My suspicion is, the people who make those decisions are themselves poor employees.

It starts at the top or at the very least is looked over by the top. Every miserable work experience I’ve ever had was due to the culture passed down from the top. Likewise with every great place. Insecure, jealous, vindictive, <other negative adjective> people should never be promoted to manage others but often are when that’s easier than firing. Those types tend to shuffle around and work up the hierarchy by being miserable rather than competent.

I find that if you treat an employee like a race horse they won't turn out to be an old nag. Obviously there are outliers but generally there is a positive feedback loop.

The CEO signs off on a decision to cut benefits or other employee incentives, often as a short-term measure to cut costs and improve margins. The negative effects of that will be borne by the store managers and ultimately the customers.

Excrement flows downhill.