One of India’s leading Integrated HR Solutions providers, Genius Consultants Limited has surveyed various sectors to provide the advantages and disadvantages of moonlighting.
Commenting on the same, R P Yadav, CMD, Genius Consultants Ltd. said, “Every company can benefit from conducting these surveys to assess ongoing trends. Several individuals have lost their well-paying jobs due to moonlighting. It has certainly impacted employees who were reliant on dual jobs to sustain their lifestyle. However, with changing times, a few organizations are now permitting their employees to have multiple jobs.”
“This is certainly a step towards creating stronger bonds between employees and their employers. It can eventually result in a better understanding amongst them, thus, sustaining the employee’s appeal to stay loyal to the company”, R P Yadav added.
The survey has the following findings:-
- A convincing 76% of participants consider moonlighting as an ethical practice and hope that employers have a shift in the current perception that it affects productivity at their full-time job.
- On the other hand, almost 77% urge employers to allow it officially. The most obvious reason to engage in moonlighting is having an additional source of income and a solid 72% of participants in this survey agree to it.
- A majority of 60% are confident that employees can devote equal time and effort to both their jobs although the rest 40% agree that dual employment can affect efficiency and dedication.
- An almost equivalent response was generated while considering if moonlighting affects the overall productivity required for one’s permanent workplace – where 52% disagreed with it and the remaining 48% supported the same.
- The survey also considered other reasons for moonlighting like mental engagement out of the office or creative satisfaction which received meek agreement of 24% and 4% respectively.
However, Companies are bringing policies on moonlighting. India’s IT Major, Tech Mahindra has said that it is working on a policy that will allow moonlighting for its employees.
C P Gurnani, CEO and MD said that Tech Mahindra is a digital company and not a legacy firm. We are working on a policy that will allow our employees to take gig work with permission before taking a side job. Recently while announcing Q2FY23 results CEO Salil Parekh said that Infosys is looking at developing comprehensive policies to support employees to take up external gig opportunities. “For gig opportunities in the external environment, we support the aspirations of our employees to learn beyond work.”
Earlier, Infosys said that moonlighting is not permitted according to the employees’ code of conduct of the company and described it with the taglines ‘No two-timing, no moonlighting’ and ‘No double lives.
In the month of September, Wipro laid off 300 employees who were found working with its competitor companies at the same time as employment with Wipro.
The survey was conducted on all social media platforms Official GCL pages of LinkedIn, LinkedIn Polls, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram post plus stories, and Google Free Sites (Survey Monkey, Type form, Google forms, etc.).
The survey was designed from the point of view of the employees and was conducted in October 2022 with over 1308 individuals participating.