Wipro's U-turn, says moonlighting is fine but don't work for rivals

Last year the amount of overtime surged in India, as a report found that professionals in the country were working for an average 11 hours a week without any pay. Yet the idea of people holding on to side hustles apart from full-time jobs has made IT firms uncomfortable, with some calling it unethical and outright two-timing. After firing 300 employees allegedly caught cheating on Wipro with a rival, the company has softened its stance on moonlighting.

Relenting after a backlash?

As of now, Infosys, TCS and HCL Tech have joined the chorus led by Wipro, whose chairman termed moonlighting as cheating, since it involved people working two jobs at once. After the parallels between employers and romantic partners, many even looked into the legalities to point out that there was no ban on having two jobs, but it wasn’t appreciated. Now Wipro’s CEO Thierry Delaporte says that moonlighting is fine, but its unethical if their employees work for the competition. Wipro’s assertion has also come at a time when its net profits have missed the forecast amid global headwinds, while attrition has gone down with the threat of a recession in months to come.

Started off as a support amid financial instability

Stepping away from the tough stance taken by his firm’s Chairman Rishad Premji, Delaporte simply said that Wipro’s contract stipulates that people can’t work for their rivals. This comes after weeks of heated debates both online and among corporations about the practice of working on side-jobs, which gained traction while people were working from home. It took shape while people were facing financial uncertainty, when top IT firms such as Wipro and Infosys were holding back promotions and hikes or introducing pay cuts. Instead of putting in extra hours at work for almost no pay at all, employees decided to use the time saved from travelling and coffee breaks, to make an extra buck.

What does the law and state say?

The Factories Act 1948 in India does say that an employer can’t require or allow employees to work in a factory when they are working at another place. But does the law from a bygone era, meant for factory workers, apply to techies at a time when remote work has gained ground?

Indian Minister of State for IT and electronics, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has called moonlighting a significant phenomena, and said that firms won’t be able to stop employees from embracing it for long. The urge to prevent moonlighting even prompted IT firms to call employees back to office, months after PM Modi hailed work-from-home and flexible working conditions.