[Jeroen]

I am not so sure where the Indian law stands on this. But my take would be, it all depends what was written in once contract and or company policies that you need to adhere to.

Most companies would frown on working for competition. Although, when truth be told, for most employees it is debatable to what extend it would really hurt their primaire employer.

In practice very few people have unique competence and or insight into the strategy and financials of their employers. For some people who need to build relationship, such as account, sales, customer project manager it is usually explicitly forbidden to work for competitors. In many countries it might not even be allowed if you resign. E.g. in my contract it stipulates I can’t work for our competitors or our customers for a certain time if I were to resign by myself.

Those sort of clauses are very typical/normal for all senior positions.

There is also a school of thought that if you have a full time job, you simply can’t have another job, for a competitor or even otherwise. You should not spend your free time on that sort of thing. However, many senior executive tend to have several side line jobs, being on multiple boards or committees of other companies.

So do I, but for each one of them I had to get formal approval. Approval would be withheld for competitors, but was no problem for other types of employment. We tend to see it as also as a means of broadening your experience, network etc.

Jeroen

[vvidhate]

Folks have shared valid observations and thoughts here. I think this news has posed a new perspective to think about the contractual bindings especially in the field of Software Industry. There is this conversation of world moving to Gig model where companies may not have full time employees going forward but instead Gig workers helping out on assignments or projects (practicality based on validity of legal policies is still far fetched though).

I think Wipro's action might be well thought through considering contractual and legal aspects, morality of it is debatable. Do you straight away fire your own employees instead of any other form of penalties ? I do not see anything wrong if an Employer offers employment with a contract stipulating that the employee agrees to work full time and will not be engaged in any other commercial work.

My take is, in the absence of any legal clarity on the matter this will attract a lot of questions , discussions and even protests. On the face of it this looks to be problem only with Software Industry (where you can completely work online and away from workplace). Will this be the case for other industries like Manufacturing or Healthcare ? Is it possible in such companies to actually work for two different employers ?

Bottom line, it is fair to be penalized if you go against your legal contract and do this so called Moonlighting. On employers part, to restrict employee to engage in personal & commercially rewarding Gigs in the same area of work looks valid. Some companies are allowing this flexibility. Employees too should be transparent to their employers in case they intend to pursue such options.

Disclaimer: I am a regular employee working in Software Industry and not employed at Wipro

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

However, many senior executive tend to have several side line jobs, being on multiple boards or committees of other companies.

So do I, but for each one of them I had to get formal approval. Approval would be withheld for competitors, but was no problem for other types of employment. We tend to see it as also as a means of broadening your experience, network etc.

Leaving aside the contract, this is what I use to wonder how CEO level folks are able to sit in the board of non competing companies. Doesn't it come under moonlighting? Given their responsibilities are at a different scale and most need 24x7 attention and decision making, how is it possible to focus on their primary job? I am neither pro or against moonlighting but I believe the same can be argued for low level employees too for broadening the knowledge and networking.

Now coming to IT services companies, I for one believe they will happily lap up this idea if they can reduce the salary of employees as a result of moonlighting. After all employees' salary is the biggest cost and who will throw away the opportunity to improve the margin

[jkrishnakj]

Am I for moon lighting - Yes
Do I concur with Wipro’s action - Yes

Contractually, Wipro did the right thing. That said, it’s inevitable that the current breed of students who will enter the workforce will definitely want to work for multiple organisations. That’s how they want and I’m sure the HR folks will bring in clauses and policies to that effect. The government clearly seems to believe that this is the trend for the future to come.

[Wanderers]

Not all companies ask for exclusive working clause in employment contract. I discovered this when I moved from an Indian company to US company. As long as there is no conflict of interest and not occurring concurrently, one can engage in additional activities but does not say another job.
One of my relative is doing two jobs without compromising in either of the job, the problem he has is that he is subjected to two PF deductions and deposit and both in same city. I asked him to resign from one company as they would know by PF detail as its same circle. But when he offered to resign, his boss asked him to continue. What to say in this case. The company I am talking about is US giant A and other company is a medium Indian firm.

[del.guy22]

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Thanks for the support & understanding

[neochanger]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

If you sign a Wipro appointment letter, you have to adhere to it. If you sign the Swiggy Appointment letter, you have to adhere to that one.

I 100% back Wipro for their actions!!

Signing a letter and then failing to adhere to it doesn’t necessarily mean violation of ethical standards, surely it is violation in eyes of law. Law and ethics are not same. An individual has many constraints under which he/she signs the job contract: financial insecurity, pressure to survive and countless others. Even if she finds so many unethical clauses in the job contract, she may still be compelled to take that up. We have all seen corporate’s unethical behaviour towards their employees but they can get away with it because they are too big for an individual.

A compromise is required. The general policy should be that above a certain pay level (higher grades), moonlighting shouldn’t be allowed. Below those levels, the employee should intimate the employer before taking up any other job. The employer should reject moonlighting only for clearly stated justifiable reasons: rival company, possibilities of leaking of trade secrets, significant impact on productivity of employee in present job (quantifiable standards) etc.

[Gansan]

Is it alright if an army officer or a police officer moonlights? If not, why? If it is not alright for them to moonlight, what makes a software employee moonlighting alright? They are paid much less than him actually.

If the appointment letter says no, and we signed it, then no it is. No point in arguing. The company will sack the employee. Go to a company that doesn't have the clause, accept their employment and then moonlight all you want.

I side with Wipro. Swiggy doesn't count in my book. It operates in what is called the gig economy, it is not a software company, and their entire work depends on gigs. So they don't count.

[lsjey]

I fully agree with what Wipro has done. Having said that, it would be good if the corporates look at moonlighting from a cost saving innovation. May be the IT majors can join hands and share costs and maintain a common resource pool?

