Hiring the best staff for your weed company can be challenging. After all, it’s a relatively new industry and many budtenders are new to the cannabis sector. Unfortunately, the cannabis industry has a high employee turnover. Statistics suggest 40-60% of staff leave within the first two months.
It’s a massive problem for the cannabis industry, but your company can be different!
Your company will welcome, train, and support new hires during your onboarding procedure. It’s essential for providing an excellent candidate experience, and you’ll also get to know the employee more.
The onboarding stage may include:
A 30-day onboarding timeline is perfect for both the company and the employee. Here are some key fundamentals and a step-by-step timeline:
The cannabis industry is new and undoubtedly different from many other industries. Therefore, it’s fundamental to help the candidate understand the company culture from the onset.
If you’ve already hired the candidate, there’s a solid chance they’ll have some understanding of your company culture—but it’s not a certainty.
You can help them understand the company culture by:
Spend the first couple of days focusing on the company culture. Once they understand it, they can move on to the next part of the onboarding process.
What systems does your cannabis company offer? Now is an excellent time to teach your candidate how these systems work. Training classes are essential for new budtenders because the cannabis industry is unique, and many budtenders have little to no experience.
To ensure your new hires are comfortable and maintain solid business processes, spend as much time as you need offering systems training during the 30-day onboarding period.
Once your employee understands the company culture and systems, you can teach them about your cannabis products and clients. Show how your cannabis products are better than your competition.
Having a team of employees who are experts in your cannabis products is essential for offering outstanding training.
Your budtenders will continuously learn about your products, and cannabis products are constantly evolving. Still, give your budtenders an excellent overview during their first 30 days.
Now it’s time to let your new budtender begin working on projects and meeting team members. Although your team members are likely busy, guarantee they keep an eye on your new budtenders and be continually open to questions.
You can slowly allow your budtenders to start working or wait until the day of the 30-day onboarding period; the choice is up to you and depends on the role. However, the sooner they work with cannabis products, the quicker they’ll learn and grow as new hires.
You should offer weekly one-on-one meetings with management during the 30-day onboarding process. These meetings allow your new budtenders to ask questions, voice concerns, and enjoy more training with professionals within the company.
Your weekly one-on-one meetings should include:
Encourage your budtenders to be as open as possible during these meetings. It can help you improve your onboarding process. Start your weekly meetings once your budtenders begin working more independently. Otherwise, you can start these meetings straight away.
After 30 days, your new budtenders will feel more comfortable at your company. That’s when it’s an excellent time to be transparent with your goals, metrics, and KPIs. Show your budtenders their new targets and how you’ll support them through their journey.
It’s normal—regardless of the industry—for budtenders to feel overwhelmed by KPIs. However, show them a clear training plan throughout the following months to ensure their growth.
The development plan should always come at the end of the 30 days. It will enable your staff to prepare for the 60 and 90-day onboarding timelines.
The cannabis industry doesn’t need to be overly different from other industries. Although there are different rules and regulations, your onboarding process can mirror other industries and deliver the same success.