BENGALURU: The IT industry is cracking down on moonlight. Just a few weeks after the Y Pro chairman Rishad Premjik Infosys has sent a stern email to the employees, terming Chandni Roshni as “cheating simple and easy”. In it, Infosys noted that moonlighting is not allowed as per the employees’ code of conduct, and said any violation would lead to disciplinary action that could include termination of employment.
With the taglines ‘No to Timing, No Moonlighting’ and ‘No Double Life’, Infosys said employees cannot take on other assignments during or outside business hours. TOI has reviewed a copy of the internal communication.
Moonlight became a concern during the pandemic when employees started working from home. It was suspected that employees were using the privacy afforded by remote work to simultaneously project to others. Considering the acute shortage of technology talent, the opportunities for such work had increased significantly. Recent statements by India’s largest IT companies show that the problem has assumed a formidable form.
“In Infosys, double employment is not allowed as per employee handbook and code of conduct. As clearly stated in your offer letter, you agree not to take up full time or part time employment as a director/partner/member/employee of any other organization/institution engaged in any kind of business activity without consent Huh. Infosys. Consent may be given subject to any terms and conditions that the Company may deem fit and may be withdrawn at any time at the Company’s discretion,” the company’s mail said.
Emails sent to Infosys did not elicit any response. But in a recent conversation with Infosys EVP and Group HR head Krishan Shankar where TOI asked about moonlighting, side hustle and gig workforce, he did not directly talk about the issue but said that the company is providing employees with internal gigs. encouraging them to do so, if they have the time and interest to do so, beyond their regular work. “We have created a platform called Accelerate. When it was initially envisioned a few years back, it was to keep the benches occupied by the people. But now, Accelerate are used for our internal events and during the last two years we have been rewarding people who have performed internally,” he said.
The response of IT services companies to moonlight is in stark contrast to how some new age Indian companies deal with moonlight. Swiggy recently announced that its employees could take on other gigs as long as it doesn’t affect their productivity at the food delivery enterprise, and was done outside of office hours.
fintech unicorn Credit has said earlier that it encourages its employees to take up other projects.