Joseph Anantharaju, director of Happiest Minds, said it is addressing concerns about moonlight and reportedly said the company was clear with employees about moonlight and that it deems the practice unacceptable.
New Delhi,UPDATED: 25 Oct 2022 11:11 IST
Illustration by Nilanjan Das
By Abhik Sengupta: Indian IT firm Happiest Mind Technologies has reportedly fired a “few” employees for “moonlighting,” which essentially means taking a second job without informing the primary employer. In fact, the company has deemed the practice “unacceptable”, echoing Wipro’s earlier response, which equated moonlighting with cheating. The exact number of laid-off workers remains unclear, but the individuals were involved in such practices over the past 6-12 months, probably in the work-from-home model. The company has even said moonlight is not “very common” within the company.
According to The Economic Times, Happiest Minds had approximately 4,581 employees as of September 30, 2022, and the company posted a 33.7 percent year-over-year net profit growth in Q22022 (July to August quarter). The company’s official website states that it specializes in providing solutions to partners in AI, blockchain, cloud, digital process automation and the Internet of Things.
Joseph Anantharaju, director of Happiest Minds, told the publication that the company was clear to employees about moonlight, to address concerns about moonlight. The senior executive went on to say, “Because when you sign a contract or job offer, you agree to work for that company only”. When asked if the company found employees who were secretly taking second jobs, Anantharaju said it found a few and immediately terminated them.
He notes: “We’re clear, you can’t earn extra. If you want to do some volunteer work in unrelated areas… maybe you want to teach on the weekends at a school that is different. But for us, you have to do all your spend time on Happiest Minds and train here”.
Happiest Minds has started calling employees back to the office as a measure for greater transparency. Physically, working from the office also allows companies to identify these practices by employees. Currently, 60 percent of Happiest Minds’ workforce is working from the office and this number will increase next April.
Moonlighting has divided the Indian IT sector. The moonlight debate widened when Wipro chief Rishad Premji equated it with cheating. However, he later clarified that he is okay with employees taking on second jobs as long as they don’t work with competing companies. Other Indian IT firms, such as Tata Consultancy Services, called moonlight an ethical issue, while Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani said he could be open to the practice if it helps employees earn extra money. Recently, Infosys said it was firing people who worked for two companies at once.
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