In an industry that has been obsessed with expanding cultivation, opening dispensaries, or landing distribution deals, recent shifts in the cannabis landscape are now seeing companies focus on internal employee-based changes.
With the North American market experiencing major growing pains ahead of new legalization efforts, employee reductions and senior management shake-ups are putting a bigger onus on recruiting and managing more effective talent.
On that front, today KushCo Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: KSHB) just filled the newly-created position of Chief People Officer.
Rhiana Barr, a former National HR Program Manager at food and drink conglomerate Nestlé USA, will officially move into the position today.
Barr previously spearheaded a talent acquisition team as Head of HR Business Partners at Cetera Financial Group and also served as Director of Human Resources at Clearwater Paper Corporation.
Working with business-to-business cannabis and CBD company KushCo, Barr will be in charge of all aspects of employee relations, from recruiting to payroll. She will will also be tasked with crafting a new employee inclusion strategy and an ongoing talent review process.
Commenting on the need for the HR management job, KushCo CEO Nick Kovacevich stated:
Reducing overall headcount or halting construction plans to trim expenses has been a recurring theme for cannabis companies in recent months, with Emerald Health Therapeutics trimming its workforce by 33% so far this year, and MedMen Enterprises announcing a 90-day plan earlier this month to lay off 190 employees.
In other news, KushCo recently released fiscal Q4 and full fiscal 2019 numbers showing the company hit its guidance of $149 million in revenue for the period ending Aug. 31.
Despite landing at the revenue target, the company still saw a net loss of $39.6 million for the year, with a loss per share of $0.35.
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