What is Moonlighting?
We all have encountered a topic in the past few days which is booming all over the internet: Moonlighting. It refers to those jobs you do outside your work hours and for your company’s competitors. But wait a minute! Are you supposed to do that?
Recently, the tech giant Wipro fired 300 employees caught in this act. The tech goliath’s chairman Rishad Premji, a vocal pundit of this in-trend practice, said his organization had no place for individuals who decided to work parallelly with rivals while being on Wipro’s payrolls.
The Press Conference:
During the recent press conference session in which Wipro’s 2nd quarter results were declared, Delaporte said Wipro contracts obviously highlight not taking up side jobs with an opponent, PTI detailed.
He went on to mention that the employees joining Wipro are supposed not exclusively to commit their hours to the organization but also to themselves and their families. Delaporte said it is completely fine to have a little side hustle, but the employees should not work for competitors in a similar environment as Wipro.
The conference went ahead with the question if ‘moonlighting’ is legal or illegal. The CEO said it is a question of ethics, and the company doesn’t believe it complies with the interest of the company’s policies.
This comes days after another IT giant, TCS, called ‘moonlighting’ against the organization’s guiding principle and ethical concern. CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said that according to service agreements, hirelings are not permitted to take up roles in some other association.
PR’s Take:
We do not support such hustles, which are irrelevant to the mutual agreements between the employee and employers at the time of joining. Not all side hustles count under moonlighting. One should always read the T&C in their offer letters and confirm through the Company Act of India before deciding on this.
Here are some consequences that one can face once caught in this act!
- Moonlighting ruins your credibility. If you are caught in the act and fired, you will not get another job with ease. For those 300 Wipro employees who are fired, there are chances of getting caught in background verifications even if they appear for interviews.
- The act is unlawful, and this kind of thing gets around people quicker than some other news. IT is a kind of industry where terrible news spreads quicker than good news, and you would probably end up in prison if the employer decides to take legal action on this.
- Moonlighting also snatches away the opportunities of some fresh grads waiting for a job opportunity. If a company is given an option to hire an experienced guy who is ready to moonlight at a much lower salary paid to a fresher, then why would the organization bother to hire the young lads and then train them in the niche?
Moonlighting was caught with the help of the PF authorities, which use a daily de-duplication algorithm to check if someone has paid double mistakenly. And that’s where the techies failed to hide the truth from their employers, and the illegal practice was busted.
People may have opinions and examples of greats who have hustled during their initial working days and have become successful. But, ask yourself a question, did they do it the illegal way? Most organizations are concerned about the employee’s dedication. With this kind of activity, it would be challenging for them to establish credibility in the near future with the new joiners.
Some would also comment on the pay scale of the IT giants, which has been stagnant over the years for the freshers. But wait, who has stopped people from upskilling and getting better-paid jobs? Isn’t having a good job solely under our radar with efforts and upskilling? When there are legal and better ways to do this, people must not think of such activities and instead focus on building the repo with the organization, which would help them in their careers going further!
If you haven’t read our post on the recent revoke of the offers from tech giants, do click here!