Employee moonlighting: How can Organisations detect and manage it? Companies in the news
11 Nov 2022
In the decade of the 1970's, there were usually teams of two or more who could do a job effectively; however, at the turn of that decade, we were introduced to "super humans" who showed us all how one person could do two jobs: one during the day and another at night, and quite successfully at that!
Spiderman or Superman were prime examples of moonlighters. All of us grew up idolising these superhumans, who exemplified the art of moonlighting.
Current question in business news: What is "Moonlighting"?
To understand it better, let's take a deep dive.
It simply refers to doing a second job on the side, usually covertly and outside of regular business hours and without informing one's primary employment. For instance, X works discreetly for the "USW" publication while also contributing to the "XYZ" newspaper, which is her primary employer.
Employees frequently moonlight with companies or employers, some of whom may be competitors, given the staffing issues we are witnessing across industries analysis today.
Businesses speak
On the one side, we have seen several leaders in the technology industry call for a clear mandate requiring employees to either report back to work or leave, while on the other hand, we are seeing certain businesses express a clear desire for open and flexible employment.
Closer to home, the information technology (IT) sector in business times, in particular, has a different perspective because it frequently competes for the same clients and employees. Many of the industry participants have shown little tolerance for individuals who wish to pursue two or more jobs. While some argue that it's deceiving one's own company, others agree that as long as employees can handle and don't interfere with the productivity of their primary job, they should be allowed to keep doing it.
During a moonlighting screening engagement in the company news, there are four different kinds of inconsistencies that could happen.
- Having two or more jobs while still receiving benefits from your current job
- The applicant withholds information about any prior employers.
- Candidate who has a history of holding down multiple jobs concurrently
- Previous employer is suspect or fake
High attrition was observed at a sizable information technology corporation with more than 25,000 employees. All staff assigned to a certain client project were given the option to work remotely from anywhere. A whistleblower reported that several of the staff working on the project were moonlighting to the Human Resources (HR) team.
Method used according to market analysis: To identify dual or multiple employments and any other potential dangers based on the employment history of the person, a moonlighting verification was undertaken on a sample size of 2000 employees.
Domain expertise, forensic proficiency, and access to government databases were used to confirm the candidate's career history through trustworthy and reputable sources.
In summary
Working several jobs is a common reality today and has been for a while. It's something that many experts in various other fields, including actors and musicians, have long practised.
Although it has always existed, it is now clearly affecting jobs in market analysis that are increasingly knowledge-based. Additionally, it is a very sector-specific issue; although some sectors, such as those in data-driven, security, consultancy, etc., where there may be a risk to customers, may be more lenient in allowing the incidence of dual or multiple employment, others may take a strict stance on the subject.