Ah the old 'Not my problem' argument. A couple issues with this -- companies actively campaign against legislature which increases wages, so it's not that they are just ignoring the welfare of their workers they actively push against it.
And why is it not the hiring manager's job to ensure the welfare of their workers? What makes that axiomatic to you? That seems like a social construct that we've (maybe) generally settled on, but nothing says that's necessarily the way it has to be.
> companies actively campaign against legislature which increases wages, so it's not that they are just ignoring the welfare of their workers they actively push against it.
That's not true in the case we're discussing though. Walmart often campaigns for increases to the minimum wage, because they know it will hurt their competition.
Walmart has (recently, as far as I'm aware) began lobbying for it because they know they can absorb labor costs more readily, sure. But the largest business lobbying group in the US advocates against raising the minimum wage, pushing back against workplace safety, and other work welfare initiatives: https://www.uschamber.com/labor
The nature of relationship between a business and an employee is such that it is not reasonable to expect that a business would even have the information necessary to take on that responsibility. Furthermore, many of those information gaps are intentional, to prevent discrimination.
If you were interviewing me, how would you determine my appropriate wage?
You don't need demographic information to take care of your workers. Everyone needs health care -- cover it. Even if not everyone needs parental leave -- cover it. Vacation policies and sick time -- cover them.
Base your wages on the value of the labor, and try to maximize what you pay workers rather than paying the minimum pass the threshold they will accept.
Limit the wages of your company's highest paid workers relative to your lowest paid workers.
That is wildly vague. How much coverage is sufficient for your employees?
> Base your wages on the value of the labor, and try to maximize what you pay workers rather than paying the minimum pass the threshold they will accept.
That sounds good, but it’s not very quantitative. How do you specifically propose that someone calculate “value of labor” independently of the wages accepted by your workforce?
Also, how would you ensure I can afford the above-mentioned food and housing? While vacation is nice, food and housing are certainly more immediate needs.
The fact that Walmart trains their employees on how to get public benefits is an implicit admission that they know they aren't paying them enough. Maybe defining "enough" is hard, but they're not even trying, and are instead explicitly pushing the burden onto taxpayers. That's reprehensible; I personally do not care to subsidize their workforce just because they want higher margins.
Even just raising wages and watching how much attendance at these "welfare training sessions" declines would be an improvement.
While I definitely think wages should be higher, I don't think your assessment of the situation is accurate. Walmart didn't invent welfare. Walmart lobbies for higher wages, and pays higher than many comparable jobs. Them doing their employees a favor isn't a bad thing, they could just as easily pay low wages and not bother trying to help their employees with public assistance.
Small businesses are the reason the minimum wage is still 7.25, not Walmart.
And why is it not the hiring manager's job to ensure the welfare of their workers? What makes that axiomatic to you? That seems like a social construct that we've (maybe) generally settled on, but nothing says that's necessarily the way it has to be.