Marijuana Job Best Practices
Potential Employees still need to be wary of Medical Marijuana Dispensary
I’ve spent a lot of time during my blogs, medical marijuana seminar presentations and training classes preaching to the potential medical marijuana employees that they need to ensure professionalism and medical marijuana best practices at all times. I tell them how important it is to speak clearly and act professional—all the way down to their email address on their resumes. What about the medical marijuana business owners out there? Even those with a legit medical marijuana growers license. Lately, their bad behaviors are causing havoc in the industry on many levels. I’m sure you have not heard stories about this unprofessionalism because all you hear about are the BIG things—like edible recalls, dispensary closings and even raids or underage sales – which are certainly things you SHOULD hear about – but what about the business owners who screw over their employees? Don’t think it’s happening in the medical marijuana dispensary? Well guess again. Here are two scenarios that happened recently – and these are just a couple of the ones that we know of. That’s why those seeking medical marijuana jobs are starting to use recruiters like HempStaff to help protect them a little more by screening the employers just as much as we screen the employees.
Case one: A Dispensary Manager, we recently spoke with, spent 6 weeks with a new business owner, in a “western state” to get a new dispensary set up and prepared for final inspection. The owner did not have the cash up front, but assured this manager they would be paid for their time as soon as the medical marijuana dispensary opened. Six forty-hour weeks of hard work included cleaning, painting and hiring a dispensary assistant manager and all the rest of the employees. This dispensary manager had everything perfect with three days to go before the inspection. Suddenly and randomly, without cause, this manager was let go as a decision was made that the owner would take over the managerial duties due to lack of funding and no payment would be made. Legal? Doesn’t sound like it. Provable in a Court of Law? Unfortunately, not likely. The agreement was verbal between two “trusting” adults. Professional? Not a chance – but it happened!
Case Two: A New Medical Marijuana Dispensary Applicant in an “eastern state” hired a candidate as a consultant. The agreement was that the consultant would assist the applicant group in completing their application questions and would be paid a specified amount for the work. In addition, this person would be considered for the group’s Master Grower once their license was awarded. This candidate did exactly what was outlined for him to do, and completed the questions to the dispensary applicant’s expectations. He then expected payment within a specified time. That date came and went, when the medical marijuana consultant tried to contact them, the business owners stopped responding to any phone calls or emails, and just left the candidate awaiting payment. Unfortunately, he is probably never going to receive this payment from them because it was a verbal agreement and they took their chances to not pay the consultant to save some money. In the end not a very smart move for the dispensary applicant as the candidate let the MMJ commission know about this situation. In additional the employee spread the word all over social media – so even if they were granted a medical marijuana license, a little research will show this company doesn’t pay their employees. However, all this effort still didn’t get the candidate paid for their work.
Attention Medical Marijuana Business Owners: this is not the dark ages anymore. Thanks to Social Media, everyone knows everything about everyone these days and it is easily searchable on Google. People are not afraid to say what they need to say about who they need to say it about. Your “dirty little secret” will not stay secret for very long. Decide not to pay your medical marijuana dispensary staff and expect no one to know about it – it’s not going to happen. Those who have bad experiences tell twice as many people as folks who have good service and there are plenty of sites out there where you can anonymously report bad business owners – so the world will know!
The medical marijuana industry is just getting off the ground so let’s try to stay on the up and up – those who do not will be out of business soon enough. Pay folks what they are worth and, for the love of the plant, pay them for the hours they work! With all that said, these bad businesses are in the minority, we have a ton of great business owners as clients – so if you are an experienced candidate, do your homework or let HempStaff help you find the right position with a respectable business! HempStaff advises our candidates to get their agreements in writing whether we help you or you find something on your own, plus we have a legal team to back it up. No matter what the agreement is and even if you feel it’s “between friends”, it should be in writing because once you start working for someone, that your relationship is now professional and should be treated as such.
