Employee Moonlighting: The New way of Entrepreneuring

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By Ms.M.N.Viveka 

The Term Employee/Job Moonlighting

Moonlighting means ‘working two jobs at the same time, preferably doing one at night-time so that they aren’t caught.’ 

It is the practice of working on a second career outside normal business hours of the primary job to earn extra money. Most of the organizations have policies in place that forbid moonlighting and take strict actions against the employees taking up a second job while for some organizations, their employee’s second jobs do not matter.

Reasons for Job Moonlighting:

Employees may choose for a second job for additional income if they have low salary at their primary jobs and need extra source of income to meet their needs or the primary income may not be adequate to take care of the demands of their luxurious life.


Secondly, in case of job discontent where employees are unhappy with the job profile, opportunities, or career growth. Employees may also consider a second job to gain additional skills or indulge in work profiles they are more passionate about.

Or simply to make use of the free time at hand when employees do not have enough work to keep them occupied at their primary jobs or to keep themselves active all over the day.

Other reasons employee Moonlighting are:

Ø  to add to investment

Ø  to gain extra knowledge

Ø  to chase their passion

Ø  to combat boredom

Ø  freeze in pay hikes

Ø  pay cuts and low market demand

Rise in Moonlighting:

The term Moonlighting is not very new because we are well informed about the part time jobs but it become a trend to be watched only after the pandemic

When the pandemic struck, and businesses completely shifted to digital mode led to rise in
the practice of Job moonlighting especially among tech employees. With work from home, some IT employees realised they could juggle two jobs with a few more hours of work”

This practice is not only restricted to IT sector, but jobs also that are in high demand, completely remote, where employees are individual contributors and where responsibility is limited are prone to moonlighting.

The statistics by a U.S payroll partners estimates six of every hundred American employees are moonlighting and experts believe India is not an exception to this, though the statistics are not available.

Is Moonlighting Legal:

It purely depends on the employer.

Eventually many employers won't allow their employees to possess a second job because it has its own consequences like conflicts of interest, impact on primary job performance, misuse of company resources, absenteeism, poor attentiveness, or fatigue. Employees working in such organisations should make sure that their employment and other policies like IT and also the employment agreement are clear about the company’s stance around moonlighting.

Few employers might not take it much serious till their moonlighting end in daily red flags report that highlights employees that will be exhibiting behaviours of moonlighting and show indication of information leakage or abuse of holding of the corporate.

If an employee is caught moonlighting, at first, they're engaged in verbal conversation and given a warning, then a performance improvement plan is given to mend the matter in an exceedingly specified period still the ultimate decision stays with the management. Few companies even select legal proceeding supported their policies and contracts.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson, and CEO of Salesforce India said a separate channel should be created for gig workers.

Some companies have agreed to let their employees continue working as a freelancer with another company but provided if they follow stricter rules.

When managed in an efficient manner, moonlighting can prove to encourage both the employee and the employer. Not only do employees gain from extra incomes and work fulfilment, but this often likely to possess a positive impact on their sense of security, confidence, and value generation during tough times mitigating the associated risks of getting a moonlighting job.


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