Earlier, India’s second-largest IT services provider, Infosys said that moonlighting is not permitted according to the employees’ code of conduct of the company.
Infosys describes this with the taglines ‘No two-timing, no moonlighting’ and ‘No double lives’. Infosys has sent an internal communication email to employees.
Moonlighting is a kind of practice when someone is taking up a second job during or outside the normal business hours of primary employment. However, in India, as per the Labour Law, if you are fully employed, you cannot have your own business or even work elsewhere.
Most private organizations also have policies that prohibit moonlighting and take strict action against employees who are taking up outside second jobs. This policy has been on debut post some companies have come out in its favor.
Commenting on the Moonlighting issue, Co-founder of Infosys and its former CEO & MD Kris Gopalakrishnan said, “Working for more than one company at the same time doesn’t build trust and “new generations” must realize this.”
“I am unable to understand where the new generations come [sic] from. Importantly, if you want to give your 100 percent to the task that you have been given then you need to be fully committed”, Kris Gopalakrishnan said.
“If you want to build trust, you should be working for one organization. How can you work for 2-3 companies at the same time,” Kris Gopalakrishnan added.
“Maybe you can work in an organization and work for a cause like an NGO or a charity”, further said.
Kris Gopalakrishnan cited his example to say, “Till the time I stepped down from Infosys, I was not on board, I was not investing in any other company nor was I working for any another company. I am unable to understand where the new generations come from.”
Earlier, India’s IT services provider company Wipro chairman Rishad Premji also described moonlighting as “cheating plain and simple.”
Wipro has also laid off 300 employees who were found working with its competitor companies at the same time employment with Wipro.
Other India’s Top IT giant TCS has criticized moonlighting as an ‘ethical issue’, and Wipro said it is ‘cheating’.
However, there have been few companies such as Swiggy and Tech Mahindra that have come out in the favour of moonlighting.
