Infosys employees can work ‘gig jobs’ outside company. Conditions apply

The IT major conveyed this to its employees in an internal email on Thursday. However, it did not term this as moonlighting.

Infosys will allow its employees to take up ‘gig jobs’ on the side, but certain conditions will apply, the company said in an email on Thursday.

However, employees will have to ensure their 'external gig' does not impact their ability to work with the company. (Representative Image)

“Any employee who wishes to take up gig work, may do so,” the Bengaluru-headquartered IT multinational said in an internal communication. However, for this, those interested should take prior permission from their manager and BP-HR, and work on this ‘second job’ only in personal time and outside regular work hours.

Also, staffers are prohibited from working with establishments that compete with Infosys or its clients. Also, their ability to do their regular job effectively should not be impacted.

However, Infosys did not clarify what constitutes this ‘gig work’ nor did it term it as ‘moonlighting,’ the controversial practice of dual employment which has kicked up a major storm in the IT sector. Put simply, moonlighting is when an individual has an external job in addition to his present employment, and without knowledge or consent of his current employers.

What is Infosys' stand on moonlighting?

The information technology giant opposes dual employment. During a recent Q2 earnings' briefing, CEO Salil Parekh reiterated this stand.

"We don't support it. In the past, staffers doing blatant work in two specific companies where there is a confidentiality issue, we have let go of them in the last 12 months," Parekh said.

Fellow IT majors Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), as well as IBM, have both strongly spoken against the practice.

On the other hand, Swiggy and Tech Mahindra are supportive of it.

(With PTI inputs)