Moonlighting refers to the practice of pursuing more than one job. Of late, there is higher demand for skills and talents. Moonlighting enables you to avail of these opportunities to make extra money. Many IT sectors jobs can be performed from home. It provides favourable circumstances to do moonlighting. Moonlighting receives a boost by leveraging the network of contacts. Mostly freshers do not do moonlightig. More than 80 per cent moonlighting happens within an experience range of 4-8 years.

Indian top management or C-suite is divided on its opinion about moonlighting — some call it plain cheating where as some see as the change in policy in future. Some call it as short term gains for the employees, who lose out in the long term. Those who are receptive to it also expect the employees to be open about it, and declare the moonlighting assignment to the existing employer.

It is not possible to keep moonlighting secret. It could be seen from multiple provident accounts and background checks being done by third party vendors. Some companies sack the moonlighters. Some blacklist them.

Employees feel that as long as they discharge their duties effectively, the employers should be liberal about such practices.

At the macro-level, there is demand-supply mismatch. Besides, entry-level salaries have remained poor. The growth in salaries too has not kept pace with the expectations. There is a high demand for digital skills. It is necessary to reconsider the policy in this light. Organisations must become flexible. There should be conditions — no conflict of interest, no breach of confidentiality, respecting IP and ensuring productivity. The government too can change the labour laws to accommodate such employees.