BENGALURU: Days after Wipro chairman Rishad Premji called moonlighting in the tech industry as cheating, plain and simple, IT services firm Infosys has sent an email to its employees saying 'No Double Lives! No Two-Timing-No Moonlighting!'
Moonlighting refers to dual employment. Infosys in an email said, "At Infosys, dual employment is not permitted as per the Employee Handbook and the Code of Conduct."
It also warned employees that any violation will lead to disciplinary action that could even lead to termination of employment.
Infosys cited the relevant clauses in the offer letter to drive home the point.
"Any violation of these clauses will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment," the mail said.
The company also asked managers to sensitise their teams on dual employment and the "consequences" of moonlighting. "You are expected to immediately report any instances of moonlighting to your respective unit HR," Infosys said.
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Of late, organisations have been taking about moonlighting ever since online food aggregator Swiggy in August told employees they can work on external projects.
"They can take up external projects for economic consideration based on internal approvals," Swiggy had said.
With the majority of IT employees working from home since March 2020, moonlighting has become a big concern for the industry. IT firms have also been battling high attrition rates amid margin pressures.
Harpreet Singh Saluja, president of Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), has condemned the threatening email sent by Infosys to the employees.
"Moonlighting, which means that employees in the IT sector are working for more than one company at the same time is not feasible," he said.
"Aadhaar card and PAN card are now mandatory for joining any company. The government has also linked the Aadhaar card to the Employees Provident Fund account and each employee has a unique UAN (universal account number) for the PF. Also, IT employees are working for more than 9 hours a day without any overtime benefits," he said.
"Would there be any energy or time left if an employee is working 10-12 hours a day?" he quipped.