Is moonlighting ethical?

This is a contribution post by Richa Newatia

All of you might have heard that Wipro has fired 300 employees due to moonlighting. This became a debatable topic, is moonlighting ethical? Is it legal?  Keep reading.

What is moonlighting?

When you are doing a full-time job as well as doing part-time work after office hours or at a weekend is called moonlighting.

How many jobs can a person do?

There is no restriction on how many places a person works according to the law. Hence, there is an exception for employees to work in two places through the factories Act 1948 for factory workers.

A government employee is not permitted to do side business or part-time work; it is the rule.

Is moonlighting unethical?

When an employee is not following the contract clauses and company policies then it is considered unethical otherwise, it will not be considered ethical.

Why are some IT companies against it?

1. Conflict of interests

There is a conflict of interest as employees work for the competitor company and disclose private information to the competitor due to which the company can face losses. It is the main factor.

2. Decrease in performance

Employers believe when an employee is doing work at two places they will not perform well which leads to losses in the business.

3. Absenteeism

For part-time work employees might take leave more often which is not good for the company.

4. Increased fatigue

When an employee is working in the company for 9 hours and then go on to burn the midnight oil too, it takes a toll on their health. Focus on their work reduces, resulting in reduced performance too.

Reasons employees moonlight

1. Salaries are not enough to maintain their living standards.
2. The pandemic and work-from-home trends.
3. Mass layoffs and hiring freezes.
4. Not getting appreciated by employers.
5. To upgrade their skills.
6. Employees are not happy with their job, so they try new things.
7. They want to invest time in startups and work towards a steady income.
8. Rising inflation.

Conclusion

Moonlighting is not a new concept as ever since we remember, our teacher teaches us in school as well as takes tuition for extra earnings. The concept of moonlighting is unethical when employees work for competitors, and break rules and contracts. Otherwise, moonlighting is ethical.

Richa Newatia has completed her BBA in finance and is now pursuing MBA. She has been a content writer for more than a year. She is also the co-author and author of the book Realised Inner Voice. You can find more on her blog and connect on LinkedIn.

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