For its most recent holiday party, the marketing agency Mattio Communications held a workshop in New York City for its 35 employees. It was a class to learn how to roll a joint.
“We went to the lounge, had someone come teach us how to roll a joint, and then went out for omakase afterward,” CEO Rosie Mattio tells Fast Company. “And we used our company business cards as the crutch in the joint.” (A crutch is the rolled-up piece of paper at the mouth-end of the joint.)
While cannabis is still federally illegal in the U.S., 24 states—including New York, where Mattio Communications is located—now allow some form of legal use. Driven by increasing legalization and a declining cultural affinity toward alcohol, cannabis use has been steadily growing across the U.S. in recent years, with Gallup polls suggesting it’s catching on most with Americans ages 18 to 34.
As a result, office happy hours and corporate holiday parties are changing in states where recreational weed is legal, with employees lighting up, enjoying THC libations, or snacking on gummies and edibles with coworkers—sometimes even in the office itself.
“People get very giggly on cannabis,” Mattio says. “It’s a great way to team bond.”
Mattio Communications is one of the first cannabis-focused marketing agencies in the industry, with clients including cannabis companies Curio Wellness and TerrAscend. While it’s unsurprising that companies openly embracing cannabis in the workplace are in the weed business themselves, Mattio sees it catching on across a number of different industries, as cannabis-infused beverages and low-dose products hit the market and attract a different kind of consumer.
Mattio’s been in talks with an investment bank that has shown interest in using a cannabis lounge, formerly the Nat Sherman New York City Townhouse near Grand Central Station, for the opening party of one of their conferences, “to do something a little different.”
“A fashion designer in New York was thinking about doing their fall after-party at the cannabis lounge downstairs because the store is right off Bryant Park, the center of Fashion Week,” Mattio says. “Instead of doing a standard cocktail bar, they want to do something next-generation. And that’s cannabis.”
Better than booze?
When Cann CEO Jake Bullock was in business school, he briefly interned for an L.A.-based cannabis company. “We had our own version of a 4:20 happy hour—we’d go out into the parking lot and smoke a joint,” he tells Fast Company.
But it didn’t work for a number of reasons. “One, you got way too high, so the rest of the day was totally shot. Two, it didn’t feel as social as drinking a beverage would,” he notes.
This sparked the idea for Cann, the low-dose THC-infused beverage company Bullock co-founded in 2019. Bullock sees cannabis-infused beverages as a social and inclusive substitute for alcohol in workplace settings, such as happy hours and holiday parties.
“It may help you with that slight alteration that you need to relax around your boss,” he says. “But it won’t change your behavior in a way you’ll regret the next day.”
As attitudes toward cannabis shift, alcohol sales have dropped. The “three-martini lunch” is now mostly a relic of the past. And cigarette breaks with the boss—which research has shown can put workers on a career fast track, thanks to the face time—are an increasingly rare habit, as marijuana usage surpasses traditional cigarette usage in the U.S.
Gen Zers are at the forefront of this shift: 62% use cannabis or THC to manage daily stress, compared with 61% who use alcohol, according to new research from Drug Rehab USA.
“Alcohol was really the only option for so long, but there are so many better options now, including Cann, for those midweek occasions,” Bullock says. “Maybe you want to be social, take the edge off,” he explains, but you also don’t want to possibly suffer a hangover from after-work drinks with coworkers.
Mattio would also rather her employees enjoy a couple of joints or a cannabis beverage on a weeknight than partake in an alcohol-fueled night out. “In terms of productivity, it’s a lot easier to go out, smoke, or take a few edibles, and come into work on time the next morning,” she says.
There’s little HR can do
Human resources departments are still hesitant to recommend one over the other.
“As a general rule, there is no real difference between getting high and getting drunk with your boss,” Donna Obstfeld, founder of the HR practice DOHR, tells Fast Company. “Both should be avoided.”
However, “what people do in their own time is up to them. As long as they are not putting themselves or colleagues at risk, there is little an employer can do,” Obstfeld concedes. “Especially if the products aren’t illegal and don’t negatively impact performance.”
Will joints and bong hits become as common as beer and wine in the office in the near future? Mattio believes so—and that the workplace will be better for it.
“I go to a lot of cannabis events, and I have never seen anybody falling over drunk the way you sometimes see at the end of a holiday party,” she says.
The risks of getting too high, on the other hand? “Maybe you giggle too much,” she adds. “Or eat a little too much food.”
