Team-BHP - Moonlighting | Are you for it or against? | Wipro & Infosys frown, Swiggy is okay

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Originally Posted by 2000rpm (Post 5408292)

I 100% back Wipro for their actions!!

I had heard from my colleagues and ex-colleagues that Wipro monitors your loo breaks as well. In short, they have horrible work culture. Most of the people won't do moonlighting if they are paid as per industry standards. Not only Wipro but many Indian IT companies pay very less to loyal employees. You have to either switch jobs or work another job to ensure that you cover your EMIs.

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Originally Posted by V.Narayan (Post 5411174)

Question: I wonder why every IT industry related thread ends up with half of the posts whining, moaning and grumbling of how the industry sucks, pay is so low, employers are evil, supervisors are morons, employers are heart.

Maybe because IT industry fellas are sitting on a laptop, able to access these forums?
I'm pretty sure if Maruti's assembly line workers (or insert any industry/firm here)had similar access, we'd be hearing the same whining,moaning and grumbling.

I would go as far as to say that any Contract is null and void if it goes against the principles of Natural Justice.

The companies can only have a say in the time dedicated to them(40 hrs/week). They have no business to monitor rest of the hours. Its called Personal Time for a reason.

How many times have companies compensated employees for working beyond 40 hrs/week?(actual productive hours). What I have heard is thay employee 'may' get a lunch allowance of 300-500 rupees if overtime > 2 hours AND its on weekend AND the manager is in good mood. This lunch allowance is treated as a privilege and not a right. Will companies compensate for the hours clocked in? Nope.

The employee may seek alternative income sources and I dont see anything wrong with that. Companies wont have issues with typical sources like Rental, Stock Market Investing, Conducting Tuitions. But now, they seem to have become the one who decide what is right and what is not!! Completely Unacceptable.

PS: Why do Companies "moonlight" on "weekends" doing CSR activities involving employees? Is that acceptable?

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Originally Posted by turbodude (Post 5411201)

I had heard from my colleagues and ex-colleagues that Wipro monitors your loo breaks as well. In short, they have horrible work culture.

I am 100% sure that it is not done. I know as I worked with them for 10+ years before moving out. Maybe a one off case of your friend having had a bad manager who monitored that!

Horrible work culture no. Less pay yes for sure!

Voted for 4th option: Moonlighting (i.e. part-time) in an unrelated job anywhere. If you are doing another job which is not related to current one, I don't see a problem. But yeah one needs to thoroughly read their employment contract and adhere to it. You don't want to loose your primary source of income for that secondary job.:)

Having said that Moonlighting is indeed prevalent in IT, more so since covid made WFH a norm. But this is now becoming a great excuse for firms to force people to return back to offices. Just saw an article claiming TCS has given a warning to employees to WFO for 3 days a week or face consequences

Link

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The email also noted that adherence to rostering would be strictly monitored by the company. It read, “Adherence to rostering is mandatory and will be tracked.” Furthermore, “Any noncompliance will be taken seriously, and administrative measures may be applied.”

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Originally Posted by turbodude (Post 5411201)

I had heard from my colleagues and ex-colleagues that Wipro monitors your loo breaks as well. In short, they have horrible work culture.

That's taking it just too far. lol:

Infact even I had heard this before joining the firm but my personal experience was entirely different. Have spent 6+ years there and nobody ever monitored my loo-break nor my login/logout timing. Mind you half the tenure was in India itself. I think these are more for the freshers as while in Infosys(joined as a fresher) our login/logout used to be monitored and they even had ridiculous dress code of a Tie on monday, tuesday. Wipro atleast didn't have that.

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Originally Posted by V.Narayan (Post 5411174)

I guess the whining is common across all industries. A few years ago, I worked in a very big engineering company and a lot of the employees were unhappy. I had access to payroll and I found that most of them were very well paid, often more than what they could get outside in the market. At the same time, there was a vast majority of people who were content and happy. But, generally, the happy guys don't speak much and do not generally go around praising the company or the industry. The whiners, however, make quite more noise in general.

The reason why I guess we hear more guys grumbling in IT is because of the sheer number of people in that industry and the general tendency of IT guys to be more visible in online platforms.

The best option would be to check in with the primary employer about and before indulging in anything that has a monetary benefit component and get it signed off. Whether we want to call it sun/moon/gas/electric lighting! And the best chance of getting that signed off is if the alternative source of income is from an unrelated / non competitive industry. To do anything otherwise is unwise.

To argue what the company should or should not do, is a waste of time because companies will do what they want to do / can enforce as they deem appropriate for their business and competitive advantage.

If we find the company's stance restrictive, we are free to seek gainful employment elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by V.Narayan (Post 5411174)

We are all adults here who chose to work in the IT industry at company X or Y after reading the appointment letter.

+1

Agree 100%. I think many people don't look beyond the salary and benefits part of the appointment letter. That's the only explanation I have witnessing the avalanche of angst expressed here. Often, there is a clear clause mentioned in the letter. Even if it is not, I'd still check before turning on the lighting!

We are in an age employees think employers cannot have any rights. Period!

When employees sign the contract, why aren't they objecting to the embargo on moonlighting. In their desperation to get the job they sign on anything. How can one breach the contract they signed?

Moonlighting for a competitor in particular needs to be dealt with the way Wipro dealt with it. Lets say an employee works for two companies that compete against each other. Assume this employee is working on a technical proposal for a prospect/customer. Imagine the repercussions, if he discloses just the name of that prospect/customer to the other employer!

I am still fine with taking up another position that doesn't conflict with the employer's interest in any way. But working for competition is plain cheating indeed.

The gentleman in question sits on 7 boards of directors. I am amazed at how he has managed to give his undivided attention to 7 companies and their corporate governance and oversight. He should have a class on Byju's and Unacademy on corporate leadership.

Equally amazing is how some other board members manage to give their full attention to Wipro, as well as tens of other companies.

What's clear is that senior executives are made of greatness. It isn't their father's money or business, or fancy degrees from foreign schools that make them great. It's something more, something that these poor sods who got fired simply don't have.

Moonlighting is not a new thing. Many of our actors/cricketers have a 'day' job too (Bank / Railway / College etc).

In my view, moonlighting is OK as long as its not two full-time jobs (i.e two Payroll / PF etc). One can be a contract job doing outside committed work hours, regardless of the industry.

A lot of folks now do Social media and get revenue as a Youtuber / Insta influencer - why should an IT employee alone who spends same time doing coding considered as an offender?

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Originally Posted by akkosetto (Post 5411549)

Moonlighting is not a new thing. Many of our actors/cricketers have a 'day' job too (Bank / Railway / College etc).

In those cases, the cricketers never really attended their primary job. rl: My uncle was in the same department as Ashwini Nachappa in Vijaya Bank, while she was doing movie roles and also playing sports. It was very rare for her to actually visit the office where she supposedly worked.

But those were trophy hires though. They were hired with the full knowledge that they will never really work in the office. I wonder how their employment contract looked.

Moonlighting is OK - Period. No Qualifiers, No IFs, No BUTs!

Individuals commit a certain contracted hours of their time to a profit-seeking enterprise, so individuals can also seek to maximize their own earning without impacting their contracted commitments. IP protection and Conflict of Interest management is the prerogative of the employer(s).

We, in this country, have a lot of history of accepting bull-shit and this noise around moonlighting is just that!