[lotsofpulp]

> I don't know if this is a consequence of how risk averse the world has become, but I believe it's a source of competitive advantage.

It is a consequence of bad laws and lack of labor law enforcement. It is par for the course to hire a “manager”, give them no ability to modify a budget, pay them a meager $40k salary so that they qualify as an “exempt employee” so you do not have to pay them overtime, and then give them impossible metrics to meet.

Voila, you now have a fall guy, and can save on labor costs because they are willing to work 60 to 80 hour weeks at no extra cost in exchange for a steady paycheck. And they will do questionable things, like the linked Amazon example, without the employer needing to put it in writing giving the employer plausible deniability.

I even know many immigrants that were lucky enough to immigrate to the US a few decades earlier do this to their own relatives who chain immigrate after them.

Very simple fix - make the minimum exempt employee salary $200k or even more per year.