It looks like the moonlighting bug is here to suck the life out of Indian IT, but hopefully not for too long. At the earnings call held last week by IT majors, including TCS, HCL Tech, Wipro, Infosys and others, besides the discussion of economic headwinds, raising attrition, margins, profits, revenue, deal sizes, and hiring activities, the debate around moonlighting took centre stage. 

At the latest earnings call, TCS labelled it an ‘ethical issue’ and affirmed that it does not reflect the company’s core values. TCS COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam believes it is unethical and unacceptable from an employer and client perspective. “The whole industry could fall apart due to this,” he added. 

He said that businesses are built on integrity and values. “You can not do such a thing to earn more money. You need to build a career. That is why it is important to come to the office,” said Subramaniam. 

So far, TCS has not fired anyone or taken action against moonlighting employees. Wipro and Infosys, on the other hand, claimed they took action against employees found moonlighting or violating employee agreement/contract. 

Read: Indian IT takes Moonlighting Seriously  

Moonlighting cause 

One of the reasons for moonlighting in Indian IT redirects us to the measly and stagnated salaries offered to freshers. The salary package has not seen a revision in over a decade. For instance, the fresher’s salaries currently stand at INR 3.25 lakh, which is barely an 8-10 per cent increase in ten years’ time. 

Indian IT companies, including TCS, Infosys, and Wipro, offer differential salaries to freshers, starting from INR 3.5 lakh basic salary and upwards of INR 6-7 lakh to students with digital skills. Former CFO and HR head of Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai believes that the solution to this is increasing salaries and not just for some of those hired. He had previously said that the base salaries should be increased to INR 5-5.5 lakh per annum, and after a year of training, it should be increased to INR 6.5 lakh. According to him, this would cost the company 1-2 per cent of revenue, which the company can offset through lower attrition and subcontractor costs, which are an all-time high. 

Moonlighting effect   

Last month, Wipro fired nearly 300 employees over the ‘moonlighting’ faux pas. Meanwhile, Infosys sent out a reminder mail to its employees stating that people taking up dual employment or moonlighting would be terminated. 

Wipro chief Thierry Delaporte said that the contracts must be respected, leading to a conflict of interest. “How can we accept that, frankly?” he added, saying that they expect employees not only to dedicate time to the organisation but also to provide time for themselves and their families. He said it is not a question of legal, but it is a question of ethics. He feels that they do not believe it is right to have two jobs, and have a conflict of interest. “We are not doing anything new or different. It is clear to our people when they join Wipro,” said Delaporte. 

Infosys chief Salil Parekh said that the company has always focused on ensuring that its employees pay real attention to learning opportunities. “In fact, within the company, we have set up over the last several years, not now or last week, Accelerate, where employees can choose to work on different projects outside of the main work,” he added. 

“On average, more than 4,000 people apply for this on a quarterly basis. Out of which, 600 get selected,” said Parekh. He asserted that they support the aspiration of their employees in gig opportunities in the external environment to learn beyond their work. “We support them to work on certain big projects post the prior approval of the managers,” he added. 

Further, he said they are developing more comprehensive policies while ensuring contractual and cost-sensuality commitments are fully respected. “However, to be clear, we do not support dual employment,” said Parekh.