The efforts of front-line retail and production staff at Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. are being recognized with extra pay.

As essential workers across the continent grapple with employers to ensure safety and be fairly compensated for extra hours and increased health risks, the Canadian cannabis company is initiating a “grateful pay.”

With company operations remaining open during the coronavirus outbreak, an extra $2 an hour has been instituted for staff who “continue to work during this difficult time,” notes a statement from Delta 9.

The pay bump is beyond the health and safety measures that have already been put in place, including increasing hand sanitizer stations for staff and customers, more frequent cleaning of surfaces, adopting physical distancing, providing production staff with face masks and gloves where appropriate, installing plexiglass barriers between customers and staff, encouraging remote work-from-home arrangements for certain departments and allowing for flexible use of sick time for staff without a doctor’s note.

“To date, the company has been able to maintain continuous operations of its retail stores, wholesale and business-to-business business units and has no current plans to shut down its businesses,” the statement adds.