Corporate Infidelity: Right Or Wrong?

The industry is divided on employees working multiple jobs with many insisting that moonlighting is not right

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Two IT majors, Wipro and Infosys, recently fired some employees that they believe had indulged in moonlighting, which refers to employees working on more than one job at a time. The phrase became well-known when Americans looked for second jobs in addition to their regular employment to supplement their income. While employees believe they are well within their rights to take up additional employment in their personal time, companies believe that this is unethical and a breach of confidentiality.

When Wipro fired 300 employees for moonlighting, Rishab Premji, Chairman, Wipro, tweeted, “There is a lot of chatter about people moon-lighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple.” Infosys said dual employment or ‘moonlighting’ is not permitted and warned that this could even lead to termination of employment. Companies have opposed the practice, saying that employees doing multiple jobs can impact their productivity.

In India, the concept of moonlighting became popular after work from home became the new norm during the pandemic. When leading IT companies such as Infosys, Tata Consulting Services, and Wipro said that they would either postpone or reduce the variable payout to employees for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 because of weaker margins, many employees took up moonlighting to augment their income.