If you think unhappy devs are going to produce anything good then please let me know the stock ticker of your company so I can short it

It's one of the factors, especially when you consider it not just as one of the factors ethically, but also because their input is valued and if they are not happy it means something might be operationally wrong (although of course there might be a tradeoff between productivity and worker happiness)

I hate the implication that the happiness of employees is of no consequence and must be sacrificed for...whatever software is being produced.

But I guess that's nothing new.

Well said