Recently there’s been lots of talk regarding “Moonlighting”, especially in the corporate world. For starters, for those who don’t know what moonlighting exactly is, well, moonlighting is when you have a second job, especially without the knowledge of the boss.
Recently Wipro fired 300 employees, stating that they were moonlighting, which makes us question where India stands in moonlighting. Moonlighting isn’t totally banned in India but here may be a few disadvantages of moonlighting as we see.
The second job often comes in handy, especially at times when the payment from the first job is comparatively low, and you need extra income to meet your daily needs. In most cases, people freelance because they have free time, and they want to utilize the free time in a good and educative way rather than wasting it. It is common for college-going kids who take up multiple internships to gain knowledge and experience if they have less study burden.
Swiggy launches moonlighting policy, employees can work for others too. (Image source: NDTV)
Permitting moonlighting is probably the easiest way to stay on the right side of the law. It might be illegal to ban moonlighting in so many scenarios, given that there are regulations limiting how much an employer can interfere in an employee’s off-duty time. Also, work from home ( WFH) has given rise to moonlighting. From a legal standpoint, it can be difficult to put too much of a restriction on what an individual can do to make a living.
But moonlighting too much can get you sick too. For instance, if employees are hustling between multiple commitments, it may lead to a lack of sleep and fatigue. People should know not to push extra work onto them because there is a LIMIT for a reason. So take up limited work, don’t go for excess else it’ll lead to poor performance in work. It’s good to have a variety of interests. You can be a professor by day and a content creator by night. In recent times, when large companies are firing employees on a day's notice, it is a smart move perhaps to have a backup option. Also, currently, there is nothing “unethical” or “illegal” here. So maybe... toe the line carefully after checking your company's HR policies. But if they do permit, a side-gig is always a possibility.
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