Violation of clauses restricting dual employment could lead to disciplinary action and also the termination of employment, India’s second-largest IT company said in an email titled “No Double Lives” on September 12 to employees. Employees in managerial and senior consultant levels, however, did not receive the mail, a source told ET. A mail seeking Infosys’ comment did not elicit a response.
Moonlighting or taking up another assignment from another employer, either part- or full-time, is not a new phenomenon, but the remote work arrangement preferred by the Indian IT sector has helped employees take up this option in larger numbers. Employees are cashing in on higher demand for skilled talent. Over the last 12 months, IT talent consulting and intelligence firm Han Digital has seen about 3-4 employees out of every 100 full-time hires by customers working in parallel assignments.
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The mail also quoted the clause in appointment letters that restrict the employees from taking full-time or part-time employment in any other organization without the prior consent of Infosys.
“Today, many Gen-Z employees aspire to enjoy the flexibility of working when and as much as they want to as participants in the gig economy, while at the same time maintaining the stability that comes from their conventional day-job,” Krish Shankar, EVP and group head of human resource at Infosys, told ET recently.
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“They believe that, as long as they discharge all their responsibilities and deliver on commitments, their employers should be amenable. As an employer, these aspirations and expectations are not lost on us,” he said.
Infosys has onboarded gig workers who prefer the flexibility of short-term projects. But a “great part” of work requires supporting global clients on their strategic digital programmes over relatively longer periods and with significant compliance and confidentiality requirements and these projects are not suited for gig workers, Shankar added.
“Many IT companies have developed monitoring systems to measure employee’s productivity. Employees have a contract to work with Infosys for 9 hours only. What the employees do outside working hours is their prerogative. The article 21 of Constitution of India has provided Right to livelihood to every citizen hence such emails sent to the employees is illegal and unethical. Citing clauses of contract will not help Infosys in the court of law as the clauses are included arbitrarily.” said Harpreet Saluja, president of IT union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate.
‘Moonlighting’ in job space: Here’s why it may not be all that bad
‘Moonlighting,’ i.e. Working at more than one job, has been especially enabled by India’s enormous demand for digital skills, shortage of skilled workers and remote jobs. But, is it right to moonlight? Does it not create a conflict of interest, and can organisations remove some control over their designated FTEs? ET Prime’s Debleena Majumdar gives arguments in favour of it.
