MJBizMag May-June 2022 - 37

Get the full Cannabis Compensation Survey
at content.futuresense.com/2022ccs
Comparing Compensation in Cannabis and All Industries
Cannabis to
Job Title
Chief executive officer
Chief operating officer
Director of cultivation
Cultivation technician
Top manufacturing/
production executive
Manufacturing/production
associate/technician
Director of retail
Budtender/
customer retail associate
Cannabis Industry
Median
$254,010
$230,000
$135,100
$33,280
$134,992
$34,112
$147,992
$33,800
All-Industry
Median
$373,000
$271,000
$143,000
$ 41,000
$135,000
$44,000
$187,000
$30,000
These are preliminary numbers. Visit content.futuresense.com/2022ccs for the full report.
Source: 2022 Cannabis Compensation Survey Report by FutureSense
" You can't just be like, 'I want to hire
people of color,' and then put out a job
description. You have to understand
the culture of your own company, "
De La Rosa said. " It's not just hiring
somebody who's (a person) of color or a
woman, it's about understanding how
they're going to be part of your team
and what you can do to make sure that
they have the best experience. "
Diversify Your Applicant Pool
In cannabis and in other industries, the
dearth of people of color and women
in managerial and executive positions
is often attributed to a lack of applications
from people of color and women.
But that is a bogus excuse, Littlejohn
said. The problem is that companies
use evaluation criteria that, at best,
fail to recognize the accomplishments
and skills of people of color and women
and, at worst, eliminate women and
candidates of color from consideration.
" What we see are job descriptions
that are being churned out in a
boilerplate way without reflecting on
the unique nature of this industry, "
Littlejohn said. " The problem is that
these diverse candidates don't meet
the criteria that hirers are looking for.
But the problem isn't the candidate,
it's that the conventional criteria don't
take into account the skills that diverse
candidates do have and candidates that
meet conventional criteria don't have. "
Conventional criteria that are poor
predictors of cannabis industry success
but are nonetheless frequently used
in evaluating candidates can include
college attendance, university degrees,
years of experience and job title,
previous industries, size of companies
worked in and political connections,
Littlejohn said.
Unconventional criteria that are
often good predictors of cannabis
industry success but that are often
eschewed include experience in the
legacy market, startups, participation
in community and social justice organizations
and being a single parent.
" If you look at what women and
people of color are doing on their own,
with very few resources, that would
indicate that folks need to figure out a
way to align their hiring criteria and
the criteria for different positions to
encourage that, " Littlejohn said.
De La Rosa from The People's
Ecosystem said she built a diverse
staff by valuing experience that other
companies might not.
" We always look to people from
the legacy market, " she said, adding
that industry observers shouldn't be
surprised when illicit markets dominate
legal ones. " The entire market of
cannabis comes from the legacy market.
There was already an entire culture, an
entire customer base. "
Consider Melanie Davis, chief
operating officer at The People's
Ecosystem, who previously was a
legacy-market grower in New Mexico
and Oregon.
" These are folks that in traditional
companies ... wouldn't be seen as
mjbizdaily.com | May-June 2022 37
Mainstream Ratio
68%
85%
94%
81%
100%
78%
79%
113%
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MJBizMag May-June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag May-June 2022
