By Sloane Barbour

As more states legalize cannabis, the industry is expanding at a breathtaking pace. With much to look forward to and a building sense of enthusiasm, this means that job development is ramping up with thousands of jobs demanding an enormous range of skills needing to be filled, and countless individuals eager to find a career in the emerging cannabis workplaces across America.

Because of its status as a nascent market moving in a mainstream direction, and the progressive nature of cannabis, the sector is uniquely positioned to play a revolutionary role in shaping the future of work. Traditional approaches to how society views work and employment are being challenged in some fundamental ways – and the cannabis industry offers us a blank slate to build an equitable, sustainable, and profitable industry of the future.

With a new industry can come new standards

As a burgeoning industry, cannabis is neither burdened by, nor able to sit back with cookie-cutter, autopilot approaches to hiring and work. It is molding its own standard procedure for workforce development, something that is necessary given the longstanding hurdle of federal prohibition and the plant’s former status as illegal in states with medical and recreational programs. Because the industry is creating so many positions that have no accurate individual or industry precedent, it is in the process of engineering and architecting its own requirements, expectations, and practices around filling these roles and retaining employees.

This is also leading to greater efforts in trade and job trainings, more accessible cannabis-specific certifications and more industry-specific expectations. There are no preexisting standards for many positions in cannabis, and many of the skills necessary at an entry level, especially in plant touching roles, resemble that of traditional trade jobs.

The industry is increasingly progressive

There is a very specific focus on equity and inclusiveness in the cannabis industry, more so than other sectors, due to the intentionality of using legalization as a catalyst to repair the harm done by prohibition, specifically to communities of color. There is a mindful effort from stakeholders throughout the industry to ensure women, minorities, working class individuals, and those without higher education can play a role in the industry. This also means transitioning legacy operators and those with cannabis-related charges into the legal industry.

Because of this, the cannabis industry is likely more receptive to reinventing workforce development and employment practices. These initiatives include incorporating new technology, progressive policies including work from home (WFH) options, paid parental leave, on-the-job upskilling, collaboration with unions and workers’ rights organizations, and the offering of pro bono services from consultants, tech platforms, external HR tool platforms, and more.

Cannabis is a job creator in a wide variety of sectors

Not only is cannabis creating new and unique occupations, but it is also creating more opportunities in preexisting sectors. Whether plant-touching or not, cannabis-related roles are now integrating into well-established industries and professions. Working in retail, agriculture, hospitality, manufacturing, marketing, customer service, technology, and more can now also mean working peripherally or directly within the cannabis industry.

With these convergent dynamics, the cannabis industry can have a far and influential reach in the hiring and workforce development practices of these sectors as well as progressive practices and expectations that the industry can play a role in reframing the nature of work in these larger industries. Legalization already has many companies reconsidering their HR policies on cannabis use and consumption, and it should be expected that this trend will continue as more of these integrated businesses add cannabis as one of their disciplines or verticals.

We in the cannabis industry are observing that old practices and expectations we associate with work are becoming null and void. With so many industries stuck in their old norms, it will come down to emerging industries, like cannabis, to push us forward in truly revolutionizing how we develop and retain a workforce.

With cannabis swiftly gaining momentum, it is especially equipped to be at the forefront of this movement and further fulfill its promise as an equitable, progressive and overarching industry that can engineer genuine impact and opportunity for a diverse array of sectors.