Say a few companies join together and create a bench pool of freshers. They can share the salary of the freshers and also share the costs of training etc. When these freshers get on the bench pool they will have a different contract and once they get deployed in a company a different contract can be signed.

With their customers not increasing the billing rates, creating a shared bench may be a good option to reduce costs and protect margins.

Regards,
lsjey

[Samurai]

It is incorrect to compare IT industry to any other industry, because it has some unique characteristics.

Let's start with Opensource, which was mostly built by folks moonlighting for free. Which is the most popular opensource product? Linux, period. Where was Linus Torvolds work between 1997 to 2003, a company called Transmeta, which had nothing to do with Linux. But they didn't interfere with Linus' significant involvement in development of Linux. In fact, around year 2000 Steve Jobs offered Linus a job at Apple, but with a condition that Linus has to drop Linux development. So Linus refused the offer, and stayed with Transmeta, which didn't mind his Linux involvement.

Plenty of companies were started by techies who were initially doing something on open source on the side.

Take the Indian startup Postman, which is valued at $5.6 billion. The founders developed it as open source while working for other companies. They moved out and started the company when they felt the product had enough traction.

Who uses Opensource? Every software company and any company that uses software. If they are against people working on opensource on the side, they shouldn't use opensource at all. Until 2010 or so, there were companies that shunned use of any opensource. Now, everyone does use opensource.

Plenty of opensource users end up contributing to opensource, because that is why the opensource grows so fast. These days many companies hire employees just for developing opensource. Yes, they hire engineers to build software to be given out for free. Companies like Wipro use such software, for free.

Regarding contract, why are these companies allowed to put restriction on what employees do in their spare time? They can put whatever restriction during the 8 hour/day the employee works for them, but not beyond.

Again, I am talking about moonlighting and not overemployment (holding 2 full-time jobs).

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is it alright if an army officer or a police officer moonlights? If not, why? If it is not alright for them to moonlight, what makes a software employee moonlighting alright? They are paid much less than him actually.

I agree with you, on this point. If the work contract disallows one from moonlighting, it would be unethical on part of the worker. I can't see how there can be a deviation, unless a exception was given by the employer.

Originally Posted by Gansan

I side with Wipro. Swiggy doesn't count in my book. It operates in what is called the gig economy, it is not a software company, and their entire work depends on gigs. So they don't count.

If we can compare army and police officers to IT professionals, why not compare an IT services company to a new age tech business -in your words - gig economy?
It is another matter that as a business, one is making money and the other is burning money, but that a topic for another discussion.
And if not for the open source contributors- the rich opensource community would simply not have existed. The computing world is a better place due to these moonlighting communities.

And now to indulge in some whataboutery..., making offer letters, and not honoring them is I believe unethical on part of the employer.

Wipro has not onboarded several techies despite giving out job offers as early as October 2021....
One candidate claims to have quit a job at Cognizant to join Wipro, but has not been onboarded yet. This has caused the candidate severe financial stress. “I had resigned Cognizant after I got an offer letter at Wipro in March this year. But now, I have no income source and I am struggling. Wipro’s HR is not even responding to my queries, they just send an automated email,” the candidate said.

“I also rejected offers from Capgemini, HCL Tech, and Infosys because I had an offer letter from Wipro. But now I regret this decision. I am extremely depressed and I am not able to survive without any income. This gap in my CV will negatively impact my career," one such candidate awaiting Wipro’s onboarding told Business Today.

https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/i-rejected-offers-from-infosys-hcl-techies-in-distress-after-wipro-delays-onboarding-by-up-to-11-months-347974-2022-09-22

And what does this company have to say AFTER making offers -

Wipro can confirm that it will honour all offer letters that have been made to deserving candidates

from the news report, it is not clear if they have made offers to undeserving candidates .

My point is - if an employer feels it is OK to leave a candidate hanging to dry, to ensure their earnings metrics are not dented in their quarterly results. By the same token, isn't the employee also then entitled to look after their earnings growth?

[dragonfire]

There is a reason why these jobs are called full time jobs. There is nothing wrong in somebody doing two part time jobs. That means both the employers know that they are not with the company full time. But if you take a full time job and work a part time job elsewhere, it's cheating.

[.sushilkumar]

Fact remains that there are no "Holy Cows" in corporate world. Employment contract entails 45 hours a week. Do Companies adhere strictly to these and compensates fully for any one hour beyond 45 hours. Beyond a certain level, you are expected to work beyond 8 hours a day. Anyhow the employment contracts are One sided and i am sure would not stand the scrutiny in courts but than no one cares for individuals. Only voices of associations / groups are heard.

Wipro is smiply being woke here trying to act smart. They do not own your 24 hours. Untill i am commited fully for 8 hours a day , none of anyone's bussiness as what i do in rest of 18 hours.

[TorqMaster]

Honest question - if a person works a 8 hr job say in an IT field, then drives a uber or swiggy at night, these are unrelated fields. Is it still wrong?

[binand]

Originally Posted by Gansan

If the appointment letter says no, and we signed it, then no it is. No point in arguing.

I'm not sure why this is considered as clinching the argument. Employment contracts cannot include blatantly exploitative clauses in them.

This is what the Indian Contract Act says:

Every agreement by which any one is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind, is to that extent void.

In my opinion the question is only whether the employer can dictate what the employee can do outside of the 45 hours or so that they are entitled to. Apart from measures to protect their own interests (IPR etc.) I don't think employers can be allowed that sort of control over the employee's life.

If you don't want moonlighting to happen, divide the CTC as such: N lakh p/a for doing my work, and a further M lakh for not moonlighting.