It wasn't, but competition for good employees made it necessary when we had strong demand for labor in the post-WWII era that saw GDP growth rates over 7-8%.  This whole disaster of third party payer group health insurance was invented back in the late 1940's and early 1950's to circumvent government wage controls.

It removed health care from the natural price controls of free market capitalism because the consumer was no longer spending his own money and didn't need to shop price or prioritize health care spending habits.

ObamaCare made employer-provided health insurance mandatory for employers with 50 or more employees who work 30 hours a week or more, which resulted in millions of people being cut back to 29 hour part time jobs to avoid the mandate.

The ACA may have been the biggest job killer in history.  Even today, the unemployment rate is distorted because a part time job and a full time count the same.

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