Amid debates over moonlighting, India’s second-largest IT firm Infosys has allowed its employees to take up job opportunities outside the company with the prior consent of their managers and HR. In an internal email to employees, seen by News18.com, the company has said, “Any employee, who wishes to take up gig work, may do so, with the prior consent of their manager and BP-HR, and in their personal time, for establishments that do not compete with Infosys or Infosys’ clients.”
The IT major has added that it was supportive of the employees learning new skills and gaining experience by taking up additional projects.
Moonlighting is doing two or more jobs simultaneously. India’s IT and software industry is divided on whether companies should allow their employees to do so even after their work hours. Cases of moonlighting increased during the pandemic, as companies shifted to remote working.
Several IT companies including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCLTech, IBM, and Wipro have opposed moonlighting, calling it an ethical issue as well as a breach of employee code. The debate heated up after Wipro sacked 300 employees after finding them working for its competitors.
“We count on our employees to ensure that this does not impact their ability to work with Infosys effectively. In addition, as per Infosys employment contract, employees may not work in areas when there is a potential conflict of interest or by accepting dual employment,” the email further said.
Infosys as an organisation values learnability, and that they are supportive of employees taking up additional projects, it added.
It reiterated that care needs to be taken to ensure that the project’s employees want to take up “comply with the company’s policy for gig working, and do not breach client contracts or otherwise impact the employee’s ability to be effective in their full-time job with Infosys.”
The new guidelines came days after Infosys’ previous email to employees titled “no double lives” was cited in media reports, in which the company had clarified that dual employment was not permitted as per the Employee Handbook and Code of Conduct.
Before Infosys, Tech Mahindra allowed its employees to take up side projects. C P Gurnani, chief executive officer (CEO) of Tech Mahindra, has said moonlighting was all right if employees kept up their efficiency and productivity.
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