After Wipro, Infosys Warns Employees On ‘Moonlighting’ – All You Need To Know!

IT major Infosys has taken an anguish stand on ‘Moonlighting’ by sending out emails to their employees warning them of possible consequences of the practice which the emails describe ‘may lead to the termination of their employment.’

Earlier, Rishad Premji, Chairman of Wipro termed the practice as “Plain and simple cheating”.

Infosys in clear words has warned its employees that Moonlighting can lead to disciplinary action as well as the termination of employment as it terms the practice ‘Violation of clauses’ and restricts the practice. The email by the IT giant is titled “No two-timing, no double lives”. The email has also mentioned that as per the ‘Employee Handbook’ and ‘Code of Conduct’ dual employment is not allowed.

What is Moonlighting?

The term 'Moonlighting' refers to the practice of secretly having a second job in addition to the existing one. Simply, it means working two jobs at the same time under which one job is usually done after normal working hours.

Reportedly, the company in the email has mentioned that the rule of not allowing moonlighting has been mentioned in the offer letters and so the company’s consent is important for the same. According to the email, the company may consent to any terms or conditions that it thinks fit and even the consent may be withdrawn at any point in time on the basis of the discretion of the company.

Expressing concern about the allegedly increasing practice of Moonlighting in the IT industry, Chairman of Wipro, Rishad Premji on 20 August in his tweet termed the practice, ‘cheating – plain and simple.’ In the tweet, he said, “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry.”

The IT company is allegedly concerned about the possible decrease in employee productivity due to the dual jobs of the employees, as per the email. 

Also, they fear the risk of leaking confidential information related to the company. However, in terms of legalities in India, the Indian Labour Law prohibits an employee from owning a business or even working anywhere if she/he is fully employed.

Apart from this, several reports have recorded a significant surge in the practice of Moonlighting. In this line, a survey by Kotak Institutional Equities that included over 400 IT/ITeS employees revealed that over 65 percent of respondents in the survey had either been working a second job as a part-time employee during the Work From Home (WFH) or have known a colleague who was engaged in the practice.

There are some other aspects to the practice of Moonlighting as even though it is yet not a trend neither is appreciated by corporates, Yet, it has been contributing to the booming sector of startups because the founders of many startups had been Moonlighting and that contributed to the existence of these companies.