Toxic work envionments are a problem regardless of other factors. They are also incredibly common, with bosses using personal feelings to direct business decisions, often a portion of the administration staff is required to handle inappropriate bosses or fix whatever detail is bothering them in the moment even when it's not a project priority.

Insufficient pay is a problem regardless of a functional work environment (including benefits) if a worker's healthcare doesn't cover her kid's dentistry and she can't afford it (plus food, rent! utilities, etc.) it's not going to matter how much she loves her job, as the first order of business is survival for her and her family. Undercompensated workforces are also very common.

It's not an either/or situation and HR refusing to address either is disregarding thr humanity of the workforce. And this, too, is often incredibly common. This question is a total oversimplification of labor relations and is the sort of reason we need massive reform, like general unionization.