Since, by definition, a PhD has faced down a committee that has the power to say "this had better be right otherwise you've wasted the past five years of your l

Since, by definition, a PhD has faced down a committee that has the power to say "this had better be right otherwise you've wasted the past five years of your life", and has likely been on grant projects where their funding is similarly on the line, that suggests you should probably try to hire more PhDs, not fewer.