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“There’s a lot of talk about moonlighting people in the tech industry. It’s a scam – plain and simple,” Premji tweeted.
There is a lot of talk about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is fraud – plain and simple.
— Rishad Premji (@RishadPremji) 1660981315000
Moonlighting refers to keeping track of more than one job at a time, and remote working has helped employees take this option.
All this comes as India’s fourth-largest information technology (IT) services provider Wipro’s earnings for the mid-June quarter and a decision to freeze variable pay for top executives put pressure on operating margins, people familiar with the matter said. The issue was reported by ET earlier this week.
The IT industry as a whole is experiencing unprecedented levels of demand. Wipro, however, posted lower utilization rates than its peers, falling to 23.3% from 23.8% in April-June respectively.
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Recently, food and hyper-local delivery startup Swiggy introduced a moonlighting policy. According to the policy, employees can take on external projects for pro-bono or economic consideration based on internal approvals.
The policy applies to full-time employees of Swiggy’s parent company Bundl Technologies, including subsidiaries, affiliates, subsidiaries and group companies.
This may include activities outside of working hours or on weekends that do not affect their productivity in full-time work or create a conflict of interest with Swiggy’s business.
Ethical question
Swiggy’s head of human resources (HR) Girish Menon may not agree with Premji’s thinking.
In an exclusive podcast with ET’s Morning Brief, the HR chief said, “That’s it. [Moonlighting] The future of work. And that’s exactly what we are. [Swiggy] They’re trying to do it.”
Menon said the company’s moonlighting policy is “participatory, not draconian, and clearly spells out anything that conflicts.” He said that the decision to introduce moonlight is based on knowledge and the belief that workplaces will improve in some way.
“Moonlighting became less about what we thought would be the workplace of the future and less about research or information. People with skills would have opportunities to do what they call a side gig or a side hustle. So why not formalize it,” he said.
Sashi Kumar, head of Indeed India – the Indian arm of the US-based job search website – echoes Menon.
“It’s not inevitable. Moonlighting has happened in the past, in different countries,” Kumar told ET Now in an exclusive interaction earlier this month. “The reality is that there are a lot of jobs out there, but people are not earning enough money to make ends meet and hence meet their financial needs. They have to do a lot of work.”
A slowdown in hiring
From ecommerce colossus Amazon to social networking star Facebook, once-flourishing US tech companies are planning to hire for a time of upheaval.
The situation is similar in India. While startups have laid off people en masse, major information technology companies have cut back on hiring to better cope with cash crunches.
Amid fears of a macroeconomic slowdown, fewer IT workers are juggling multiple job offers and rejection rates for offers in hand have also fallen after a two-year bull run for IT and technology workers, ET reported.
In fact, TCS, has also delayed the June quarter variable pay for select employees, ET reported.
A Tata Group company has delayed variable payments for C3A, C3B, C4, and similar units by one month. These are employees at the Assistant Counsel, Associate Counsel, and Counsel levels. According to an internal email received by ET, the amount that was due in July will now be paid in August-end.
“The performance bonus for Q1 FY23 is yet to be finalized for C3A, C3B, C4, and related units. This will be paid to eligible partners along with the August 2022 payroll,” the email, sent in late July, said without specifying the reason for the delay or the amount of the bonus.
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