Following mass layoffs and panic, the cannabis industry in North America has lost more jobs and continues to downsize amidst the growth of COVID-19 virus.
A number of social media accounts early Monday are suggesting that Seattle based Leafly has slashed another 91 jobs due to the outbreak. Yet to be officially announced in an official press release, the buzz suggests a number of content writers, sales, editors and other positions have been terminated across the United States and Canadian operations.
Leafly, is a leader in cannabis strain information accessible by Americans and Canadians. According to Similar Web, Leafly is in the top 3900 global websites for traffic, ranking 26th in the healthcare category and in the top 800 website in America
The buzz comes following a 54 employee layoff earlier in the year, abolishing around 50% of it’s entire workforce since the start of 2020.
“We’re heartbroken to have to let so many talented people go in such an uncertain time” reported Tim Leslie the CEO of Leafly in a statement to Geekwire . He continued – “Although Leafly continues to grow and rapidly deploy pickup and delivery services for retailers and brands across North America, COVID-19 has rocked global financial markets and put further capital investments we were expecting on pause.”
The discussion can be heard around the internet from employees and reporters alike as former employee and contractor Ben Aldin tweets:
hearing reports from workers that @leafly is laying off 91 employees and giving them one week of severance pay. i’ve called leafly’s pr person to confirm.
full disclosure: i worked for leafly for 4 years and continue to do so in a freelance capacity. the company owes me $6,700. — Ben Adlin (@badlin) March 23, 2020
Both. I’m Canadian, and just lost my job at Leafly. — Devon Scoble (@devonscoble) March 23, 2020
In a statement by Laura Morarity, Leafly VP of Brand and Communications, layoffs are referred to as a capital investment which is currently paused, giving us hope that once COVID-19 subsides, these are positions that will open back up, as these positions are necessary for Leafly to achieve its long-term goals.
statement from @leafly pic.twitter.com/LnlHMgh9aW — Ben Adlin (@badlin) March 23, 2020
2020 has been a rough one for every industry, especially Canadian cannabis. Thousands of industry related jobs have been put on the back burner, or completely eliminated as companies scale back their Canadian operations to align expenditures with government regulation.
These cuts have been seen from across the board in all industries, cultivation through dispensaries and media. The COVID-19 scare comes at essentially the worst time, but working together we’ll pull through the tough seasons.
