The Indian IT behemoth Infosys has warned its employees that moonlighting or taking up dual employment will cause a job termination as it violates the employee code of conduct. It came after Rishad Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd, expressed his take over the practice of moonlighting and referred to it as "plain and simple cheating."
IBM India head Sandip Patel has said moonlighting is not ethical. He told everyone who was hired sign a contract that they would be working full time with the company.
In an email titled "No dual lives" to its employees, Infosys has said that violation of clauses prohibiting dual employment could lead to disciplinary action and also the termination of employment. However, managerial and senior consultant level employees did not receive the mail.
Work from home or remote work arrangements preferred in the Covid Pandemic by the corporates has promoted moonlighting, though it is not a new practice.
According to Han Digital, an IT talent and consulting intelligence firm, over the last year, about 3-4 workers out of every 100 full-time hires by customers are working in parallel assignments.
The mail by Infosys added a clause in appointment letters that restrict the employees from taking full-time or part-time work in any other organization without the company's prior consent.
Many IT companies have created monitoring systems to check employees' productivity.
"Employees have a contract to work with Infosys for 9 hours only. What they do outside working hours is their prerogative. Article 21 of the Constitution of India has provided the Right to livelihood to every citizen; hence such emails sent to the employees are illegal and unethical. Mentioning clauses of contract will not allow Infosys in the court of law as the clauses are included arbitrarily," said Harpreet Saluja, president of IT union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate.
