Moonlighting. Good or Bad? The Final Verdict

But sh*t hit the fan when Wipro took a drastic step. Wipro has fired 300 employees for moonlighting saying there is no place for such people in the company. Before we dig into the matter, letu2019s understand what is moonlighting exactly? When someone takes up a second job or a paid assignment outside the working hours of their full-time job, that phenomenon is called moonlighting.So whatu2019s the deal with moonlighting?Well, ever since the pandemic happened people have been insecure about their jobs and believed they can be replaced anytime deemed necessary, to mitigate this risk people started to take up employment and work on them outside their working hours to earn an extra buck. But the Indian IT companies are strictly against this. Wipro was one such company that acted on moonlighting within their company but Wipro isnu2019t the only company that is against moonlighting. ud83dudeabInfosys and TCS have voiced their thoughts on moonlighting, which isnu2019t any different from Wipro. Tech Mahindra anyhow has taken an accommodative stance with moonlighting saying, the company can wrap its mind around the idea of moonlighting if it is helping the employees to make some extra money but also the employees must be transparent. But this is just the case for Tech Mahindra.Companies like Infosys have had their HR teams send out emails saying, all employees must read their employment contract and warning about termination if the employees take up second jobs even during after-hours. In simple words, Infosys expects its employees to be committed to the company even when they are not working.image courtesy: PEW Research Centre
So is Moonlighting: Good or Bad? Many have voiced their opinions on the subject and the companies will always want their employees to be bound to just their company and it is also pretty clear that employees like to have the freedom to work second jobs during their after-working hours, Talking about rationality, it is only fair to let people do what they want to when they are not committed to their full-time jobs because at the end of the day everyoneu2019s here looking for their well-being and earning an extra buck will only benefit them.