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‘Conflict of Interest’: Technology giant's note to employees on moonlighting
IBM joins the likes of companies like Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and others which have opposed the practice of moonlighting.
Software giant IBM in a note to its employees has made its stand clear on Moonlighting, a practice of dual jobs which has left the information technology sector sharply divided.
A note from IBM's India and South Asia head Sandip Patel to the employees read that a second job could be full time, part time or contractual in nature but at its core is a failure to comply with employment obligations and a potential conflict of interest with IBM's interests, a Livemint report stated.
IBM joins the likes of companies like Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and others which have opposed the practice of moonlighting. Technology giant Infosys had stated it is against dual employment. However, it became the company to allow its workforce to work for external jobs or gig projects after consent from their managers.
However, Wipro chairman Rishad Premji has been a vociferous critic of moonlighting, which he termed ‘cheating’. Wipro even fired 300 employees who were found moonlighting.
Another IT firm named Happiest Minds Technologies said it fired employees after they were found engaged in dual jobs. The company's executive vice chairman Joseph Anantharaju said the employees were now being asked to return to office so that practices like moonlighting could be eliminated at the early stage.
As mentioned earlier, Moonlighting is the practice of taking up secondary jobs after work hours. The term was coined in the West after employees began to look for alternate jobs while working remotely due to pandemic. As the name suggests, it refers to the jobs undertaken in the night or late evening.
