The Good Jobs Strategy
the problem was that these companies viewed their employees “as a cost that they tried to minimize.” Workers were not just poorly paid, but poorly trained. They often didn’t know their schedule until the last moment. Morale was low and turnover was high. Customer service was largely nonexistent.
.. Yet when she asked executives at these companies why they put up with this pattern, she was told that the only way they could guarantee low prices was to operate with employees who were paid as little as possible, because labor was such a big part of their overhead. The problems that resulted were an unavoidable by-product of a low-price business model.
.. I think the answer is that the conventional approach of lowering the pay and importance of employees has hung on because it is more satisfying to the egos of managers.
American bosses take pride in being the hard nosed, “practical”, two fisted type willing to make the “hard decisions” without regarding who gets hurt — it make them feel good.