India’s IT moonlighting plummets 70-90% — tech experts
MUMBAI, INDIA — The practice of moonlighting in India’s tech sector dropped significantly due to a subdued job market, limited freelance gigs, and a return to office-based work.
Prasadh M.S., head of workforce research and analytics at staffing company Xpheno, said there is a 70-80% reduction in moonlighting compared to last year, mainly due to fewer projects available for software developers and UX designers.
Similarly, Sunil Chemmankotil, CEO of staffing firm TeamLease Digital, said the fall in moonlighting underlines that it is “no longer a candidate’s market.”
“There is a 90% drop in the moonlighting cases in the IT sector, and employees do not want to jeopardize their careers with no offers in hand,” Chemmankotil added.
This decline follows the pandemic’s initial surge in demand for digital skills, prompting many remote workers to take on side projects.
Moonlighting refers to tech employees working a second job in addition to their primary job, often for a competitor.
Major Indian IT firms had previously expressed concerns about such practices, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) calling the practice an “ethical concern.”
On the other hand, Infosys allowed its employees to take up ‘gig’ work as long as it had prior consent from managers and did not pose a conflict of interest.
Interestingly, some industry insiders see moonlighting evolving into structured gig work.
Vijay Sivaram of Quess IT Staffing mentioned that while moonlighting’s popularity is declining, there is a rise in gig work “wherein clients insist checks and balances, data confidentiality by asking the employee to come to the office for few hours a week.”
Other tech experts also believe that moonlighting still persists in India, but with “increased transparency and acceptance in a company.”
