This smacks of the "drawbridge story!"
A little town has a drawbridge across a channel and hired a fellow to operate the bridge when
necessary for water traffic to pass. As the town grew, they established a "Drawbridge Department",
complete with Manager, supervisor, Lead Operator, accountant, and Human resources head.
The accountant discovered that the Drawbridge Division was over budget and needed to reduce
expenditures. At a meeting to discuss the problem, it was decided that to cut costs they
would have to lay off the opertor!