Infosys changes stand on moonlighting; allows employees to take up 'gig work' outside office hours

Tech major Infosys has now softened its stand on moonlighting as it has allowed its staffers to take up second work but outside office hours. In a letter sent to its employees, the software giant said that staffers can take up gig work but for this, they should take prior permission from their manager and BP-HR. It also said that the gig work should be taken up in employees' personal time and for the establishments that don't compete with Infosys and its clients. It also said that gig work should not impact employees' ability to do their regular job effectively.

This simply means that employees can take up a second job outside office hours with their manager's permission and only for firms that are not a competitor to Infosys. 

However, in its letter, Infosys did not elaborate on what constitutes this ‘gig work’ as the company had refrained from using the term 'moonlighting' in the letter. Moonlighting is a practice of dual employment.

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Infosys, Wipro and other tech giants have vehemently opposed dual employment or moonlighting. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh had said that the company doesn't support moonlighting. Parekh even said that the company fired several employees in the last one year for moonlighting.

Rishad Premji, the Chairman of Wipro, had also opposed moonlighting. Wipro had said that it fired 300 employees for moonlighting in the past. Recently, Premji mentioned that he fired a very senior employee for an integrity violation. Several reports claimed that moonlighting was the main reason behind the integrity violation.