MJBizMag May-June 2022 - 44

SALARY AND HIRING ISSUE
Next, auditors analyze salaries and
pay differentials, accounting for factors
such as experience and training. This
allows auditors to spot " outliers " based
on age, gender and race, Harvard
Business Review said.
Human resources departments
at smaller organizations typically
conduct their own audits, while
employers with more than 500
employees often hire consulting
firms that specialize in audits, the
publication said.
Massachusetts-based multistate
operator Curaleaf Holdings is
examining its own pay-equity record,
said Lanett Austin, the company's
senior director of talent management
and diversity. Curaleaf looks at pay
bands, title consistency and other
factors where disparities might signal
inequity.
Companies striving for pay equity
must be transparent with what
employees make. That means putting
salary ranges in the job description.
" Put that salary range in your job
description. That can be an attractor, "
said Natasha Bowman, president of
Performance ReNEW, a corporate
coaching and advisory firm specializing
in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
" Some organizations now are starting to
publish their salaries, and that's a proof
of pay equity. It shows we've looked at it
based on objective factors. And diverse
candidates really appreciate that
transparency. "
Once audits have been completed
and pay disparities identified,
companies must bring pay for belowaverage
earners to the same level as
their peers, compensation experts said.
" Rectifying inequitable pay might
require homogenizing base pay despite
the inherent spread of competitive
market ranges (i.e., start by paying
everyone in the same job the same
amount), " Finkelstein said. " Companies
can then differentiate bonuses or
other incentive compensation based
on performance-but only if that
44 May-June 2022 | MJBizMagazine
Amber
Littlejohn
performance is based on an equal
playing field where employees in a
given role have an equal chance for
accomplishing the same objectives. "
A 2019 Korn Ferry study cited by the
Harvard Business Review found that at
most companies, up to 5% of employees
are eligible for pay increases and
the average salary adjustment typically
ranges from 4% to 6%. These efforts
usually cost companies less than
0.3% of their total salary budget, the
publication said.
Purse String Posts
Many marijuana executives say
pay-equity problems boil down to the
positions for which people of color are
hired or not hired.
" If you are unwilling to hire people
of color and women in high-paying
positions, then there is always going
to be pay disparity, " said Amber
Littlejohn, executive director of
Cannabis Industry Pay by Gender
Average pay for women per $1 paid to men
Executive level
Manager level
All jobs
82.5 cents
96.2 cents
90.1 cents
Source: These are preliminary numbers from the 2022 Cannabis Compensation Survey Report by FutureSense.
the Minority Cannabis Business
Association. " There is a consistent
devaluing if you look at these hires
as, 'We have to do this,' as opposed
to truly valuing the skills that people
are coming with. Then, there's always
going to be a tendency to devalue when
it comes to determining pay. "
Christine De La Rosa, CEO of
The People's Ecosystem, a cannabis
company in California, said there is
a dearth of people of color in director
and C-suite positions. It's important to
have people of color who manage the
money, she said.
According to the report " Women and
Minorities in the Cannabis Industry, "
published by MJBiz in 2021, only 13.1%
of marijuana executives identify as
minorities-only 0.1% more than the
national average.
" (Many companies) say 'we're
diverse,' but their BIPOC executives
are in an HR position, a marketing
position, a DEI position, which have
no connection to how money is spent
in the company. It doesn't make their
positions any less (valuable), " De La
Rosa said. " But there's nobody in the
C-suite to say, 'The way you're about to
position this product in your market
for Latinos is not going to work.'
Because there are no Latinos in that
C-suite ... to make sure that you don't
make a mistake. "
To download the 2022 Cannabis
Compensation Survey Report, visit
content.futuresense.com/2022ccs

http://content.futuresense.com/2022ccs

MJBizMag May-June 2022

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