Moonlighting is a conflict of interest, says IBM to its employees

IBM has asked its employees to refrain from engaging in a second job or gig in any capacity and has declared it as against the company contract

With companies in the IT sector coming up with ways to check whether their employees are engaged in dual employment or not, IBM has sent a message across its workforce declaring that gig work or a second job in any capacity is against the interest of the company, reported Livemint.  

In a note to the employees, Sandip Patel, India and South Asia head of IBM said, "A second job could be full-time part time or contractual in nature but at its core is a failure to comply with employment obligations and a potential conflict of interest with IBM’s interest."

Infosys is the first company among its peers to acknowledge the gig workforce and has set up a platform called 'Accelerate' to allow workers to participate in initiatives and activities beyond their primary work.

According to sources privy to the programme, Accelerate projects are small tasks posted by managers on the platform which can be taken up by employees who want to utilise their free time. Human Resources teams also conduct events to make employees aware of the platform. Infosys is assembling a human resources team made up of delivery and legal professionals who will develop the regulations needed to make this initiative successful.

The company has, however, stated that moonlighting is not acceptable.

Rishad Premji, executive chairman of Wipro, recently called the moonlighting habit "cheating". This remark of Premji sparked debate and highlighted the long-festering problem of dual employment. Wipro fired its 300 employees who were found working double shifts for competitors.

TCS shares Wipro's views on moonlighting and calls it an "ethical concern."

HCL is another tech giant that has raised concerns about moonlighting. Ramachandran Sundararajan, Chief People Officer of HCL Tech said, "We don't support dual employment while working for HCLTech. Everyone who signs up to work with HCLTech is signing up for a contract that needs exclusivity, and has rules around confidentiality and non-solicitation."

What is moonlighting?

Moonlighting is a situation where the employees are engaged in additional jobs outside their regular employment without the knowledge of the primary employer. Many companies, including Infosys, have opposed the practice and fired the moonlighters claiming the threat of confidentiality and adverse impact on productivity.