You may have seen the term moonlighting while scrolling down LinkedIn or your news feed and thought to yourself as to why this term is causing such a debate on the internet. Well, this policy has caused quite a ruckus as some companies favour it while others call it outright cheating. And this as usual has divided the internet into two parts with people expressing their views on the issue. Firstly, what is moonlighting? Moonlighting refers to the practice of taking up secondary jobs after the regular work hours. This secondary job is taken without the employer’s knowledge. It is basically a side hustle or a side gig that a person can take in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Some think that it is unethical as it can lead to productivity loss and sometimes important information can be disclosed.
Source:- The Economic Times
The concept of moonlighting however is not new but the debate sparked around is. Recently Swiggy announced an industry first “Moonlighting Policy” for its employees. It allowed its employees to work on secondary projects and they are now free to take up any side hustle. The conditions however are that working extra hours for secondary job should not impact their productivity in their full-time job and it should not pose any conflict of interest with their business. If the employees agree to these conditions, they are free to take up any side hustle they want to pursue. And just like there is two sides to a coin, many big tech companies have come out and criticised the policy.
One of the first cases of moonlighting was when the HR’s tracked multiple active provident funds of a Bengaluru based person who was working jobs at one time. Another incident was when an IT head at a large Mumbai based company didn’t show up to work despite repeated requests. His junior’s raised red flags after they discovered that large files were sent to another company from the official email. A probe was launched that showed he had taken up another job without quitting his primary job.
Source:- Mid-Day
The issue was flagged by the tech giant Wipro’s Chairman Rishad Premji. He took to Twitter and said, “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple.” Another tech giant, Infosys came forward and showed the same emotion of "No two-timing - no moonlighting!". They even went on to say that if the employee is found engaging in moonlighting, it will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment. IBM's managing director for India and South Asia, Sandip Patel also shared the same view.
However controversial the term may be, Swiggy came forward and went on to embrace this change. According to the Head of HR at Swiggy, this is another step toward building a “people first” organizational culture. It wants to encourage its employees to pursue their passions and fulfil their monetary goals along with personal development. Since the company has a lot of employees on a contractual basis i.e., their 1,30,000 delivery partners it works for the company. But this policy will not work in every industry as it can pose efficiency issues. Apart from Swiggy, fintech unicorn Cred also supports their employees if they have any side hustles. The last two years of work-from-home setup amidst the pandemic have given rise to many moonlighting incidents especially among white-collar professionals where workers gained extra sums of money from side gigs, apart from their regular employment.
Source:- https://entrackr.com/2022/08/swiggy-launches-moonlighting-policy-for-its-employees/
Pros and Cons of Moonlighting
The first favorable reason and why majorly people moonlight is because they could earn some additional income apart from their regular job. They can potentially earn tens of thousands yearly based on their skills and project requirements.
A moonlighter can also bring new ideas to the table and in the process can improve their skillsets. And if the side jobs are also aligning with the work they do in their regular job, then one can contribute positively. Moonlighting also helps the individual to keep the skills updated that are changing drastically in today’s era. They can even explore the world of freelancing and pick projects that they are really passionate about. This will also lead to meet new people and achieve better work satisfaction.
On the contrary, it will not align with the company policies. Employer’s may object if the moonlighters work with their competitors. Doing all the extra work can even affect their regular job performance. One may slack off from the job that will decrease the productivity as well as efficiency of the employee.
Many of them also object that moonlighting can lead to leaking of confidential information of a company to its competitors. It is unethical to use the company’s resources for the employee’s side hustle. Lastly it might cause absenteeism and burnout. Individuals’ health or relationships may suffer if they work round-the-clock.
Recently a poll conducted by Mint showed that 64.5% of its respondents consider moonlighting to be ethical. Their arguments were that a cricketer whose primary job is to play cricket also does advertisements to earn an extra pay check. Then why the general public is restricted to do that. One person even went on to say that, the companies provide them mere salary of 20,000 and goes on to make profits of over billions. He points it that it is the company that is cheating on them.
According to a study conducted by PWC, 34% of the respondents are extremely or likely to switch their jobs compared to the 19% globally. As many as 32% said that they were planning to leave the workforce. During the Covid 19 pandemic, several employees mainly the IT services employees, took up parallel gigs to earn some extra cash. The entire work culture has been changing and adapting itself to the post Covid times.
Is Moonlighting legal in India? Moonlighting can be a double-edged sword for the employees in India. However, if it is not in line with the contract of one’s primary job, it may lead to many legal problems. As of now in India there is no such overarching law which prohibits the employees to take up multiple jobs. There is restriction on double employment under the Factories Act. But that law does not apply to IT companies in some states. However, if a company has strict policies and the contract simply states that no multiple jobs cannot be taken, the employee must abide to that.
And as for which the question arises, is moonlighting useful? Well since the topic is subjective it sure differs from person to person. Some may say that doing the extra job can broaden employee’s horizons to new things and this will in turn help the companies as the employee will bring innovative ideas to the table. If the employee pursues new gigs they will find satisfaction on a personal level, leaving them more satisfied. This can be used as a retention tool by the original employer. Moonlighting allows employees to make extra money, which can ease the pressure of wage increase on the employer.
Modern times require modern solutions and hence moonlighting shouldn’t be completely shut down. The workforce is changing and so the traditional mindset should also be changed. The companies must have proper moonlighting policies in place so that both the employer’s and the employee find a middle ground. Companies must have proactive approach to this by setting performance expectations, draft a policy that protects confidential information and define conflict of interest and tell the employees where the company marks a red line. This helps as when there is a breach the company can easily terminate the employee or else it will lead to a courtroom drama.
Lastly this is a sign for the government to also step forward and formulate a proper moonlighting policy. India’s labour court has adopted the provision for a four-day work week, perhaps it is also time for the legal structure to define what’s right and what’s not.
Written by:- J Shree Nidhi
Originally written for :- The Economic Transcript
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