IBM Joins Other IT Players in Opposing Moonlighting, Calls it Unethical

With over a lakh of employees in India, global tech major IBM, on Wednesday, termed ‘moonlighting’ as an unethical practice.

Since its introduction, Moonlighting—the practice of taking up secondary jobs after regular work hours—has received varied reactions from tech players in India. While many have openly embraced the idea, others have criticised it rather harshly. 

Sandip Patel, managing director for IBM India/South Asia, said, “At the time of joining, the company's employees sign an agreement saying they will be working only for IBM. Notwithstanding what people can do in the rest of their time, it is not ethically right to do that [moonlighting].” 

Wipro's executive chairman, Rishad Premji, had previously referred to such behaviour by employees akin to cheating. “You know Rishad's position on this, right? I share Rishad's position,” Sandip Patel said. 

When enquired about the company's hiring intentions for India, which is significant to the company both as a source of talent and as a market—Sandip Patel responded that the pandemic's impact is yet to be completely reversed, which is why the IT sector has adopted the hybrid style of working.

Tier-2 and tier-3 cities were referred to as ‘rising clusters’ by Patel, with claims of the company wanting to increase its presence in the country. In addition to maintaining operations in Kolkata and the National Capital Region, IBM India has established a delivery centre in Mysuru.

The tech firm has also announced its partnership with Airtel to provide Indian enterprises with secured edge cloud services. Among these enterprises is one of India's largest passenger car makers—Maruti Suzuki, who is expected to deploy this platform to improve its quality control and ensure data protection.