Exactly this. If your company cannot afford to stay open if it hires a certain number of staff, then it simply cannot afford to have that many staff and should

Exactly this. If your company cannot afford to stay open if it hires a certain number of staff, then it simply cannot afford to have that many staff and should hire less (and find a way to do that work with tech or what not instead). If it can't work with less staff and isn't practical to run, then the business itself isn't viable and should probably close its doors. That's true of everything from banks to shops to restaurants to tech companies and farms; if they're not viable businesses, then either the proprietor pays to keep them open out of their own pocket, or they shut down and make room for companies that are viable. And yeah, if society values the work enough but it isn't profitable to do, then the answer is that the government or some other organisation funds it, not that people get exploited or rules get relaxed to make it 'viable'.