I doubt this is true. While many variable I suspect it's more about phases. Company has a growth focus phase so the books are opened and people can hire away

I doubt this is true. While many variable I suspect it's more about phases. Company has a growth focus phase so the books are opened and people can hire away to get stuff done. There always more that can be done so they keep hiring, usually too many, til the company hits profit focus phase. Then they look to cut costs, of which staff are typically a large variable component, they slash numbers, again probably too much, and then continue til they return to growth focus and repeat.