Moonlighting
[A] Moonlighting - What is this?, What is it NOT?
It is nothing but doing many jobs. But, the primary employers do not know about it.
Even before Covid19, many employers, particularly in IT industry, would be working for two employers. But, in those days, most employees would disclose this to their primary employer. And the primary employer would not mind it, as long as the concerned employee were using his or her own resources to do that second job, including time and laptop. Plus, of course, there should be no conflict of interest in that.
But, with work from home becoming a new normal, the employees started working for two more more employers, during the same working hours, using the same laptop. And, this is where, the problem is. A lot of employers like Wipro and Infosys view it as the practice, that leads to conflict of interest.
Moonlighting is NOT side hustle or a side gig. While moon lighting is generally about full time or a part time job for another employer during the night shifts, side hustle or side gig includes doing a project based or task based job, where the nature of work and payment are not comparable to that of full time. This may include consultancy or freelance or advisory work.
The problem is, there are quite a few grey areas here. For example, someone running his blog or YouTube channel, while also having a full time employment, and earning money from that blog and YouTube, would be considered as someone indulging in moonlighting or not is not clear. Especially if the content of the YouTube Channel or blog are related to his full time work. For example, a software engineer with XYZ company making videos on the same over YouTube.
[B] Conflict of Interest, What is it?
Conflict of interest is a situation, where your official designation or chair, does not only fetch you salary from the primary employer, but also allows you to benefit from your own other activities, particularly in financial terms.
For example, if I am a manager with a fast food chain of restaurants, who decides the suppliers of bread. My wife runs a bakery business. So, here is a conflict of interest. Please keep in mind that even 'perceived' conflict of interest is also not morally acceptable (and not only 'real' conflict of interest).
If I am very honest manager in above case, and do not allow my wife to participate in the bidding process of the restaurant, where I am working right now, it will still be perceived as a conflict of interest by a neutral third party.
There are many, who oppose it, and there are many, who favors it. Let us look at both the views.
[C] Those who oppose it:
Wipro's Executive Chairman Rishad Premji called it, "plain and simple cheating".
The main problem is that it may lead to 'conflict of interest' as the employee, especially the one, working from home, might work during the time, allotted to them, along with the resources of the primary employer, like home internet, home furniture or laptop provided by the primary employer.
According to CIEL HR Services Managing Director and CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra. “Although moonlighting is an attractive option for employees as it would benefit their career and growth and help them earn some extra income, it is a matter of concern for employers as it would put the company's confidential information at risk and employees might not give their 100%.”
[D] Those, who favour it:
CP Gurnani of Tech Mahindra wrote, "“My thoughts on the trending 'M word'... It's necessary to keep changing with the times, and as always, I welcome disruption in the ways we work”.
While companies like Wipro have sacked 300 employees for indulging in moonlighting, the companies like Swiggy have started permitting the employees to work for other employers, with some terms and conditions applied. Basically, the company allows its employees to work on weekends or outside working hours, which does not have any conflict of interest with Swiggy's existing business.
[E] What should employer and employee do about it?
Employers need to keep a watch on employee's behaviour so that the moonlighting does not become daylighting. The signs, that an employee is indulging into the moonlight, include, but are not limited to:
- Not attending the meetings (online in particular)
- Refusing to come to office for work, instead, preferring the work from home
- Employee sending large volume of data from his company email
- Employee working from the company's Internet beyond the working hours for a long time
- Make sure that there is a clause banning moonlighting in the employment contract
Employees can checkout the following:
- Check the employment contract for any clarity or clause on the idea of moonlighting
- Talk to the HR of the company if the employee is not clear about the policy of the company of moonlighting
- Do not use the company provided resources for such work
- Do not indulge into any act of conflict of interest, as mentioned above.
- Do not work with anyone, who is a direct or even indirect competitor of your employer.
- Do not receive the "fees" from moonlighting work in the salary account.
Further Reading:
Wipro sacks 300 workers for moonlighting. What is it? | Explained - India News (indiatoday.in)
'Very harsh decision': IT employees shocked at Wipro firing staff over moonlighting - BusinessToday
What is ‘moonlighting’, the practice Infosys warned its employees against - Hindustan Times
How did the hot debate on moonlighting start? | Business Insider India
Swiggy’s 'Moonlighting Policy' allows employees to take up external projects (msn.com)
Explained: What is moonlighting and if it's legal in India - Times of India (indiatimes.com)
Understanding Moonlighting And Side Hustles | Built In
‘Moonlighting’ is a double-edged sword! Beware of legal repercussions - BusinessToday
