agent

assistant general manager

certified pharmacy technician

security specialist

pharmacist

Zen Leaf

What is the best part of working at the company?
Joining a supportive and dedicated team can make a significant difference in the workplace experience. During my time at the company, I had the opportunity to work at two different locations, both of which fostered a sense of camaraderie among staff. The majority of my colleagues in this industry are genuinely caring individuals, creating a positive and nurturing environment.

At the store level, each location has its unique culture and dynamics; however, the sense of belonging and teamwork I experienced was evident in both positions. This supportive atmosphere not only enhances collaboration but also contributes to a fulfilling work experience.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
In my experience, the primary source of stress at the company stems from internal organizational challenges. There appears to be a disconnect between the company's operations and its ability to effectively meet patient needs. The frequent changes in policies and product offerings create confusion among patients, which detracts from their overall experience. 

The organization often attempts to introduce “new” products despite lagging behind competitors, making it difficult to fulfill patients' expectations for straightforward transactions. Many patients in this industry prioritize efficiency and value, seeking a quick and seamless shopping experience. Unfortunately, the company’s processes seem to complicate this simple exchange, resulting in frustration for both patients and employees. As employees, we often find ourselves in the position of having to justify these challenges to patients, which can lead to elevated stress levels. This not only affects our interactions with patients but also contributes to lower patient retention rates.

 Given that many roles within the company rely on tips as a significant part of total compensation, a decline in patient volume directly impacts our income. Addressing these issues could lead to improved patient satisfaction, enhanced employee morale, and ultimately a more successful business model.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work culture at the store level is characterized by a strong sense of camaraderie among coworkers, resembling a familial atmosphere. While, like any family dynamic, there are occasional ups and downs and disagreements, I genuinely felt that most of my colleagues were concerned for my well-being and made an effort to check in on me regularly. 

However, I observed a disconnect between the store teams and the corporate level. There seems to be a lack of recognition for employee achievements, such as celebrating sales milestones or tenure with the company. Despite my years of service, I did not receive any formal acknowledgment of my contributions, nor was there an exit interview that would have allowed me to provide feedback on my experience. 

Creating a more connected and appreciative environment at the corporate level could significantly enhance overall employee morale and foster a greater sense of value among staff.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day at the store level is filled with engaging interactions and a positive atmosphere. There is often a sense of camaraderie among coworkers, accompanied by laughter, enjoyable conversations, and the sharing of good food. Building relationships with both colleagues and patients is one of the highlights of the role, and over time, you develop meaningful connections with regular customers.

However, some days can present challenges, particularly in terms of staffing levels. Instances of inadequate staffing can lead to increased stress, especially when roles are absorbed by other team members due to personnel changes. Despite these challenges, the supportive environment and the relationships fostered within the team make for a fulfilling work experience.

● Work-life balance
Depends when I started we had to have an advanced knowledge of the product and in my free time would study so I could be a better patient care advisor but at some point they started hiring people with little to no experience.

● Pay & benefits
The pay was great at first until I showed them how hard of a worker I was then they abused that. For a little while we were without a manager just a shift lead I had to help the shift lead do management duties the place would have fallen apart. I had to come in early and stay late for almost a month straight. We were short staffed usually a crew of 8-10 people work a day several days that month we had 3 or 4 people doing 35,000 in sales a day.

● Job security and advancement
The management told me that I would be one of 2 shift leads promoted neither of those names were made shift lead. They will lie and manipulate you.

● Management
Started without a manager then when one was hired she had so little knowledge of the product and business that we did her job for weeks and when she started to do more she messed up orders, labels and the like which is a big no-no in this industry. Long story short they really dont have good management the employees pretty much run the place.

● Culture
When we started everyone had to learn all the positions to better serve our patients but at some point favoritism came into play and people would avoid certain spots or stake claim to certain positions. For a long while we could pick wherever we wanted to work but it seemed that I couldn't pick anything and was forced to work in sweltering weather doing our curbside pickup during covid. Management let employees sit around talking well one employee would be running in and out doing multiple coworkers duties.

● Overall
Really enjoyed helping patients but the management is so inept. 40% discount was the only good thing other then that snakes, lies, manipulation, pay disputes not a good place. They also illegally serve people so the whole staff could be arrested for that as well as the basement filled with product that is not labeled or stored correctly

This company perpetuates a pattern of disrespect and dehumanization towards their employees. The managers hold their supervisors to impossible standards and they’re all about accountability until it’s one of them that makes a mistake. As an Inventory AIC, I was never even given a description of my job responsibilities. Routinely, I would be given multiple tasks at one time or get started on a task to be asked to go complete another in the middle of it, to be asked again in the middle of that task to complete another etc etc. to the point that I wouldn’t be able to finish my work which I’d get in trouble for. Being on the inventory side of the store, I saw first hand MANY mistakes the managers made that I would surely have been written up for if it had been me. The managers and corporate routinely disrespect and humiliate the employees. Whether passive aggression, outright favoritism or gaslighting. There’s no shortage of worker manipulation at Zenleaf. The tips situation isn’t great either. When I first started they were not taxing tips on your paycheck (most places I’ve earned tips, it was up to me to file that on my taxes at the end of the year anyways) but recently the company decided to start taxing them. Tips weren’t even good to begin with, you get $25 a day at most typically. On a weekend you might see $40-$50 at most in one day. But when they started taxing those tips all our paychecks went down by hundreds of dollars. I had a promotion by this time and was making less than before I got promoted once they started taxing the tips. Definitely not even worth it to work here when you can make WAY more as a budtender elsewhere than you could at Zenleaf as a supervisor. They do not care about their employees AT ALL. Trust when I say they will shut your department down and fire you without any warning even when they have open positions for you that you’re trained in. 

