From TCS, HCL To Wipro: How India¡¯s IT Giants Have Reacted To The Moonlighting Issue

Ever since IT giant Wipro¡¯s Chairman Rishad Premji took a stand against moonlighting a few months ago, various IT industry leaders and organisations have come forward to clarify their stance regarding their employees doing side projects along with their full-time jobs.

For the uninitiated, in a tweet in August 2022, Wipro Chairman described moonlighting as plain and simple cheating in the tech industry.

There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple.

¡ª Rishad Premji (@RishadPremji) August 20, 2022

What followed his tweet is a continuous debate on the issue, with some companies and their leaders speaking in favour of moonlighting, while others have agreed with Mr. Rishad Premji and taken a stance against moonlighting.

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Feeling confused or unaware about all this? Let¡¯s refresh our memory and look at what all has been happening around the moonlighting issue, and what various IT giants and their leaders have said regarding the practise after Wipro chairman's tweet ignited the debate.

1.Infosys

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Nearly a month after its strict 'No two-timing, no moonlighting' message to employees, Infosys made a surprise move by adopting a more accommodative stance towards moonlighting, or gig work. Last month, Infosys sent an internal communication to employees allowing them to take up gig work outside their day jobs, but with consent from their managers and on the condition that it would not impact their work at Infosys or conflict with anything Infosys does.

The message mentioned: "Any employee, who wishes to take up gig work may do so with the prior consent of their manager and BP (business partner)-HR in their personal time, for establishments that do not compete with Infosys or Infosys's clients. We count on our employees to ensure that this does not impact their ability to work with Infosys effectively. In addition, as per the Infosys employment contract, employees may not work in areas where there is an actual or potential conflict of interest or by accepting dual employment."

This communication by Infosys came after an earnings call in October, during which Infosys CEO Salil Parekh mentioned that the company was developing more comprehensive policies around gig work while ensuring contractual confidentiality commitments are fully respected. He, however, also noted that Infosys does not support dual employment and has fired employees who did moonlighting over the last 12 months.

2.TCS

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After initially referring to moonlighting as an "ethical issue," and saying that employers need to inculcate ethics and being right. If you do something like this for short-term gains, you will lose out in the long term. That kind of message has to go to the employees, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Chief Operating Officer N. Ganapathy Subramaniam last month told that action against moonlighting can ruin a person's career and, hence, it is important to show empathy while dealing with the issue.

The TCS COO said, "Nothing prevents the country's biggest IT services exporter from taking action against employees for moonlighting when it has evidence because it is a part of the service agreement, but young kids will have to be dissuaded." He added, "The consequences (of taking action) will be that the person's career will be ruined. The background check for the next future job will fail for him...We have to show some empathy."

He had also said that the company looks at an employee as being a part of the family and, given the consequences of any action, would rather focus on dissuading the family member from going astray.

3.Tech Mahindra

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One of the first supporters of moonlighting has been Tech Mahindra¡¯s CEO, CP Gurnani.

Nearly a week after Wipro chairman Rishad Premji had termed moonlighting "cheating, plain and simple" Tech Mahindra¡¯s Managing Director and CEO CP Gurnani said at an event, that the issue was "not rampant." Gurnani also said his company will probably "make a policy" so employees can be open about pursuing more than one job at a time.

The CEO of Tech Mahindra said, "Most of us (IT companies) have efficiency and productivity targets that are measurable. If someone meets the efficiency and productivity norms, and wants to make an extra buck, as long as he is not committing fraud and not doing something that is against the values and ethics of the company, I have no problem."

"Frankly, I¡¯m going to probably make it a policy. If you want to do it, sure. But be open about it and share with us," Gurnani stated at the event organized by Business Today, the report mentioned.

Tech Mahindra CEO Gurnani wrote in a Twitter post, "My thoughts on the trending ¡®M word¡¯... It's necessary to keep changing with the times, and as always, I welcome disruption in the ways we work."

4.HCL

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HCL's former CEO Vineet Nayar, who worked with the IT giant for over 19 years, from December 1993 to January 2013, backed employees and questioned the top management of companies, saying if their involvement in other companies as board members or as investors in startups amounts to moonlighting.

In his Linkedin post last month, he wrote, "Is senior management being part of other company boards moonlighting? When they invest their own money in startups and make profits, is that moonlighting? Is their trading in stock markets moonlighting?"

Nayar also said moonlighting is "unstoppable." He said, "Today all employees try to engage with the world outside and work in various forms. This is unstoppable."

He suggested that organisations need to help employees navigate side gigs better to prevent a conflict of interest instead of trying to stop them. He even praised Infosys' move to allow employees to do 'external' gig work.

And recently, as per a Moneycontrol report, the former HCL CEO mentioned that moonlighting is inevitable, and there are three key drivers of moonlighting in the IT sector: the widening gap between the salaries of freshers and top management, the lack of purpose and innovation in the profit-driven culture of IT companies, and the growing start-up economy.

Moonlighting Explained

The practise of working a second job outside of regular business hours to earn extra money is called moonlighting. You can watch this video to learn more about moonlighting.

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