MJBizMag July 2020 - 52

RECESSION ROAD MAP
KEEPING A LID
ON LABOR COSTS
Employing a lean, productive team and limiting overtime can keep
expenses from adding up
By Bart Schaneman
L
abor is one of the biggest expenses
in any cannabis business.
Cannabis companies are hunting
for ways to tighten their belts during the
economic downturn, and executives are
looking at personnel as one area where
savings can be found.
Businesses wanting to save money on
labor costs might consider:
* Running as lean of a team as
possible by relying on versatile,
productive workers.
* Retaining the good talent they've
worked hard to find and develop.
* Keeping a lid on overtime and other
excess payroll expenses.
* Keeping employees healthy to avoid
lost production.
" These little bits of labor add up over
time, " said Keegan Peterson, founder and
CEO of Denver-based Würk, a company
that provides payroll software and a human
resource information platform.
Lean and Mean
Peterson advises cannabis retailers that
want to save on labor to schedule the
most productive employees to work
shifts where they will have the biggest
impact.
For example, a salesperson who can
upsell a client should work during the
company's busiest hours.
Retail data shows that in some
markets, cannabis consumers are
Employing versatile workers can cut down on labor costs. Photo by Mark Leffingwell
shopping less often but purchasing more
each time they visit a store.
A savvy business manager would put
that high-performing sales associate
on the floor when the most customers
are visiting while encouraging that
salesperson to steer consumers toward
higher-value products.
During tough economic times,
Peterson said, " each person has to make
a bigger impact across the organization. "
The same thinking can be applied across
the industry, including in cultivation and
extraction operations.
Employee Retention
Losing good employees who require time
and money to replace can be a significant
50 Marijuana Business Magazine | July 2020
drain on a company's resources.
At Portland, Oregon-based Chalice
Farms, a vertically integrated cannabis
company, John Ford, vice president of
customer experience, is highly focused on
retaining the business' strong employees.
" In the middle of this epidemic, you
can't afford to lose good talent, " Ford
said. " We've worked very hard to make
sure our teams are happy. "
The company has made investments
in its employees, including buying
lunches, offering more cannabis samples
and increasing how much paid time off
they're eligible to earn.
Losing those employees with institutional
knowledge and training " takes so
much time to replace, " Ford added.

MJBizMag July 2020

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