Moonlighting employees must be fired

Moonlighting is under cloud after the pandemic, as many employees mainly in the software industry work in rival firms secretly without the knowledge of the primary employer after finishing off normal duty for an extra earning. Recently a big IT company in India found that 300 of its employees were involved in moonlighting. As an IT entrepreneur and investor, I strongly feel that they have no business to take up a job in another company without the knowledge of their original employer. This is totally unethical, and they do not deserve any sympathy.

I am in favour of showing them the door. If someone wants to work in multiple jobs, better they should become consultants instead of a regular employee.

Being a consultant or freelancer, they can charge for every service to the client as per mutual understanding.

As an employee, it's pure cheating if someone is involved in moonlighting. I suggest, to uphold confidentiality and moral standards, one should quit their job and become a consultant instead of cheating their employer. My advice to all companies is to ask people who want to do multiple jobs, to opt for a career as a consultant and accordingly redraw their legal contracts to enforce violation in a stricter manner. This is because if an employee wants to earn more, he must use his own talent to scale up in his career in an organisation.

- O. Naresh Kumar, CEO,Symbiosys Technologies (As told to Santosh Patnaik)