Explained: What is moonlighting in IT industry – Times of India

Moonlighting is currently one of the biggest concerns of the IT industry and major tech companies, including Infosys, TCS, and among others, are all opposing this practice. Moreover, in a recent statement to Times of India, Karnataka IT minister CN Ashwath Narayan has also supported the companies by saying that the practice “is literally cheating.” Here we discuss what moonlighting means and how it is affecting IT companies.
What is moonlighting
Moonlighting is a practice where employees secretly take up a second job or other work assignments along with their full-time job. IT companies are worried that doing multiple jobs can impact employees’ productivity.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home was “the new normal” for most employees. The companies believe that these work-from-home scenarios might have led to a rise in dual employment.

The IT giants seem to be concerned that moonlighting can affect their employees’ productivity, data confidentiality and even the fact that company resources might be used for the second job.
How major IT companies have reacted to moonlighting
Wipro CEO Rishad Premji was the first to coin the term moonlighting as claimed that this practice is “cheating and unacceptable.” Following this, the company sacked 300 employees over the past few months for moonlighting.
Infosys CEO Salil Parekh also recently reiterated the company’s stance on the practice of employees moonlighting. Parekh said that the company doesn’t support dual employment. He even mentioned that over the last year, Infosys has let go of some of its employees who were found working with other companies. However, he didn’t mention the number of employees that were asked to resign.

Meanwhile, TCS global HR head Milind Lakkad said that moonlighting is an ethical issue and it is against the company’s core values.