A major chunk of the corporate workforce could be toking up during work hours on 4/20 – including half of employees at Wall Street powerhouse JPMorgan Chase and the stock-trading app Robinhood, according to the results of a new survey.
Nearly one-third of corporate professionals – about 29% — revealed they have used cannabis while working in the office or working from home over the last three months, according to a poll conducted by anonymous workplace message board Blind.
The number is even higher at certain, high-profile companies. Some 44% of JPMorgan workers who participated in the survey admitted to marijuana use on the job, while a whopping 50% of workers at Robinhood copped to smoking pot during work hours. At online mortgage lener Better.com, lately roiled by employee turnover, 45% said they’d smoked while working.
The results applied to workers who used cannabis for both medical and non-medical purposes, according to Blind – which provided survey results for a total of 35 different companies. The highest rate was reported at software firm Splunk, where 73% of workers copped to cannabis use on the job.
While marijuana may be a source of concern for corporate leaders – especially at workers return to the office during the COVID-19 pandemic – workers quoted in the survey said their usage wasn’t affecting their job performance. And some employees actually said the pastime had career benefits.
“I’ve smoked with many directors and even two VPs in my company. Has been good for my career, make great connections over a joint and always leads to a positive change in relationship,” one worker, identified as a verified startup professional, wrote on Blind.
“I have spent most of my pandemic high,” a verified software engineer employed at Wayfair wrote. “[I] haven’t noticed it affect[ing] my performance that much… most of the work on my plate was simple enough anyway.”
More than a quarter, or 28%, of Wayfair employees admitted to pot use.
Cannabis use was much lower among workers at some prominent tech firms.
Just 18% of Apple workers who participated in the survey said they have smoked pot within the last three months. Snap, Twitter, Airbnb, Oracle, PayPal and Coinbase were all under 25%.
Marijuana still remains illegal at the federal level but several states – including New York – have legalized its use for recreational purposes. Earlier this month, House lawmakers voted to decriminalize marijuana – but passage in the Senate is considered unlikely.
Blind conducted an online survey of 2,514 US professionals from April 12 to April 13. The platform uses company email addresses to verify its users’ identities.
JPMorgan Chase, Better.com, Robinhood and Splunk did not immediately return requests for comment.