‘Everybody feels this same way. They feel like this is sort of like Warren Buffett’s thing, “When the tide goes out, you find out who is swimming naked.” I mean, when you actually have to respond quickly, and people below middle management are actually doing the responding, they start to get credit for the work.’
— Jeffrey Gundlach, DoubleLine
That was Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine, in a webcast on Tuesday, where he discussed how the coronavirus pandemic could soon start to threaten workers earning more than $100,000 a year. He said that he’s determined that lockdowns are revealing to many companies which workers are really doing the heavy lifting.
The reputed bond king said work-at-home experiences in his own company have been a revelation, as he’s seen junior workers step up over “certain groups,” Yahoo Finance reported.
“I wonder where they’ve gone. It seems like the people who work for them are constantly in contact with me doing all this work and some of the supervisory, middle-management people, I’m starting to wonder if I really need them,” said Gundlach, who adds that his discussions with peers reveals the same.
Oil giant BP PLC was one of the latest companies to ax white-collar jobs, after CEO Bernard Looney reportedly told staff that the company will cut 10,000 positions to cope with the pandemic. The bulk of those losses are expected to hit senior management and group leaders, said reports.
An unexpectedly upbeat May jobs report surprised financial markets last week, with a 2.5 million rise in employment, but economists have warned that there is a long ways to go before the labor market returns to pre-pandemic levels.
Gundlach also warned that stocks may fall off a “lofty” perch, with the S&P 500 up 43% from its March 23 low. He added that the Federal Reserve could bring back yield-curve control if long-dated bonds keep gaining, Bloomberg reported.
