Moonlighting

by Anurag T. IT Consultant

Yet another new term was introduced, “Moonlighting.” What is it? How are we affected? Where is this going to take us? Let me answer all your questions.

Suppose you are working for a company as an employee, and you feel you are left with some time that can be utilized by working for another company to make more money. Or even if you are engaged fully in a job but still manage to work for two or more companies to make more money. You qualify to be called Moonlighting because you are breaking a signed bond during the initial phases of joining, where it says that you can not engage yourself to work for any other firm or competitor. When? Try reading the appointment letter. You will know.

Don’t you think it’s a crime? No! Then it would help if you bore the consequences. Wipro terminated 300 employees who were involved in working with their competitors. Followed by TCS, Infosys, and IBM, stating it’s an unavoidable crime. Though we have companies like Tech Mahindra with fewer layoff rates starting, Moonlighting is fine if employees keep their efficiency and productivity. We have a list of companies that are laying off their employees on one side, on the other side we also have companies like Tech Mahindra and Shashi Sales that are posting jobs and expanding their teams. Few believe that a recession is the best time to hire an Outsourcing team and they are one of them.

We were all affected by the Pandemic badly. Some lost their lives, and some went bankrupt. I have seen people paying all their savings to save for their relatives. A little hand of support would have been a great attitude from these companies. Now that deserving and hardworking employees work more to make more money, they are called moonlighting. I won’t deny that the remote working model has given me the flexibility to work on distinct projects. The pandemic had stopped growth and promotion. Hikes were negligible, and recommendations were poor. The organization kept its promotion cycle on hold, which is still on hold. The formula to keep your employee happy is simple. ‘ A good pay with work-life balance, because an employee also needs growth like the makes growth every year.

We do have a government in favor. NASSC president recommended companies upgrade their policies with this new working model as we adjusted ourselves to live with the virus. Terminating is not an option. So there might be a consensual agreement in the future when one seeks that flexibility of moonlighting. However, dual employment isn’t allowed. One might end up losing their job. If you are doing something on an office laptop, take action today and find alternatives. Because I, too, won’t want my employees to work for other companies. But I would also get in touch with them and sort it out.

Some companies did not cut salaries during COVID but also provided healthcare support. I heard Amazon sent concentrators to their employees. That was indeed a great initiative. Mr. Indrajit Gupta mentioned that this generational shift would significantly affect the workplace. Binding us with contracts and the right policies could result in upheaval because employees who have worked remotely now want more choices and flexibility. ‘Measure us on the outcome.’ True.

Swiggy declared the first moonlighting policy long back. The question is- ‘is this affecting organization’s growth?’ or is it an act of upcoming economic recession? That’s also a thing to discuss in some other article, some other day.

Written By: Anurag Tiwari

Source : Blog