Moonlighting: Bone of Contention between IT firms and their employees!

Wipro has fired 300 employees who were found to be moonlighting. With the rise of work-from-home jobs. The IT industry is facing a major challenge in the name of moonlighting by its employees. Wipro head Rishad Premji had received hate emails for his comments on moonlighting, but he said he will stand by his comments and views on the issue. Terming moonlighting as, an ‘integrity violation’, he said “If you look at the definition of moonlighting, it is having a second job secretively. As a part of transparency, individuals and organizations can have very candid conversations about whether they want to play a band at night, or work on a project over the weekend. That is an open conversation where two adults, the organization and the individual, can choose whether it works or does not work for them.

 

What is moonlighting?

Moonlighting is nothing but ‘dual employment or having a ‘side job’. But the interesting aspect is that while being on one company’s payroll, the employees are found to be working for the competitor company secretively. IT giants like Infosys, Wipro, and IBM seemed to be having some serious concerns about the same. That’s why companies like these have come down heavily upon the employees engaged in moonlighting. 

Some industry experts have suggested a return to office space may tackle this very challenge faced by the IT industry, which has become their bone of contention between IT firms and their employees. Though companies like Wipro have sent a stern message about their position on this moonlighting issue. Infosys in an internal email to its employees has clearly stated that moonlighting or dual employment is not permitted as per the employee handbook and the code of conduct. There is another section of people from the same industry who are endorsing or at least not seeing it as a problem. Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani said the issue was “not rampant”. Some have even raised concerns about the salaries offered by IT firms to their employees, which is prompting those employees to earn some extra money.