IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar supports moonlighting by employees, says 'This is the future of work'

File Photo

New Delhi: Backing moonlighting by employees, Minister of State for Electronics and IT and Skill Development Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the days are long gone when employees signed up with big tech majors and spent their lives on the job.

The minister, while addressing an event of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), said efforts of companies that want to pin their employees down and say they should not work on their own startup are doomed to fail.

The remarks came after Wipro had fired 300 of its employees over ‘moonlighting’. Wipro chairman Rishad Premji had been very vocal against moonlighting issue for a long time in the IT companies and warned to take severe actions against the culprit. He called it ‘a plain and simple cheating’.

Moonlighting meaning taking side gigs or projects along with a regular job secretively has been a bone of contention in these days. The proponents of moonlighting have been criticizing Wipro’s move of firing employees on social media platforms. Some users on social media shared post calling moonlighting a need of the hour amid rising cost and living standard.

The minister, however, agreed that moonlighting should not be in violation of any contractual obligations. According to an official release, Chandrasekhar said this is the age of employee-entrepreneurs and the corporates, and companies must now understand there has been a structural shift in the minds and attitudes of the young Indian tech workforce.

"Any captive models will fade. Employers expect employees to be entrepreneurial while serving them. The same people can apply it personally to themselves," he said, while agreeing that the moonlighting should not be in violation of any contractual obligations. He predicted a time will come when there will be a community of product builders who will divide their time on multiple projects.

"Just like lawyers or consultants do. This is the future of work," he sadded.

(With PTI Inputs)