Swiggy – Moonlighting is the practice of doing paid work in addition to regular employment. It can refer to a high school teacher who also tutors after school hours, a doctor who works shifts at multiple locations, or even a software developer who spends hours after work building a startup.
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There are multiple reasons why people have to works under the moonlight. In most cases, these people are looking for supplemental income. Others might do it for professional and personal growths. However, others look to it as an opportunity to innovate and experiment with new ideas. For some, moonlighting is necessary and even admirable.
However, there are ethical & legal risks that professionals face when taking on additional work as professionals. These employees are likely to face a conflict of interest, especially if their second job activities are in direct conflict with their employer’s purpose or if their performance is negatively affected.
Having said that, companies have very different policies regarding moonlighting. Some companies restrict it while there are other companies that encourage it seeing the benefit of such self-directed work. They have moonlighting clauses in their employment contract. The terms of these clauses may differ, depending on the company and its businesses.
Summary of Moonlighting Purpose and Policy
In general, most companies discourage outside employment. However, new trends are emerging and the global effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has left people with very few options. So instead of an outright denial, companies have worked to build a policy around moonlighting.
The purpose of this policy is to retain talent within the company and allow them to supplement their income without compromising company goals or intellectual property. There are rules that are incorporated in said policy that safeguard the interests of the company without invading the employee’s free time.
Scope of the moonlighting policy
The scope of the construction of such a policy revolves around the employees of the company to whom this policy refers. In general, this policy refers to full-time and part-time salaried employees, leaving contractual employees outside the scope of this policy.
In addition, this policy applies to lawful activities. If any employee is found to be involved in any illegal activity eg fraud, drug dealing it may result in immediate termination. The company can even take legal action against an employee for using company equipment, resources or information to support any illegal activity.
Policy elements of moonlighting
A company may insist on transparency regarding the nature of its employees’ secondary jobs. This is to avoid conflicts with your main job. The primary employer may have conditions that must be agreed to by the employee who wishes to take on a secondary job. These conditions include:
- The secondary job must not be with the company’s direct competitor.
- The job or project of the side job must not overlap with the main job.
- The time from the secondary job should not intrude on the main job.
- The nature of the secondary job must not create a conflict of interest with the primary job.
- If the employee is starting a new business that competes with their current employment, that is considered a conflict of interest and may result in immediate termination.
- The secondary job profile should not affect the performance levels of the primary job.
- The confidentiality clause of the main job will remain in effect at all times while working on the secondary job.
Swiggy Moonlighting Policy
Swiggy is one of the first companies in India to have introduced such a progressive approach towards moonlighting. Your policy is available to all full-time employees of Bundl Technologies, its subsidiaries, affiliates, associates and group companies. (Swiggy moonlighting)
Girish Menon, Human Resources Director at Swiggy, said: Swiggy has always strived to understand the diverse aspirations of its employees and design its organizational policies to meet their changing needs. With the Moonlighting Policy, our goal is to encourage employees to pursue their passion without restriction due to their full time employment with us. This is yet another step in our journey towards building a world class organization where people come first.
This one of a kind policy allows your full-time employees to undertake outside projects, subject to approval by Swiggy’s internal team. These external projects can be assumed financially or pro bono. Of course, it is Swiggy company policy that this work must be done outside of normal business hours without allowing it to conflict with Swiggy’s business interests.
Conclusion
While the concept of moonlighting is old in the Western world, it is a new and growing concept in India, particularly in the IT sector. In particular, in recent years, fueled by the pandemic, many professionals have opted for moonlighting in the face of job losses and layoffs.
Also, the idea of supplementing income, especially with the work-from home culture, is very attractive due to the extra time available. Moonlighting alongside a main day job is all about smart time management.
