The news is abuzz with leading dailies reporting about employees that
have been moonlighting, or ‘two-timing’ their employers, so to speak, after it
came out that a Noida-based IT employee was working for as many as 7 different
organizations—at the same time!
In fact, a study by ResumeBuilder.com states, 69% of remote workers have
a second job; 37% of them have a second full-time job while 32% have a side
hustle. From running an independent small business to picking up contract-based
work from multiple organizations, one job no longer seems to be enough for a
majority of the workforce in 2022.
Technically
Speaking, What Is Moonlighting?
You know that clause in your employment contract that prohibits you from
working with another company, part-time or full-time? Moonlighting breaks this
very clause.
Moonlighting basically means you have a ‘second job’ or are gainfully
employed by more than one company at the same time. Usually the second job is
done after hours, ie, at night, which is why it is colloquially called
‘moonlighting’.
Now, moonlighting is not a new idea. The likes of doctors, lawyers, and
in fact, the entire gig workforce of freelancers, blue collar job
professionals, and contract employees have been moonlighting for their entire
careers. So why is it making headlines?
Moonlighting: The
Preferred Way Of Working Post 2020
As the pandemic hit in 2020, many gainfully employed professionals lost
their jobs at every level—the layoffs were not restricted to freshers and
middle management, but impacted CxO level roles too. Companies downscaled their
working staff and even rolled out pay cuts as severe as 60%-75%. This left many
highly-skilled, experienced and talented professionals with a meager primary
source of income and bills to pay that were aligned with their original
salaries. The only way to bridge the gap and meet their expenses was to take up
a second job.
In fact, some companies, while not on paper, allowed their employees to
work as freelancers and take up other gigs as they converted full-time
employees into contract workers at renegotiated (lower) salaries.
Work from home was the new normal and companies could no longer judge
the productivity of their resources through clock in-clock out time sheets,
which was never an effective tool to begin with.
What also gave a boost to moonlighting is the lack of supervision, the
independence to manage your time, and the performance-driven work culture, all
of which were a consequence, and a boon, of remote working.
Ethical
Moonlighting: The Way Ahead
No longer a stop-gap measure, many companies and employees have embraced
the benefits of moonlighting, as long as it is done ethically. If you convert
your full-time employees into gig workers, the cost-benefit ratio shoots up
significantly. Through COHIRE, companies can hire workforce strategically for
outcome-oriented projects where the deliverables, scope of work, and time-frame
is pre-defined. And, this can be done all the way up to the CxO level, which
opens up the talent pool for startups and new businesses, manifold.
In fact, we’ve set the tone for a new way of working where the employer
benefits from the expertise of a skilled professional without having to bear
the cost and overhead that comes with onboarding them full-time. As for the
employees, they’re able to use their core skill to accelerate the growth of
multiple companies at the same time, while earning handsomely from both parties
if the job is well done.
Interim CxOs and high-mobility middle management can catalyze new
business launches, drive needle-moving initiatives, and company growth like
never before. And as far as the concerns around sharing information and data
breaches go, these are easily restricted given our thorough vetting process and
water-tight contract hiring. And if you’re happy with the performance of our
resource, you can always roll out full-time employment and absorb them on
company rolls.
Companies like Tata Steel, Microsoft, and Meta have already announced
that they won’t be going back to the work from office model a 100% of the time.
This boundaryless approach is the future of employment where remote and hybrid
working, global talent pools, performance-oriented compensation, and
project-driven hiring will soon become the norm, not the exception. And COHIRE
is at the forefront of this revolution.
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