This works out really well for upper management. They know full well that you know that your team lead doesn’t make the decision to understaff, which they hope will guilt their contributors into staying instead of piling more shit on the blameless boss’s plate when they leave.
My teamlead is a fucking great guy. He doesn’t get to make these decisions either, he just carries them out.
Most of us are well aware at what rank our “enemies” reside and it’s seldom on the same workfloor.
This works out really well for upper management. They know full well that you know that your team lead doesn’t make the decision to understaff, which they hope will guilt their contributors into staying instead of piling more shit on the blameless boss’s plate when they leave.