Companies Profit on Workers' Deaths Through 'Dead Peasants' Insurance
The anti-corporate stance on all this is: those ghouls profiting off the death of employees.
The reality is quite different: the government says that money from life insurance proceeds is tax-free. Corporations can choose to put their profits into tax-free investment vehicles or into taxable investment vehicles. All things being equal, companies prefer not to have to pay taxes.
By paying money for insurance premiums, they create an asset on which they do not have to pay taxes. Every once in a while this practice may result in an inadvertent windfall due to a tragedy, but that isn't the goal.
The goal is to shelter assets from the taxman. As long as the company makes its policy clear to its shareholders, it shouldn't cause anyone any consternation.
Blame the tax code - not the company. They're just using every tool the government allows to minimize theft through taxation and maximize shareholder value.