There is a growing labour market out there that thrives on taking up short-term contracts and freelance agreements rather than permanent situations. That is the “gig economy.” However, the issue of moonlighting must not be confused with gigging. It is different. Moonlighting is a scenario wherein one performs a job in addition to one they already hold, at night (moonlit or moonless).
Moonlighting is also known as side hustle, which implies that it is illicit, unethical, or corrupt. But frankly, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to the question of whether it must be legal or illegal. Neither employees and nor employers are monolithic entities. But before we get to that, we must first attempt to understand why an employee would choose to work for additional hours besides their day job?
The phenomenon is trending and the debate over it has picked up steam. Sure, moonlighting could cultivate hustle culture, that is to say, it could lead to people taking odd-jobs (full-time, or part-time, or contract-based) that they may genuinely be not interested in, but do them merely for the sake of money. This, we may suppose, is one common challenge that both employers and employees need to address, because while for the former this could result in decreased productivity and quality of work output, for the latter it could lead to a burnout and exacerbate workaholism.
By and large, however, it could be argued that employees moonlight only to have a financial safety net. This is a matter of common sense. When the costs of living are high, wages stagnate, healthcare and education become expensive, money is no longer a desire but a desperate need. Millennials are being nicknamed as the “side hustle generation,” indeed, because they have student debts and rents to defray which is possible only through an additional disposable income.
According to a survey by Bankrate of 2,550 adults, “3 in 10 working Americans with a side hustle say they need the extra income to help cover the cost of regular living expenses … wages have started to tick up, but they are no match for the rising cost of living.” It further interestingly adds that “About 40 percent of millennials with a side hustle say it’s the source of at least half of their monthly earnings,” and that “wealthier households and more educated Americans are more likely to have a side job than the poorest respondents. Some 43% of households earning at least $80,000 per year have a side gig, compared with 37% of households with incomes below $30,000,” and that “27% of workers say they’re more passionate about their side gig than their primary job or career.”
Is it ethical or unethical?
The relationship between an employer and an employee continues to evolve and so does the notion of loyalty. As Professor Dave Ulrich of the Ross School of Business avers and I quote, “That loyalty has evaporated with layoffs on the employer side and now employees being more mobile as free agents who change work for different companies. Moonlighting is an extension of the evolving employee-employer relationship.”
What he clearly suggests is that while the employer can make use of an employee’s skills specific tasks and projects, they cannot have any absolute control over the employee. The
relationship is purely transactional and therefore is limited to the transaction undertaken by both parties.
TCS regards moonlighting as an ethical issue and Wipro calls it “cheating.” However, Infosys differs and Tech Mahindra, in fact, encourages it! While industrialists and CEOs may have varied views on the subject for whatever reasons, Badgefree firmly believes in an open marketplace where talent can be freely exchanged between its providers and seekers. So one need not cling on to a single job all day and there is absolutely nothing regrettable about having a secondary job to meet one’s financial needs or one’s appetite for professional growth.
Only in case there are genuine concerns at a company with regard to their proprietary information, policies, operating models, or potential conflicts of interest, transparency and clarity in the job contract could be demanded of the employer. That would squarely settle any issue. However, no individual can make themselves or their services exclusively available to a single employer because before they anything else, they have the right to choice!
All that being said, Badgefree sincerely wishes that one does not have to work ten hours a day to make a living. Certainly not in jobs as strenuous as driving, or delivering food, or domestic housekeeping, because that is nothing but economic slavery. And it needs to be resisted!
