The Ethics Of Moonlighting: Point Of View

Concerning Issue: Is moonlighting a breach of trust or an avenue for generating additional revenue in hard times if employer organisations are not in a position to meet employee’s needs? While not a new phenomenon, moonlighting grabbed headlines during Covid days, when employees opted for freelance work to keep themselves sane and work out a way to manage household expenses when organisations had to slash down salaries.

Several issues are at play here. Certain professions have always lent themselves to moonlighting work; like a media professional, on the strength of his writing/ editing skills, doing development projects while being part of a newspaper, a designer, doing a corporate brochure occasionally, or a teacher with a reputed school also taking tuitions in evenings. Employers looked the other way as long as their work didn’t suffer. In other organisations, data protection is paramount; therefore, an employee moonlighting might be detrimental to data security, typically in a science R&D setup, a law or a CA firm. Or else, organisations might feel that with attention diverted, and energy dissipated, the employee might not be able to give his hundred per cent to the work. What do CHROs have to say about this burning issue? 

CHRO Solutions

ANIRUDDHA MADAN CHRO, HCC 

In my view, moonlighting by itself is not an unethical practice. However, moonlighting without prior information and with parties where there is a significant conflict of interest (like competitors, vendors etc.) amounts to a breach of trust and confidence with the present employer. When a person is employed, he must fully disclose his current and past employment, be it part-time or full-time. Any suppression of material facts leads to a breach of trust, and the essence of the employment contract becomes void. Therefore, before undertaking any work, for financial gains or otherwise, it is advised that full disclosure be made in advance. Explicit permission must be sought before embarking on any moonlighting assignment.  

RUHIE PANDE CHRO, Godrej Capital 

Moonlighting has traditionally been seen as illegal and has been highlighted with caution in terms of employment. However, we are increasingly witnessing scenarios where people are indulging in moonlighting to earn a side income and gain exposure. The ease of working virtually and remotely has given further impetus to this movement. In my view, fighting moonlighting with adverse outcomes is the incorrect way to deal with it. Organisations must instead put in clear mechanisms to define the boundaries of moonlighting. For example, can the employee work with a direct competitor? A process must be put in place whereby employees declare their intent to moonlight. It is also crucial that employees display information and knowledge integrity and their primary commitment rests with the organisation they are employed with. The world is changing very rapidly and so too is the talent marketplace. It is futile to resist any change today and wise to flow along with it.

ANJALI RAGHUVANSHI CHRO, Randstad India  

According to the Randstad Employer Brand Research report 2022, around 73 per cent of employees have been working remotely. The main reason behind this is to maintain a healthy work-life balance and not necessarily moonlighting. However, the employees who have chosen to juggle two jobs are mainly doing so either to gain a financial cushion above their primary income or to explore passion projects. While companies do not have an issue with their workforce pursuing personal interests beyond work like coaching, performing arts and social service, working for two competing brands at the same time is definitely, and rightly so, a concern in terms of data security, breach of confidentiality, etc. Also, juggling multiple heavy-duty jobs might impact the productivity of an employee and cause “quite quitting” in the long term leading to replacement cost for the employers. While moonlighting has existed for quite some time, it is now gradually becoming the talk of the town. During the nationwide work-from-home practice, there were no methods or systems to track whether the employee was moonlighting. Today, companies are using digital tools like biometrics, activity monitoring, keystroke monitoring, data transfer monitoring, PF account activities, etc. to track moonlighting employees. Having said that, we still feel that moonlighting as a concept from the perspective of employers is at an exploratory stage and comprehensive policy building will take some time.