BENGALURU: The moonlighting (having a second job) issue has been igniting debates, and this time it reached the power corridors, with Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar saying any captive models will fade.
Speaking at an event, he said the days when employees would sign up with big tech majors and spend their lives on the job were long gone. “Today’s youngsters have every sense of confidence and purpose about wanting to monetise, create more values out of his or her own skills.
So, the efforts of companies that want to pin their employees down and say that you should not work on your own start-up are doomed to fail,” he said. His comments come at a time when IT major Wipro fired 300 employees for moonlighting and Infosys warned its employees saying “no double lives”.
Chandrasekhar also said time will come where there will be a community of product builders who will divide their time on multiple projects just like lawyers or consultants do, and that this is the future of work. Meanwhile, the country’s largest IT services company TCS has asked its staff to work from office (WFO) at least three days in a week. On whether the company made WFO mandatory keeping moonlighting in mind, HR experts say getting back to offices could curb dual employment to a large extent, but it will not completely go away.
In an internal mail to employees, TCS told WFO is mandatory and it will be tracked. “Any non-compliance will be taken seriously, and administrative measures may be applied,” it said. TCS spokesperson said they are moving in a phased manner to get its associates back to office. “This is in line with our vision to transition to the 25*25 model,” said the spokesperson.
In this model, 25% of its workforce will be in the office and it will be introduced in a phased manner by 2025. “The exact boundaries of moonlighting are still hazy. Considering that the world is increasingly moving towards platform economy and gig work, newer forms of workers engagement needs to be considered,” AR Ramesh, Director-managed services and professional staffing, Adecco India said.
Moonlighting debate continues