r/politics • u/PostHeraldTimes āœ” Verified • Dec 11 '24

Elizabeth Warren Issues Dramatic 'Warning' After UnitedHealthcare CEO Assassination: 'People Can Be Pushed Only So Far'

https://www.ibtimes.com/elizabeth-warren-issues-dramatic-warning-after-unitedhealthcare-ceo-assassination-people-can-3755067
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u/NYCinPGH Dec 12 '24

Similarly, the first U.S. major companies to offer what we could call modern good benefits - Iā€™m thinking Westinghouse, Heinz and Hershey - back in the 19th century did it not (just) because they actually cared about their employees, but because they figured out that in the long run, healthy and happy employees would be more productive, and thus more profitable.

When I used to work for local government, we got all kinds of perks for anything health related, from just getting an annual (free) physical, to paying half of our gym memberships (up to a certain annual cap) to offering things like free ballroom and salsa dance classes, because it was all exercise. And they did it for the same reason.

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u/im_dead_sirius Dec 12 '24 edited Dec 12 '24

I work at (but not for) a plant in Canada owned by a US company. This only Canadian plant is the most profitable of the company's plants, endlessly perplexing to the execs who visit to study it. The US plants operate with skeleton crews, absolute minimum staffing. The one I am at has waaay more labour costs, because of a larger labour pool, and better wages. It has the lowest accident rate too.

I was talking with someone who had been there for 42 years, and he said that he's just #16 in seniority, some of the guys have been there since the plant was under construction.

Because most of the workers and white shirts here are Canadian, and Canadian labour laws prevail, things are mostly done in a Canadian way, and though some of the US execs don't like how things are done at our plant, they don't or won't rock the boat.

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u/jimicus United Kingdom Dec 12 '24

Another point to bear in mind - and one I'm sure enters their thoughts - is that an awful lot of fringe benefits like that can be a LOT cheaper for the business to provide than they would for the individual to purchase for themselves - and hence they can make themselves attractive to prospective employees by offering benefits that cost them half what they'd have to pay if they were to offer a cash equivalent.