With the current economic environment, people are doing whatever it takes to make ends meet. Unfortunately, sometimes this means a second job. A recent survey of employees who moonlight shows that 13% moonlight with a second job because of the economy. The DOL estimates that as many as 4.17 million Americans moonlight.
Moonlighting is defined as “to work at an additional job after one’s regular, full time employment, as at night”.
So should organizations be concerned with their employees moonlighting? At what point can or should an organization speak to employees about working a second job?
Through the years, I’ve worked with people who worked a second job to support their families. They would maybe work a couple jobs doing the same types of things. The typical scenario would be holding down one job during the day and the second job on the evening shift. My heart went out to those people because I had a difficult enough time managing one job so being able to juggle two jobs had physical, as well as practical logistical, challenges. Practical things like doing laundry, cooking dinner, cleaning the house and other personal responsibilities needed to be done in between two jobs.
Why employees moonlight:
- Employees are trying to make up what was lost in pay freezes, furloughs or decreased hours.
- Technology makes a second job easier, especially with smart phones and virtual access.
Positives about moonlighting:
- Employees can improve their job skills on someone else’s dime. Employees may be learning new skills that can benefit their organization.
- Allowing employees to Moonlight can help improve retention. Employees may not feel as much desire to look for another job when they can juggle both.
- Moonlighting can help compensate employees in a difficult economy.
Employer concerns about moonlighting:
- Moonlighting may give employees the opportunity to divulge trade secrets.
- Employees may become distracted or unproductive from core job responsibilities.
- Employees may use company resources for second job.
- Employee may come to work tired and ultimately sleep on the job.
- Second job can detract from job responsibilities, focus and can affect employee’s health.
- Does second job affect current job responsibilities?
What organizations can do to manage moonlighting employees:
- Employers should focus on performance management and employee performance. Are they accomplishing their employee goals? Is the organization meeting its business goals?
- Have conflict of interest policies that employees sign off on and have a good understanding of. Does what the employee does for a second job interfere with organization’s key objectives?
- Employers should be flexible and look at each situation individually.
- Employers should make sure employees do not moonlight with a competitor. Working for a competitor may create the opportunity for the employee to divulge trade secrets.
Moonlighting policies should be specific, yet flexible. Employees need to understand their boundaries as well as be given a good understanding of why a policy exists. Having well thought out policies and a good management process for moonlighting can create a positive outcome for both the employee as well as the employer.
photo by: Claudio.Ar
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