The problem is that while you can make the argument that they are doing their employees a 'service'; anyone who has paid attention to how businesses run understands they wouldn't have even bothered doing this if it weren't being used as a means to get a leg up on the competition. I.e, they are relying on government benefits intended to be a safety net to pay their employees for them instead of actually paying competitively in wages and benefits.
It's scummy, but makes the balance sheets look great.
Yes, every employer provides their employees perks as a means to get a leg up on the competition. That's precisely one of the main point of perks (the other point being to remove sources of stress from employees' lives so they are more productive). I don't see what's scummy about this.
The scummy part is that they're effectively subsidizing their payroll with taxpayer money, and they are doing this very intentionally and know exactly what they're doing.
It's scummy, but makes the balance sheets look great.