Work from office, fewer IT jobs kill moonlighting spirit

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : Moonlighting has waned in the tech services sector as a subdued job market, fewer freelance gigs and back-to-office policies shrink opportunities for employees keen to make a quick buck on the side. The change also marks a reversal of fortunes in the tech sector, where it had become a serious concern during the peak of the pandemic-fuelled boom. IT firms fretted that the trend would affect productivity, create conflicts of interest and cause data breaches.

“There is a 70% drop in moonlighting instances. We cannot say it is completely absent, but asking employees to come at least three days a week to the office has reduced these cases," said a top executive at one of India’s top five IT services companies, which had sacked employees found moonlighting. The demand for digital skills soared following the pandemic outbreak, with employees working from home often picking up side projects.

Moonlighters had joined mostly during a hiring frenzy without the usual induction processes. At the time, IBM had called out the “conflict of interest", Wipro Ltd executive chairman Rishad Premji termed it “cheating", and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd noted the “ethical issue" of staff taking assignments keeping employers in the dark. While Infosys Ltd had said it was ready to let staff work on external projects with its knowledge, it had refused to accept moonlighting.

“There is a 70-80% drop in moonlighting instances now than a year ago. The lack of projects that need software developers, website designers and UX skillsets have led to the drop in instances," said Prasadh M.S., head of workforce research and analytics at staffing company Xpheno. Spokespeople for TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra did not respond to Mint’s