That's the whole point of the story: Then they wouldn't have treated him as a hero and be loyal to him. If you're just an employee, your boss should be just a boss.
It’s possible he paid well and was a great boss. I don’t know if these people are gonna take a bullet for him, but maybe he was great to work for and they got opportunities they think they wouldn’t have otherwise.
Loyalty, appreciation, liking… is a spectrum. Loyalty doesn’t have one trumpish definition.
They worked hard, overtime, so the company would succeed. They were promised endless rewards - "I'm gonna take care of you! We're in this together!"
Then, bupkiss.
No, not a hero.
Said like a follower, determined to be loyal to an imagined hero, despite any amount of evidence to the contrary.