The Verdes Foundation, an Albuquerque-based medical cannabis company is the gold medal winner of the New Mexico Family-Friendly business award, Nonprofit Quarterly reports. The award is based on several factors including family leave policies, health and economic support and work schedules.
Rachael Speegle, Verdes’ director of operations, called the honor “the most proud acknowledgment and achievement” she’s earned as a business owner for the foundation.
“The entire point of our programs and our employment strategies is to try to have our business work for our community,” she said in the report.
In order to be considered for the gold medal, a company must have at least one policy in the four categories. Of Verdes’ 43 employees, 40 percent are salaried who earn $40,000 annually to start. The remaining 60 percent are non-exempt hourly employees who earn $15 per hour to start. Typically, they only have one available position per year but receive between 30 and 40 resumes per week for consideration.
Family Friendly New Mexico’s website suggests that “businesses with family-friendly practices” are more profitable and “enjoy higher employee retention, improved organizational citizenship behavior, and better work attitudes.”
Verdes wasNew Mexico‘s highest grossing medical cannabis organization in 2016.