Moonlighting is unacceptable, says Happiest Minds' Joseph

IT company Happiest Minds Technologies said moonlighting is unacceptable as it amounts to violation of job contract and that 'few' employees found engaging in such practices have been fired over the last 6-12 months. The company - which recently logged a stellar 33.7 per cent on year growth in net profit in the second quarter and 31.1 per cent rise in its total income - had about 4,581 employees as of September 30, 2022.

Happiest Minds asserted that moonlighting is not very prevalent within the company but did not divulge the exact number of employees against whom action had been taken on the issue. The issue of moonlighting or dual employment has emerged as a big talking point in the IT industry ever since Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji red-flagged the issue on Twitter, equating it to "cheating". Over the past weeks, several companies have waded into the issue making it clear that they do not approve of dual employment.

Put simply, moonlighting or dual employment refers to employees taking up side gigs to work on more than one job at a time. Happiest Minds' Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Anantharaju said: "We have been quite clear with our people that it is something we will not accept... because when you sign a contract or employment offer, you are agreeing to work only for that company." Moonlighting raises risks and questions around security, as well as commitment of workers in devoting their time and attention to end customers and delivery outcomes.

To a question on whether the company had found instances of employees involved in moonlighting, Anantharaju said: "We have had a few and we immediately terminated them because it is a message you want to drive across the company. Even if it is a few hours somewhere... because there is no way of really ascertaining that. So we have done that".

The action was taken in the last 6-12 months window, he informed. "We are clear, you can't be moonlighting. If you want to do some voluntary activities in unrelated areas... maybe wish to go teach in a school over the weekend that is different. But for us you have to have all of your time dedicated to Happiest Minds and working out here," he said.

The moonlighting practices and instances are "not too pervasive" in the company. "That is one of the reasons we have started getting our people back into office. Because once you're back in office, the scope for a lot of these things is minimal and it can get eliminated and identified very earlier," he said. The company had about 67 per cent of its employees come into office in the last quarter; the plan is to push the number up by January 1, 2023 and have most of employees in office by April 1. On the frequency of days in a week that employees are now punching into physical workspaces and filling up office cubicles, Anantharaju said, "We have given them latitude, and not measured that. But we have told them 3+2 is fine, to start with. Some of these things will evolve overtime as it also depends on which projects and when. The primarily thing is to get teams together."