Marijuana Business Magazine April 2019

Can you compete for talent with other industries? I think we are definitely competitive, and oftentimes higher. I think where we have success with top folks is that we offer an equity incentive that aligns everybody’s incentives and creates shareholders throughout our management team. We pay our new hourly production people $15 per hour to start. After three successful months, they’ll receive a bump to $16 per hour and become eligible for full health benefits and participation in the company’s 401(k) program, which matches at 4%. On the employee’s one-year anniversary of hiring, pay moves to $17 per hour. So, we provide a path for our hourly folks to advance pretty quickly, and that’s helped us recruit good people. And because the company is growing, there’s a defined path to advancement that people seem to be responding to. How do you determine salaries? Do you look at other industries? No. I think we have a sense of where ranges should be. And we put resources into internal recruiting assets. We generally know what we want to pay for a position. The industry in general is very exciting and aspirational to folks, and coupled with the brand identity that we have, I think we’re in a good position to set what is a fair and solid salary. Our approach is more, “This is a great opportunity. We set a fair salary range. We are aware of others. But we are confident in our approach and don’t have to calibrate.” Do you notice any talent-poaching or East Coast companies drawing talent from West Coast firms? I’m definitely aware that type of recruiting takes place, and our people definitely get contacted by recruiters, which is to be expected in a market that’s evolving rapidly. The fact that California is among the more advanced states—in terms of years of experience and sophistication— (makes California) attractive for eastern companies to look at to recruit. Is Columbia Care able to pay competitively with other industries? As a rule of thumb, we try to pay people—particularly people at the operating level—higher than an equiv- alent position at a competitor or in another industry. We want to make sure we’re hiring the people who have choices and who are interested in the business. Does Columbia Care offer benefits? We provide a significant stock incentive. We try to make sure that people understand that if we succeed as an organization, then theoretically the value of the organization should increase. All full-time employees have health care. There are some things that we would really love to have that we can’t have right now because we’re still a private company. But we expect to be able to use our stock as an incentive for employees. We also expect to be able to start up things like a 401(k). How does Columbia Care keep people? We make a very concerted effort to hire people from within. As we grow into new markets, as we’re looking to fill roles at more senior levels, we always try to hire people from within first. So, there’s a directional align- ment with the ability for somebody to create a career rather than staying for a short time and then moving on. As a multistate company, do you see major salary differences from region to region? There are always some regional differences. But the types and variety of benefits that we give are pretty consistent. And where they’re not consistent, our expectation is that they will become consistent. Every market has its own personality. ADAM GROSSMAN Title: Founder and CEO Company: Papa & Barkley, Eureka, California Sector: Infused products NICHOLAS VITA Title: CEO Company: Columbia Care, New York City Sector: Multistate vertically integrated operator 51 April 2019 | mjbizdaily.com