Wipro’s Rishad Premji says 300 employees were found working for rivals to justify his tweet against moonlighting

Mass layoffs, pay cuts and a hiring freeze across industries created uncertainty and hysteria among employees, and triggered a 46 per cent rise in freelancing during the lockdown. Not having to spend time on the daily commute and having more privacy thanks to the remote working model, professionals took up second jobs to secure their position. But now IT firms allege that moonlighting is hampering productivity and causing conflict of interest. Having described the practice as cheating, Wipro’s Chairman Rishad Premji has reiterated his stand by adding that 300 employees of his firm were found to be working with their rivals.

IT firms come together to counter moonlighting

The controversy took shape after food delivery platform Swiggy allowed its employees to work two jobs at the same time, if they comply with certain conditions. Over the past week, Infosys entered the debate by warning staff that they’ll be sacked for ‘two-timing’ on the company, and later IBM also told its staff that moonlighting is unethical. The tech giants are concerned that these side hustles can affect productivity of their staff, and create a risk of confidential information being leaked to rivals.

Another IT firm TCS has now asked its employees to return to office, while 80 per cent of its staff is working from home. It’s struggling to convince millennials to come back to office, after announcing a model where only a quarter of the employees will have to work from office at a time. TCS now says that it requires the entire workforce to come back to the premises, before the 25/25 model can be implemented in a phased manner.

What does the law say?

Dual employment is restricted in India under the Factories Act and the Shops and Establishment Act, but these norms change from state to state. The IT sector is largely exempted from these acts and software companies are allowed to implement their own policies in the matter. This means that IT firms can bar their employees from holding on to multiple jobs, even if it’s done post working hours.