Infosys warns employees on moonlighting, says could lead to termination

Infosys has sent a reminder mail to its employees that moonlighting or employees taking up dual employment is in violation of the employee code of conduct. This comes weeks after Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji publicly expressed his anguish over the practice as "plain and simple cheating".

Violation of clauses restricting dual employment could lead to disciplinary action and also the termination of employment, India's second-largest IT company said in an email titled "No Double Lives" on September 12 to employees. Employees in managerial and senior consultant levels, however, did not receive the mail, a source told ET. A mail seeking Infosys' comment did not elicit a response.

Moonlighting or taking up another assignment from another employer, either part- or full-time, is not a new phenomenon, but the remote work arrangement preferred by the Indian IT sector has helped employees take up this option in larger numbers. Employees are cashing in on higher demand for skilled talent. Over the last 12 months, IT talent consulting and intelligence firm Han Digital has seen about 3-4 employees out of every 100 full-time hires by customers working in parallel assignments.


Also Read | To moonlight or not to? The buzzing question among Indian techies

The mail also quoted the clause in appointment letters that restrict the employees from taking full-time or part-time employment in any other organization without the prior consent of Infosys.

“Today, many Gen-Z employees aspire to enjoy the flexibility of working when and as much as they want to as participants in the gig economy, while at the same time maintaining the stability that comes from their conventional day-job,” Krish Shankar, EVP and group head of human resource at Infosys, told ET recently.

“They believe that, as long as they discharge all their responsibilities and deliver on commitments, their employers should be amenable. As an employer, these aspirations and expectations are not lost on us,” he said.

The IT major has onboarded gig workers who prefer the flexibility of short-term projects. But a "great part" of work requires supporting global clients on their strategic digital programmes over relatively longer periods and with significant compliance and confidentiality requirements and these projects are not suited for gig workers, Shankar added.

"Many IT companies have developed monitoring systems to measure employee’s productivity. Employees have a contract to work with Infosys for 9 hours only. What the employees do outside working hours is their prerogative. The article 21 of Constitution of India has provided Right to livelihood to every citizen hence such emails sent to the employees is illegal and unethical. Citing clauses of contract will not help Infosys in the court of law as the clauses are included arbitrarily." said Harpreet Saluja, president of IT union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate.