’It’s cheating, not allowed,’ tech giants join hands against Moonlighting

Controversial ‘moonlighting’ is in the news again with top IT firms including Wipro, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) criticising the idea as ‘unethical’ and cheating. 

For the uninitiated, moonlighting is the practice of taking up secondary jobs after regular work hours, which has irked many of the biggest tech companies.  Here's what different tech companies said about moonlighting.

Moonlighting is cheating: Wipro's Rishad Premji first to flag

Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji was one of the first ones to flag the issue equating it to cheating. Taking to Twitter, he said last month, There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple.

An ethical issue: TCS COO

A few days later, TCS COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam took a similar stand saying ‘Moonlighting is an ethical issue’.

Speaking at the Business Today India at 100 summit, Subramaniam, “Moonlighting is an ethical issue, we need to inculcate the ethics and (idea of) being right and if we make something like this for short-term gains, in the long-term we will lose out.If you look at it as a war, it is a war. Business is all about operating within constraints. The talent war happened because of two important reasons from my perspective because during the pandemic 90 per cent of the enterprises did not hire. Few organisations like TCS, we went and honoured everything, we kept hiring."

No two-timing: Infosys warns employees

Earlier this week, Infosys firmly asserted that dual employment or 'moonlighting' is not permitted. 

"No two-timing - no moonlighting!" India's second largest IT services company said adding that "Moonlighting is a practice of working on a second job during the normal business hours/outside business hours. Infosys as a company strictly discourages dual employment."

Citing the relevant clause, it said, "Any violation of these clauses will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment."

The company has urged managers to sensitise their teams on dual employment and the "consequences" of moonlighting. "You are expected to immediately report any instances of moonlighting to your respective unit HR," Infosys said.

I share Rishad's position: IBM's Sandip Patel

IBM's managing director for India and South Asia, Sandip Patel said, at the time of joining, the company's employees sign an agreement saying they will be working only for IBM. “…notwithstanding what people can do in the rest of their time, it is not ethically right to do that (moonlighting),” Patel told reporters on the sidelines of a company event.

“You know Rishad's (Premji) position on this, right? I share Rishad's position,” Patel said.

I welcome disruption: Tech Mahindra's C P Gurnani

However, Tech Mahindra CEO C P Gurnani said it's a welcome trend. Gurnani tweeted recently that it is necessary to keep changing with the times and added, "I welcome disruption in the ways we work."