‘…Dual employment’: Infosys CEO on gig jobs, moonlighting debate

Technology giant Infosys on Thursday said the company does not support dual employment, referring to the practice of moonlighting which has stirred a massive debate in the workplaces. In simple words, moonlighting refers to the act of taking up second work without the knowledge or consent of the current employer. The work is usually done after office hours, i.e late evening or night. The workplaces, especially IT firms, fear that encouraging such practices will not only harm productivity but also lead to conflicts of interest and data breachers.While replying to the question on moonlighting, chief executive officer Salil Parekh said those employees found blatantly doing work for two companies in the past 12 months were let go. Parekh said Infosys has already a platform set in place within the company for employees to look for ‘gig work’. Out of 4,000 employees who apply for the platform, 600 of them are selected for different projects outside their main work. “For gig opportunities in the external environment, we support the aspirations of our employees to learn beyond their work. We will support them on certain gig projects after the prior approval of the managers. We are also developing comprehensive policies for that while ensuring contractual and confidentiality commitments are fully respected”, the CEO said.Last month, Infosys in a mail had warned its employees against having second jobs outside the contract, clearly stating that such practices would lead to termination of their contract.Infosys joins the likes of other technology giants like Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services which have spoken on the raging issue. Wipro had recently fired 300 employees after they were found of moonlighting, the practice termed ‘cheating’ by its chairman Rishad Premji. His chief executive officer Thierry Delaporte said having side jobs was fine but not with the competitor. During the quarterly results briefing on Wednesday, the CEO said moonlighting is not a legal but an ethical issue. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief executive officer and managing director Rajesh Gopinathan said as per contract, the employees cannot have any other job while working for the company.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Multimedia journalist with over nine years of experience in print, television and digital media. Books, politics and cinema are an inseparable part of life.
…view detail