Moonlighting is plain and simple cheating in tech industry: Wipro chairman Rishad Premji

Moonlighting means working on an extra job along with a full-time job without the awareness of the main employer. The act is unethical and it might lead to lose of job.

New Delhi: Taking over a stand on tech workers doing side projects along with their full time jobs, Rishad Premji, the chairman of Wipro, tweeted that Moonlighting is plain and simple cheating in tech industry.

Premji took Twitter and wrote, “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple.

The comment might be in the reference of recent revealed Foodtech company Swiggy’s Moonlight policy which got a lot of disapproval and criticism from netizens.

Moonlight means working on an extra job along with a full-time job without the knowledge of the main employer. The act is unethical and it might lead to lose of job if the boss finds out one has been moonlighting.

What is Swiggy Moonlight policy?

Swiggy Moonlight policy allows regular workers to take up outside projects or work after office hours or on off days to earn some extra money. It’s like taking second job with the full-time job.

The condition for workers is that the second job must not conflict with the regular job timings. Moreover, those projects and work that may have higher chances of conflict of interest or stand between employees’ duties need prior approval.

Such policy came in times when Foodtech companies are facing intense criticism for keeping hard environment for delivery workers and paying low wages than they deserve. Besides, workers are demanding more flexibility in working hours as the trend trickled down from the high paying job where hybrid culture is preferred over archaic work-from-office norm.