It was tolerable until they took the 40% employee discount away. There is an incredible disconnect between corporate and the people on the ground. The schedule is pretty flexible, and there are a lot of opportunities to specialize. The coworkers are great, I doubt I'll get as lucky with coworkers again in my life. But, the corporate management is out of touch at best, at worst callous. Corporate in general is the biggest problem with the company, the whole company is run like a restaurant, and they will treat you like a busboy. In my opinion, corporate does not care about the safety of workers in the pandemic, other than how it relates to profits. In general the hardest part of working for ZenLeaf is constantly having to wonder wether what you're hearing from corporate is true, they have a habit of going back on their word/commitments. They are also incredibly lax about safety in general. The job is not terribly difficult, and the pay isn't great but they do hire at $15, which is something. The salaries of management are incredibly low, however. I know that GMs make less than $50k. I had been there for years and they wouldn't let me buy in before the IPO, which was insulting. There is health insurance, dental and vision, but it is expensive, and in my experience the quality of the coverage declined every year. 

Management treats the place like its high school. If you're not in the clique, don't expect to be treated fairly. Only way you'll be seriously considered for promotions is if you're one of the girls that can gossip with the GM and AGM all day, or if you're somebody they want to flirt with. I was one of the top sales producers while I was there and never received any recognition from management for my accomplishments. Employees drop like flies there. Constant changes being made from corporate that cut into your wallet one way or another. Tips were 60% take-home, 40% pooled and split between all budtenders that worked that day AND management, who absolutely do not deserve to take part of the budtenders' wages, since they hardly get out of their chairs to assist on the floor. As I was leaving corporate changed the tips policy from taking home tips cash every day, to them all being on your check every two weeks. Also, they were giving a coworker of mine a really hard time over their FMLA when said coworker was/is dealing with cancer. So, just like every other corporation, they don't give a rat's a** about their employees. Verano/Zen Leaf is a place to stay away from.

It's a toxic, gossipy, blame based work environment. MGMT and AICs struggle to not  communicate disparagingly. Employees feel afraid to ask for help, even though job protocols are changed almost daily . If you attempt to address an issue you are treated as the issue, whether that be Covid protocols, sick day policies, blatant harassment, security protocols, or the quality of product being sold. It's a standard of the culture to relish in others' mistakes. Different employees are held to entirely different standards in terms of work ethic and behavior. Any ambition to help in a holistic way is diluted by the lack of humanity in the day to day work environment. 

Managers will constantly leave the floor to watch whatever sport is playing that day in the product vault, clique heavy, store management clearly had no previous experience and communicated to the staff like children. Favoritism runs deep, if you dont brown nose or if you didn't previously know anyone else who worked there good luck getting anywhere past being a budtender. I worked there for just under a year and i was never trained to work in the product vault, even after multiple requests and reminders since it was required of us. The company would manage to "lose" your badging information like clockwork and expected you to cover the cost yourself to get fingerprinted again. My location had constant bathroom issues that were always out of order, so our only choices for relieving ourselves was a port a potty in the parking lot for all customers to see, or walk 10 minutes to the mall nearby to use their public restrooms. Awful location, awful management, not worth the stress. 

This place is a dumpster fire, inside and out. The only good thing about this place, were my fellow budtenders-well, the ones who didn't treat canna knowledge like a competition, anyway. Upper management is so incredibly sneaky and are mostly made up of untrustworthy snakes. You are not special or a standout employee here unless you're the Upper management's lap dogs.
Pay is horrible, tips are horrible, the work environment is terrible. The general manager will target you, Even if they know they are in the wrong. Or will utilize their inventory manager to be their snake in the grass. The union here is pointless. They will not listen or do anything about any concerning situation handed to them. They only thing I've seen them do is come in once every few months to the dispensary, passively say hello to us, then sit in our break room and eat all our employee snacks. The same goes for the absolute joke of the HR department. Dont tell them your concerns. They find it easier to just fire you. You are just so much better off working at a non corporate dispensary. What a mess

Pay is $16/hour, with tips split across all hourly workers—even those not on register—so the same few benefit from the work of others.

Management acts like they’re above helping but often avoid stepping in when needed. Managers and assistant managers can appear annoyed when customers request assistance, and on some weekends there isn’t even a manager on site—just “agents in charge” who are not actual managers.

The inventory manager plays favorites and is only supportive toward certain employees. Union representation is closely aligned with management, which leaves employees without real advocacy.

The workplace is overworked, disorganized, and very clique-driven. Perks are 25% off most products and 40% off old Verano stock—which even customers often don’t want. Turnover is extremely high, with 2–3 people leaving or being let go in a single week.

For what’s essentially the biggest “Walmart of weed,” the stress, low pay, lack of support, and toxic culture are not worth the impact on your mental or physical health.

Management doesn't know what they're doing. They do not know how to be managers. They pick and choose favorites, run you around in circles making you think there's even a slim chance you'll get promoted, and they don't take any of your issues seriously. Corporate is insanely over-involved and makes all kinds of rash decisions, including lowering an employee discount out of nowhere. I started out in this place with an extreme love and passion for the cannabis industry and left with barely any energy for myself and my own career. This place kills dreams and promises false hope. You're way better off working in the cultivation side than this retail side. Do NOT work here. I promise you it is not worth the stab at your mental health it will take... everyone is extremely toxic and it's like a high school with all the gossip (especially from MIDDLE AGED PEOPLE! With kids!!) 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Agent 127 salaries reported	$18.08 per hour
Assistant general manager 31 salaries reported	$58,202 per year
Certified pharmacy technician 24 salaries reported	$19.25 per hour
Security specialist 28 salaries reported	$17.82 per hour
Pharmacist 15 salaries reported	$43.36 per hour

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