Moonlighting-The Corporate Significance

 

From Bollywood songs to poetry, the word moon has always had different meanings. Sometimes it has been personified as an epitome of beauty, sometimes it is compared with a beautiful woman, sometimes it is called "mama" which means maternal uncle in India, sometimes the light of the moon is compared to silver. The mesmerizing and beckoning satellite, from evening to morning, at times hiding behind clouds though, or vanishing on the new moon and reappearing the next day. Ultimately the moon or moonlight has always been taken in a positive light. 

In recent times, the light-spreading cute little "mama" of ours has taken a different meaning altogether which means the act of working at an extra job, especially without telling your main employer. The term Moonlighting refers to a side job in an addition to one's primary employment. 

Moonlighting is an easier way of getting some extra money though or may be an experience. The moonlighters are on the one hand encouraged by some employers as they work on their terms- work- timing and salary. On the other hand, some employers may not encourage them as there may be a breach of the company interest, misuse of company property etc.

The moonlighting term has different perspectives in the corporate world specially in terms of IT industry. While Senior Management from some IT organizations consider it to be a cheating altogether to the Employer. Others believe it to be acceptable to work, post office hours or at night during the free time, for any other company as long as the current job does not get affected. The practice became more popular when there were sudden lay- offs of multiple employees specifically in the IT sector, when the employees started utilizing the work from home culture to earn extra income as there was no security involved in their current jobs.

The dual employment or moonlighting can be verified by the employer as per the following activities-Employee verification and reference checks, documents verification, social media and third-party screening, audits on regular basis, resolution of conflict and quality assurance.                                                           

Moonlighting can be attractive in terms of extracting some extra money, but it comes hand in hand with negative impacts on health as well, in case if it is physically challenging. It may include lack of proper rest or sleep, odd work timings and stressful work, not exercising or eating on time etc. by these moonlighters. Also, a government employee is not allowed to do any personal business.

So we can say that though moonlighting is not illegal in India, it is subjected to various factors that are provided by the current employer in their policies and non-compete agreement. It is regulated by laws on working hours, intellectual property rights and tax obligations so that legal implications can be avoided.