HCLTech declares its disapproval of Moonlighting; it joins forces with TCS, Infosys and Wipro

HCLTech declares its disapproval of side jobs as it joins forces with TCS, Infosys, and Wipro.

On October 12, HCLTech made it known that it would be moonlighting, following in the footsteps of major competitors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, and Infosys. The leading provider of IT services stated during a discussion of its second-quarter results that it does not support this “dual employment” and wants employees to uphold their contractual obligations so that they can continue to work exclusively for them.

Speaking to the media, HCLTech’s chief people officer, Ram Sundararajan, said, “Dual employment while working for HCLTech—we don’t approve of that. Everyone who signs an employment contract with HCLTech agrees to the exclusivity clause.

We anticipate that our employees will uphold all applicable provisions, including those relating to confidentiality, non-solicitation, and non-compete. But if people do have interests and preferences they wish to pursue in their spare time, he continued, “we leave it to individual decisions.

The business stated that, fortunately, there hadn’t been any ongoing moonlighting occurrences, with the exception of one or two isolated incidents that are currently under investigation.

Just a few days prior, TCS criticized moonlighting as unethical and inconsistent with the company’s culture and ideals. They are not allowed to work elsewhere, the management even said, because it has “codified” this in its employment contracts. Although no one has yet been punished for moonlighting, the corporation has already made its stance known to its staff.

Since attrition rates are still high and the economic environment is still difficult, moonlighting is becoming a growing source of concern for the Indian IT sector. Because remote work is becoming more common, employees can work a second job in their spare time.

Wipro’s chairman, Rishad Premji, reportedly claimed that the business had let go of 300 staff after learning that they were working for rival companies.

On the other hand, Infosys has previously warned its staff strongly via email, threatening them with termination if they are discovered moonlighting.

HCLTech perspective on hybrid work

Like its competitors, HCLTech has chosen a hybrid work arrangement. Although it has not yet been declared required, the corporation has already “encouraged” workers to work from home three days a week.

It is being implemented, according to Sundararajan, in a decentralized manner, where project managers get to choose who should join them based on the demands of the job.

The hybrid work working model is here to stay, CEO C Vijayakumar emphasized. “We have communicated with our staff members in a huge variety of towns. We visited 20 tiny towns where we had no prior offices. At our town halls, 500 to 1000 participants come from those places,” he remarked.

From October onward, employees of TCS and Wipro will be required to work from the office three days a week.

Moonlighting an “Ethical Issue,” But TCS Took No Action Against Staff

Moonlighting is an “ethical concern” that goes against TCS’s basic values, the largest exporter of IT services in the nation, although no staff members have been disciplined.

According to the company’s chief human resources officer, Milind Lakkad, the nearly 6.16 lakh-strong workforce would consider all pertinent factors before coming to a decision on the topic that has dominated headlines over the past few weeks.

According to Mr Lakkad, moonlighting is unethical and goes against our culture and basic beliefs.

An employee is prohibited from working for any other organizations as part of the service contract, according to Rajesh Gopinathan, chief executive officer and managing director of the company.

In contrast to rival companies like Wipro, which recently announced the termination of over 300 employees, TCS, according to Mr Lakkad, has not taken any action against any employee.

He asserted that TCS has a long-term commitment to its workers and that those workers have a “reciprocal commitment” to the business. He also recognized that at the moment, its colleagues in the IT industry might have divergent opinions on the matter.

He also claimed that the business has recently begun conveying its position on moonlighting, although he did not go into any detail. In recent weeks, CXOs in the IT sector have expressed a variety of opinions on the topic of moonlighting. Due to the strong demand for services following a larger adoption of digitalization in the wake of the pandemic, the IT sector has been experiencing a staffing shortage over the past few months.

While some companies, such as Tech Mahindra, have shown support for the idea of side businesses, others, such as IBM and Wipro, have raised concerns about it.

Man’s “insensitive” explanation of how Wipro nabbed 300 “moonlighters” receives backlash on Twitter. A Twitter user described the “amazing system” the business used to find workers who may have been compelled to take a second job due to the growing cost of living in a comprehensive thread on Tuesday.

This occurred in the midst of a contentious discussion about “moonlighting,” or holding a second (hidden) job, which started after IT giant Wipro fired 300 employees last month.

In the conversation, the poster made the case that contributions to the Provident Fund, which are long-term savings accounts managed by businesses for the protection of their employees after retirement, were essential.

“IT professionals joined other businesses in the work-from-home mode after obtaining an avatar. identical ability demonstrated twice. From the comfort of one’s home and hometown, serving two distinct clients using two different computers connected to the same WiFi network.”

It turned out to be impossible to catch them. The Provident Fund Contribution is the most innocent-appearing, unobtrusive, and persistently in the background.”

The user who said that “beautifully linked technology” made it possible for these moonlighters to create two identities, both financially and demographically, claimed that it was almost difficult for them to do so.

PF runs a daily de-duplication algorithm to check for accidental double payments. They found out that some accounts belong to people who have had several donors. When businesses learned of this, the entire Bhanumati ka kunaba fell apart.”

This is how Digital India is eradicating corruption from the bottom up. The PF authorities have not independently verified this claim. Additionally, it has grown in popularity as a result of criticisms of the tone of the tweets from other people, particularly the way the sacked employees were labelled as “culprits.”

One user stated: “a wealthy person who is angry with tax-payers who are fighting to make ends meet in the country’s unimaginably difficult economic environment. Therefore, is it more enjoyable to fire 300 employees than to look into why a person works two jobs and holds the system accountable?”

Another person said, “An affluent man enjoying golf shows in a terrible light others working hard at both, attempting to obtain additional revenue to provide better for their family.”

Other forum participants asserted that rewarding high levels of expertise rather than punishing it could be a more beneficial strategy than classifying “moonlighting” as a crime.

Edited by Prakriti Arora