Inflating headcount is a topic often discussed by economists. It causes huge inefficiencies but also benefits a bunch of people: - manages get promoted - CEOs

Inflating headcount is a topic often discussed by economists. It causes huge inefficiencies but also benefits a bunch of people: - manages get promoted - CEOs justify increasing their salaries and bonuses - allows taking away valuable employees from [potential] competitors - when the headcount is big enough, companies acquire serious political weight - often a branch or even an entire company can be used as training/proving ground to select the best employees to work on more valuable projects