Simplified Laws Guide to Taxation and Legal Concern Moonlighting is perfect. What is wrong with it? Moonlighting, as the name suggests, is an additional or second job done discreetly at night (or outside the regular office hours) to earn extra income or for professional pleasure!
Some large companies are objecting to moonlighting by their employees. I don’t find any reasons for their objections.
Look at it this way. Where can the employees of large enterprises find second jobs? For example, as an employee of a large company, M/s I, won’t get a job (even for moonlighting) in another large company, M/s W or T. The employee contracts of large companies won’t permit such options.
So, these employees have to find a second job in smaller companies where they don’t ask for relieving letter or experience letter and pay freelancer fees.
This model is helpful for the economy because the small companies can get the benefits such as:
The flow of knowledge – The smaller companies can’t afford to hire highly paid employees. Through moonlighting they can get their experience for a fraction of the cost and it will help them to grow.
The requirement is for short hours – The smaller companies don’t need full-time highly talented people. If they come for 2 hours a day or 4 hours a week, that would be sufficient. If not for moonlighting, how will they source such good talent?
If you ask me, large companies not only should encourage moonlighting but also ask their CEO, CFO or Managing Director to do moonlighting. Let the smaller companies get the benefit of highly skilled people, which otherwise they can’t afford.
Moonlighting is not a new idea
As I know the professors of all leading institutions are allowed to take up consulting assignments. Teachers take up private tuition, doctors set up clinics, lawyers open small offices in the evenings, newspaper boy takes up a delivery job, and a delivery boy takes up a waiter’s job.
The times have changed. This is the era of disruptions. These are not my words; I picked up from the lectures given by the bigwigs of the large corporates. If you want to encourage startups or small enterprises, allow disruption in the employment space as well. Not just allow but also participate to uplift the small businesses with your talent and experience.
If you don’t like this idea, no worries; the employees will continue to do moonlighting. It is you who will miss the bus. You will miss taking the credit for helping small organizations.
Moonlighting is good when people are working from the office. After office hrs, they can do what they want. But, when most IT is working from the office, they tend to put in more hrs in moonlighting rather than putting required hrs for the main employer.
In the beginning of the pandemic (WFH), the performance and output were very good. But, it is slowly reduced. Hence, more and more companies are asking employees to WFO.
When we build a mechanism to measure the performance/output of an employee (not easy), then moonlighting does not matter. You deliver what is required/accepted for one company, then in the remaining time, you do what you want.
Good idea.
Yes it’s actually very highlighting view what you have given. Moonlighting is important for an individual not only to increase his meagre income but also to exhibit one’s talent. Can also be called as EXPOSURE