It’s not just a question of affording employees. Where I work there’s only so many jobs to go around. If you hired enough extras to cover, then most of us would not have work to do on the daily. Even if they paid us to stand around, there are few people who want to do nothing at work all day. We have enough employees to cover one or two sick or vacationing people but we can’t let everyone on the team take the same time off with only a month’s notice. Well, not without losing customers.
Not everyone has to work every day. And pay doesn’t have to be hourly. To use a silly example, it could be done like a fantasy pirate ship. The expenses get paid for and then everyone gets a share. The elected captain gets 3 shares and his officers get 2.
If that’s not enough to hire enough people then refer to my previous comment. If it’s not enough across the board then we have a systemic issue that needs to be addressed. (It’s capitalism, it’s always fucking capitalism and monopolies)