Explained: What is Swiggy’s moonlighting policy? How does it allow employees to earn more?

Can you legally hold two jobs at one time? Yes, if you are working with food-delivery giant Swiggy . In an industry first, the company has introduced a moonlighting policy for its employees. It allows employees to take up external projects. What is a moonlighting policy? Moonlighting is the practice of taking up a second job outside the normal business hours of the primary employment. Most private organisations have policies in place that prohibit this and take strict actions against the employees taking up outside gigs . However, some firms allow employees to work a second job, especially if they are on a contract basis. What do people need two jobs? The second job often comes in handy for employees if their income in the primary work is low and they need additional resources to meet their everyday needs. In some cases, a person might consider parallel employment to upskill and pursue a job profile that fuels their passion. In certain cases, people have additional time in hand. If their primary work does not keep them occupied throughout the day, they want to put those free hours to good use. What does Swiggy’s moonlighting policy say? Under the new policy, Swiggy employees can take up external projects on a pro-bono basis (without charge) or economic consideration based on internal approvals. This could include activity outside of office hours or on weekends that does not impact their productivity on the full-time job or have a conflict of interest with Swiggy’s business in any way. The firm has chalked out guidelines that employees have to follow while taking up moonlighting projects. A second job that interferes with working hours at Swiggy or poses a risk of conflict of interest is subject to internal approval. Why has Swiggy introduced this policy? Swiggy said in a blog post that the moonlighting policy is part of its efforts to be employee-centric. The guidelines have been designed in a way that makes it simpler for employees to undertake the gigs. “During the countywide lockdowns, a significant portion of the working population discovered new hobbies and perhaps even an activity that provides an additional source of income. Be it volunteering with an NGO, working as a dance instructor, or content creation for social media, Swiggy firmly believes that working on such projects outside of one’s full-time employment can significantly contribute to both professional and personal development of an individual,” the company said. “Swiggy trusts that its employees can excel in their performance while picking up interesting projects outside work. Which is why the team came up with the policy,” the company added. Girish Menon, head of human resources at the food-delivery firm, said, “Swiggy has always strived to understand the diverse aspirations of its employees and to design its organisational policies to suit their evolving needs. With the Moonlighting Policy, our goal is to encourage employees to pursue their passion without any constraints due to their full-time employment with us.” The policy is available to all full-time employees of Bundl Technologies, the parent company of Swiggy, including subsidiaries, affiliates, associates, and group companies. Last week, Swiggy announced its permanent work-from-anywhere policy for a majority of its roles. Do other companies have a moonlighting policy? Swiggy’s initiative comes as companies face high attrition and a demand for more flexibility from employees. Edtech company UpGrad allows employees to teach at other institutes as guest faculty. However, it is strictly on a case-to-case basis. Cofounder Mayank Kumar told The Economic Times that there were no plans to institute it as a policy. “It would be extremely difficult to monitor,” he said. According to Chandrika Pasricha, founder of freelance platform Flexing It, companies in the hospitality and travel sector allowed their employees to take up gigs during the pandemic because they could not utilise them fully. However, some have withdrawn that option, reports ET. Some big companies are considering the option while other small start-ups and boutique consulting firms are allowing employees to take up side jobs on approval, Pasricha told the newspaper. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.