We’re reaching the end of the first calendar year of legal cannabis! How is your business doing? What is your employee turnover like? Did you retain employees you initially hired? 

We hate to break it to you, but a bad hire costs your business between $25,000 - $50,000. You’ll save yourself money if you recruit and retain high-quality candidates. 

1. Hire Quality Candidates From The Start

The most important first step of retaining long-term employees, is hiring employees worth retaining. 

For starters, adopt industry-appropriate resume screening tactics to rule out poor candidates. Use screening software to help determine organizational fit. 

Consider conducting multiple interviews—spend time evaluating your potential hires.  

The extra time you spend finding your perfect match is time and money saved down the road. 

2. Onboard Employees The Right Way 

Onboarding is more than just employee training and orientation! Your onboarding procedures are as vital during week one as they are during month three. 

Think of onboarding as the process of fully integrating a new hire into your workplace. 

Start with a set of standard onboarding procedures: 

• Develop a training manual or e-learning course (or provide them with existing material) 

• Teach them about your organization's mission, vision, identity, and culture 

• Introduce them to other employees 

• Schedule regular meetings to see how the are adjusting to the job 

But, this experience should be personalized for each individual. Over their first months, get to know their strengths and areas for improvement—empower them to thrive within your organization. 

3. Communicate Employee Expectations Clearly 

It’s tough for employees to perform up to standard if they don’t know what “up to standard” looks like! Unclear expectations lead to feelings of confusion and frustration from all parties involved. Communication is key in the ever-evolving cannabis industry! 

Keeping employees in-the-know is your responsibility. Ensure there is a clear and consistent channel for communicating meetings, deadlines, and other important updates. If you stick to a small number of channels, your staff will always know where to look for information. 

When you onboard new hires, sit down and discuss the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the job—whatever that looks like. Are there sale goals? Specific customer services procedures? Consistent deadlines? Make sure they know from the start.

Don’t stop at onboarding! Use appropriate opportunities to review expectations with your staff. If an employee isn’t meeting certain goals, work with them to determine what would enable their success. Performance reviews are a great place for this! But, expectations should still be communicated consistently between reviews.  

If there are consistent issues across your company, staff or general meetings are another opportunity to mention areas for improvement.  

4. Conduct Regular Employee Performance Reviews

Make performance reviews a consistent and expected part of your operations. They are important one-on-one opportunities for you to provide the feedback your employees deserve.

Just recently Cannabis 2.0 opened up new opportunities and challenges within the industry. It’s important that your employees are equipped to handle recent (and coming) changes. Ongoing evaluation will help this! 

For more information, check out our blog on Why Employee Performance Reviews are Important in the Cannabis Industry. 

5. Invest in Employees’ Careers

Employees stick around when you invest in their career development. We’ve all had those employees that are driven and always looking for learning opportunities. The reality is, if we don’t provide those opportunities, they’ll move into an employer who will. 

Driven employees appreciate: 

• Cross-training between areas 

• Additional education

• Coaching and involved feedback 

• Opportunities for advancement within the company

(with guidance on how to get there) 

Build real relationships with your staff and get to know their long-term aspirations. Your genuine engagement creates loyal employees!

6. Make Communication Two-Way: Listen to Your Employees 

Your employees value what you provide them… but don’t underestimate what your employee can provide you. 

Listen to their thoughts, concerns, and issues. Never let your workers feel ignored. Their voices matter and their feedback should hold influence! Workplaces that foster open conversation cultivate a positive organizational culture… a culture worth staying part of!

7. Build Your Organization’s Community 

As we just mentioned, your organizational culture has a significant impact on your employee retention.

Positive organizational culture isn’t built overnight: it’s slowly built over time. Know your organization’s identity, values, and desired culture, and take the necessary steps to create it. You can build a positive culture through: 

• Company newsletters

• Recognition of exceptional employees 

• Fostering social connections 

• Empowering employees to succeed 

• Events both inside and outside the workplace 

Creating a sense of comradery is in an important step towards team success. Take your team golfing, or bowling, or out for a trivia night. Find teamwork-focused activities that your staff will enjoy. Fund the night out! Low-stress events outside of work will strengthen your team...

...and never pass the opportunity to celebrate accomplishments! Fun fact: studies have found that teams who shared past successes are more likely to succeed again in the future. Team chemistry is everything! Congratulate hard work—reward it with celebratory lunches, awards, prizes, and events. 

Strong teams stick around. 

8. Recognize the Importance of a Work Life Balance

Respect your employee’s work life balance.

Your organization deserves employees who always put their best work forward. But, this means allowing for appropriate relaxation time. Even your best, hardest working staff need time to recuperate. 

Lunch breaks, empathy about sick days and emergencies, and generosity with time off go a long way. 

9. Offer a Competitive Benefits Package  

Jobs means security for your workers. Part of that security is a benefits package that will support them. 

Sure, you don’t need to provide benefits for all your part-time college student Budtenders… but consider benefits for your full-time staff, and those working in administrative or management roles.

Traditional comprehensive benefits packages can include: 

• Health insurance 

• Dental insurance 

• Vision insurance 

• Paid time off 

• Long-term disability insurance 

• Short-term disability insurance 

• Life insurance 

Depending on where your employee is in their career and life, comprehensive benefit plans can make or break a job for them. 

If it suits your workplace, consider non-traditional benefits such as: 

• Flexible hours 

• Options to work from home 

• Access to on or off-site fitness classes 

• Free meals and snacks 

• Partnerships with other organizations that provide discounts to employees

Unsure about what benefit packages suit your needs? Talk to a human resources consultant ↓

10. Work With a Human Resources Professional

If you’re having trouble with some or all of the areas we listed (or even areas we didn’t list), it might be time to work with a human resources professional. 

For small business owners, an in-house human resources team often isn’t realistic. External human resources agencies provide all the needed support without the commitment of hiring additional full-time employees.  

At Cannabis At Work, we provide full-service human resources consulting aimed at the unique needs of the cannabis industry.