21 Oct , 2022 By : Monika Singh
As the debate on moonlighting rages, Infosys has allowed its employees to take up external gig work, after obtaining prior approval of their managers, thus becoming the first major IT firm in the country to do so.
“Any employee, who wishes to take up gig work, may do so, with the prior consent of their manager and BP-HR, and in their personal time, for establishments that do not compete with Infosys or Infosys’ clients,” according to an email sent by the company to its employees.
While the email does not mention the term “moonlighting”, it lays down guidelines that is expected to help employees take up side projects that are not in direct conflict with their employment contract.
Infosys did not respond to FE’s query on the subject till the time of going to the press.
“We count on our employees to ensure that this does not impact their ability to work with Infosys effectively. In addition, as per Infosys employment contract, employees may not work in areas when there is a potential conflict of interest or by accepting dual employment,” the email said. Infosys, as an organisation, values learnability and that they are supportive of employees taking up additional projects, it added.
The company clarified that employees need to ensure that the projects they take up “comply with the company’s policy for gig working, and do not breach client contracts or otherwise impact the employee’s ability to be effective in their full-time job with Infosys”.
Infosys said that much of these requirements can be addressed when employees have a discussion with their managers before taking up these projects.
Last week, during the Q2 earnings, Infosys chief executive officer Salil Parekh had said that while the company was against the idea of dual employment, it provided gig work projects within the organisation, under its Accelerate programme. As part of the programme – which Parekh said has existed for several years – employees are free to take up additional work at work or even outside, to grow, after prior approval from managers.
“To be clear, we do not support dual employment. If we’ve found in the past employees who are doing blatant work in two specific companies, where there are confidentiality issues, we have let go of them in the last 12 months,” Parekh said.
“We are also developing comprehensive policies on that front while ensuring that contractual and confidentiality commitments are fully respected,” he had added.
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