???????????????????????? : ???? ???? ?????????????????? ?????? ???????????????????? ?????? ????

????????????????????????: ???? ???? ??????????????????

Post COVID era the word “Moonlighting” has come to fore more prominently. Though it was in practice but very rarely people used it in corporate world. But ???????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????????????????

It is nothing but a practice followed by few employees wherein they take up a second job for earning extra money. Suddenly it has become a very hot topic these days and there is lots of discussion on the subject whether it is ‘Ethical’ or ‘Unethical’. Employees did follow this silently but after the ‘Work from Home (WFH)’ culture during COVID it gained momentum and employees choose to take up second job as due to COVID, companies were going through a bad phase and were not paying that much. Hence, to meet the requirements of finance, employee must have thought to resort to such side practices and take another job. Only a very few out of Moonlight Followers did take their primary employer in confidence before taking up the secondary job.

Now the big question arises is ???? ???? ?????????????? ?????? ???????????? ?????????????????? ???? ?????

Taking the first half - ???? ???? ??????????????? It all started in a major way with SWIGGY supporting its employees to go for it and few others followed it. While major corporate world objected to such practices being absolutely unethical. Points supporting it to unethical is when employee take up secondary job in the same sector/industry (competitors of it primary job provider) and there are large chances of losing the trade secrets or its core competencies. In such cases it may be termed absolutely UNETHICAL however, in my opinion in case an employee after taking his primary employer in confidence takes up secondary job in some other sector which has is not in competition with the primary, and the employee can comfortably perform both the jobs with complete proficiency, I think it can be done since it does not pose any threat to the primary provider and employee is retained in first job and can produce with full proficiency. It is win-win situation for both.

Now taking the second part ???????????? ?????????????????? ???? ????? Needs to be seen in bit more detail. How it is going to affect the employee, the primary provider & its business, employee’s health and work culture. To my mind, generally employees are employed mostly for 8 to 10 hours each day and they do take some more time in commuting from home to the work place that makes it roughly to 12 hours each day. Medical science recommends a person to have adequate rest before he goes on to work on next day and advices at least 8 hours of sleep. That leaves only 4 hours on to the disposal of the employee to go in for Moonlighting / Family Time / Entertainment / Other commitments etc. Off course weekend he is free for longer duration. Seeing overall quality of life in mind, it seems to be practically difficult and impossible. However, in certain cases where working hours are limited and at times people are already working from home in primary job, there could be a possibility. Mostly, employees of IT companies are into such practices.

So finally, we come to ???????? ?????? ?????? ???????????????????? ?????? ?????? ????? How does HR find out whether someone is really involved in moonlighting without permission from the primary job provider and for whom is he working, is it the competitor of the primary one? Answer is not perfect but in few cases HR with examining the Provident Fund Account details and other related documents can get to know like employee depositing earning in same account, using same laptop for both the companies, some clue on social media by the individual or by the secondary company / colleague. Though factories act restricts the second employment but IT professional do not come under this and try to exploit it to their benefits. HR of IT firms need to take all necessary precautions if they really want to guard against it.

This is purely my opinion, readers can leave their comments as they feel about it.