term perspective,” Grossman added. TRENDSWORTHWATCHING While cannabis industry compensation research and data are relatively new, recruitment experts and business executives in the sector identified key trends and insights: • Marijuana business positions typically pay as well or better than comparable positions in other industries. • The labor market is tight now, partic- ularly for specialized-skills positions that command higher salaries. • Candidate competition is stiff for lower-level jobs. • Stock options and other benefits are increasingly common methods used by marijuana companies to sweeten employee compensation. • Salary figures can fluctuate regionally, within states and even within the same job categories. (See page 54.) Understanding what’s driving these compensation trends can help executives make smarter compensation decisions that result in a happier, more productive workforce and successful company. A JOB SEEKER’S MARKET In addition to a tight labor market, a major driving force behind marijuana’s rising salaries is the industry’s need for highly skilled positions such as ethanol and CO2 extractors, lead cultivators, compliance managers and in-house attorneys with cannabis law experience. “I’ve been working on this for three years, and I have not seen it be as competitive as it is in today’s landscape,” Humiston said. Many cannabis companies are well capitalized, so they’re able to draw high-skilled labor attracted by the cutting-edge work that many cannabis businesses are doing in agriculture, extraction, dosing and delivery, technology and other areas. “It is a candidate’s market,” Humiston added. “If you’re really talented, you have multiple options.” Yagielo agreed. A cannabis company seeking a senior cultivator or extractor with 10 years of commercial experience and an advanced degree is going to have a relative- ly small candidate pool to pick from. The more specialization a job requires, the more it's going to pay. HempStaff CEO James Yagielo. Courtesy Photo Viridian Staffing CEO Kara Bradford. Courtesy Photo Share of marijuana job openings listed with Glassdoor that were in seven California metropolitan areas as of December 2018, from Sacramento in the north to San Diego in the south. That’s 524 out of 1,512 cannabis jobs, which speaks to the amount of opportunity and growth in California’s massive marijuana economy. 35%