Best Cannabis Companies to Work For 2025: Entries Now Open, Expanded to Include All Plant-Touching and Ancillary Businesses

It's no secret that labor is the largest expense for most businesses, accounting for up to 70% of revenue. In the cannabis industry, hiring has also been one of the greatest challenges—whether finding/hiring the right people or just simply finding enough people to fill a wide swath of crucial roles, from C-suite and mid-level managers to researchers, lab technicians, trimmers and budtenders. And it’s about to become even more competitive. A hiring revival is anticipated later in 2024, with 86% of cannabis companies planning to expand hiring in core areas, according to Vangst’s 2024 “Cannabis Salary Guide.”

In this competitive landscape, Cannabis Business Times is pleased to launch its sixth annual Best Cannabis Companies To Work For awards program to identify and recognize the best employers in the industry. In previous years, CBT recognized cultivation and dispensary companies only; but in response to many requests from brands, producers, labs and ancillary cannabis businesses who wanted to enter the program in previous years but didn’t qualify, CBT is excited to open this year’s program to ALL CANNABIS BUSINESSES, including plant-touching operators and ancillary companies based in the U.S. or Canada.

Best Cannabis Companies to Work For is a research-driven program conducted in partnership with the Best Companies Group (BCG)—an independent research firm that has specialized in identifying and recognizing great places to work for 20 years.

One of the things that makes the Best Cannabis Companies to Work For rankings unique is the methodology, which considers not only the employer questionnaire, but also heavily weighs (75% of a company’s total score) the anonymous employee feedback.

© Photo by Cynthia August

Participating can result in significant organizational benefits for program entrants:

• Heightened Company Pride: If your company ranks as a “Best Cannabis Company,” it can improve employee morale and retention.
• Public Relations and Marketing Advantage: Organizations can use the distinction to enhance recruiting efforts, increase the value of general marketing and improve reputations.
• The BCG Insights Report Package: Participants, whether they rank or not, have the option to purchase their Insights Report Package, detailing the company’s employee survey responses (which are anonymous and shared only in aggregate) as well as employee and employer benchmarks, providing senior management details on the company’s cultural strengths and weaknesses and shedding light on how it can improve employee retention and hiring.  
  

The Best Cannabis Companies to Work For – 2025 rankings will be announced and recognized by Cannabis Business Times in early 2025. Companies that don’t rank are kept confidential.  

“We are excited to, again, recognize not only great cultivation and dispensary businesses, as we’ve done for the past five years, but to also offer this opportunity to other companies in the industry,” CBTEditorial Director Noelle Skodzinski said. “We feel strongly about the Best Cannabis Companies to Work For program because it not only promotes companies who treat employees well and foster wonderful company cultures in a very challenging industry, but also offers other companies the opportunity to learn how to improve their own workplace environments.”

Visit the Best Cannabis Companies to Work For — 2025 website to apply (a $99 registration fee). The registration deadline is Oct. 11. A list of frequently asked questions, sample employer and employee surveys, and other information, can be found at bestcompaniescannabis.com, as well.

You can also read more about the cultivation and dispensary businesses that ranked in the 2024 program and were featured in Cannabis Business Times.