If there's a decrease in workload do you suggest paying people to sit on their hands?

Yes, if the company has the money then they shouldn't put people's lives at risk to benefit a few CEOs and stockholders, that's insane and it hurts society at large

I think the waste involved in having a chunk of the workfoce sit around unproductive is worse for society. Locking in stasis to keep the paychecks flowing? How is that a good thing?

Yes, change happens, companies hire and lay off. Businesses start and businesses go bankrupt. Sometimes change is uncomfortable. But policy designed to prevent change in society is a bad thing in my opinion.

But the point is that these businesses aren't going bankrupt, they continually report record profits while laying people off