Seems odd he doesn't just raise wages? There must be a ton of lost productivity if a third of his workforce is new every year, and leaving for mostly inconsequential pay hikes.

That would be my response as well but I didn’t want to get too in his business about it.

I wonder if working conditions have anything to do with his turnover. If a third of the workforce is regularly jumping ship for very small financial gain, there almost has to be some non-financial motivator.

At those levels it’s not a significant raise but it may be more than the annual raise a median performer could expect for staying put.

Possibly, but not a lot of jobs offer anything like the stability of a manufacturing line. There are trade-offs being made for sure.