'No Double Lives': Infosys email warns employees against moonlighting

IT services firm's warning prompts non-profit group to say what 'employees do outside working hours is their prerogative'

IT services firm Infosys has warned employees it will not allow moonlighting and violations may lead to termination, mailing them about rules days after Wipro chairman Rishad Premji called the trend "cheating--plain and simple".

Bengaluru-based Infosys sent an email to employees titled "No Double Lives" and said: “…dual employment is not permitted as per the Employee Handbook and the Code of Conduct.”

The email said that the rule disallowing moonlighting is mentioned in offer letters and the company’s consent is important. “The consent may be given subject to any terms and conditions that the company may think fit and may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the company.”

Moonlighting made headlines after food-aggregator platform Swiggy early August allowed employees to work on external projects for money or pro-bono.

Premji, in a Twitter post on August 20, trashed the idea of moonlighting.

With attrition at its peak in the IT industry, companies are struggling to find talent as they brace for a tough business environment.

The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a non-profit group, protested Infosys’s email to say: “IT Employees are working more than 9 hours a day without any overtime benefits. Would there be any energy or time left if an employee is working 10-12 hours a day. Also, many IT companies have developed monitoring systems to measure employee’s productivity.

"Employees have contract to work with Infosys for 9 hours only. What the employees do outside working hours is their prerogative. The article 21 of Constitution of India has provided Right to livelihood to every citizen hence such emails sent to the employees is illegal and unethical. Citing clauses of contract will not help Infosys in the court of law as the clauses are included arbitrarily,” said NITES in an email.