You touched on a point that I always hated about every manager I've had (i.e., reqs). I have always seen this fascination for reqs as something egotistical about managers. They want their team to grow because that means they have more people under them.

Of course, sometimes teams do need to grow. But in big companies, it is often the case that the approval of a req is not necessarily tied to a need. I have seen plenty of teams that were not efficient, that had many problems, but hey... I req showed up... let's go hire someone. A few years later, the company needs to downsize and guess what? Now that team that did not need the reqs to begin with is perfect for the axe because it has so many people, it costs so much, and it is so inefficient. I have seen this time and again. I wish managers were more concerned about efficiency and productivity rather than being so fascinated about bleeping reqs.