I don't understand your point here. Holding the quality and priority of the work constant, the employee who is cheaper and easier to "browbeat" is in fact lower drag. The market is very rationally going to select for the lowest drag fit for any role.
It is my observation that toxic work environments are especially unproductive in software companies. Someone who hires a team with the idea of getting the cheapest and and most pliant workers is setting himself up to be forever surrounded by incompetence; real or perceived.
A sailboat with no friction (keel) can only run before the wind; it is wholly unable to sail against the wind.
