I agree that all of that stuff is a problem, but it sounds like he's trying to hire just anyone that comes in off the street and wants the job. Part of looking for someone is finding the person that fits the job, not necessarily just the person that wants to do the job. My suggestion to him would be to look at the kind of people he's had in the past that stuck around for a while, and try to pin-point a common trait in them. There may not be one, but he may be surprised to find the person he's looking for isn't the person he's trying to hire. Then, he can go about trying to attract that kind of person. But again, if he has a local reputation for being an unsavory employer, there may be no helping it. Trust is a big factor here. No one trusts employers to do the right thing these days. He might also be running up against that, making promises that he fully intends to keep but people aren't going to believe him because we've all been burnt. But anyway, I found a job, it's good for a few years at least. Oh well, most of what's going on right now is of the government's own doing, don't tell people they're going to die then pay them big bucks to stay home, it's going to backfire when you need to get them working.