RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka backed Wipro for its stand on moonlighting for which the IT giant fired 300 employees earlier this week, sparking a fierce debate on the new trend. He said that Wipro, one of the top IT services providers, can't be compared to Swiggy.
Moonlighting: Wipro vs Swiggy - they just can't be compared. Wipro deals with Fortune 500 clients for whom data secrecy is sacrosanct. If the customer finds even a remote chance of data compromise, it won't be tolerated, he said.
Moonlighting is an act by employees of taking up part-time assignments from the second company while already working for one on its payroll.
Some companies like Swiggy allow their employees to take up a job outside of office hours and weekends that does not affect their business.
IT companies like IBM, Infosys and Wipro have taken a position against dual jobs. The debate gained a lot of momentum when Wipro chief Rishad Premji said in a tweet on August 20 that there was a lot of talk about people moonlighting in the tech industry. He said that this is simple and cheating.
After him, many top executives echoed his views and said that if an employee signs a contract, he or she should not violate it and that the person should only work for the company. Infosys recently shot off an email warning its employees that dual employment is not permitted and that any violation of contract clauses could lead to termination of employment. Premji reported on Wednesday that Wipro had terminated 300 employees after they were found to be working for competitors. Many employees said it was a very harsh decision by the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who backed moonlighting, but cautioned employees against contract violations. He said that the companies should understand the structural shift in the industry and that captive work models would fail if applied.