We are so well acquainted with people working in the IT sector and having their share of side hustles. It doesn’t even seem debatable. As if it was always like that, and there is no big deal about it. However, the giants of the IT sector do not seem to be cordial about it!
It was just a tweet by the Chairperson of Wipro, Rishad Premji, and the debate caught fire. Sparked off by the tweet, the news channels also brought panels and encouraged open discussion on the same. Here is a glimpse of the tweet that fired an intense discussion and highlighted varied opinions.
The years of the pandemic have led to rising concerns about employee health. Hence, the IT sectors have been walking on the edge of adapting to the remote working culture.
According to Gartner, 30% of the Indian workforce will work remotely by the end of 2022. While there is a substantial encouragement for remote work culture in the corporate landscape, it also leads to various repercussions.
The debate might go on forever but let us bring you various perspectives of looking at the debate!
The rising concern of IT Employers!
As per the employers, it is simple. Hiring employees to work for their organization is not just defined by the working hours. It constitutes ideologies, ideas, and implementation. The erosion of valuable information is the constant fear of employers.
However, Sidharth Rawat, the co-founder of Exly, has recently expressed his opinions on a creative platform.
He said, “In my opinion, people who moonlight are awesome managers. Freelancing is not for everyone. It is just for a section of employees who can outperform for others and juggle more work.”
Besides that, the burnt-out employees take up external work and hamper the workflow in the organization with their unproductivity.
Hence, the real reluctance boils down to two or three pointers on fingertips- unproductivity, erosion of valuable data and clash of interest.
Trust breaches and lack of ethics in employees often lead to the greatest disaster within an organization!
The unsatiated quest for growth for IT employees!
It wouldn’t be wrong to say- Gen Z employees are greedy for growth. They are ever-evolving and unsatisfied and always look forward to upgrading themselves in every possible way. Undeniably, they are the change makers, the revolutionizers and pace setters!
The employees want to make the best use of their potential without hampering the work ethics in the full-time workplace. With an additional room to figure out new career possibilities, employees also get some additional income that aids them in upgrading their lifestyle as per their vision.
They believe that exercising their possibilities is no offence to any organization. Anyways, it is profitable if employees handle dual employment without being unproductive.
Dual lives and both equally larger than life!
The legal aspect!
Section 60 of the Factories Act does not allow workers to be employed in two factories. However, the act does not cover the IT professionals and people working in administrative functions. All the laws in the act are meant for workers, not employees in the IT profession.
Moonlighting is not cheating as per the law, and the employer cannot take legal action against the act.
The Way Forward!
As an employer, you can only focus on arranging and conducting training sessions on what gigs employees can choose for two-timing. They must understand that the conflict of interest between their employers can put them in a legal hustle. Above all, employers can also focus on employee engagement which is ultimately the way forward to solve most of it.
As an employee, you must have business ethics and draw your lines per your second gig. It is better not to work simultaneously for both gigs with the same conflict of interest. Above all, you must choose to juggle external tasks only if you are a great multitasker.
After all, it is simply not fair to be less productive for your primary employer!