Moonlighting not ethically right for full-time employees: IBM

Amid the brouhaha over moonlighting in India, Cloud Major IBM on Wednesday made it clear that the practice is not ethical and the company does not promote such behaviour at the workplace.

Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India, said that the company's position is exactly that of the overall industry in the country.

"All of our workers when they are employed, sign an agreement which says that they are going to be working full-time for IBM. So moonlighting is not ethically right for them to get into," he told reporters.

"That's our position now and you've already heard the industry position," he added.

Moonlighting allows employees to work outside their primary working hours.

Some startups and unicorns like Swiggy have encouraged the practice, while most of the traditional companies are calling it cheating.

Infosys has warned employees against moonlighting, saying that involvement in such practice can result in "disciplinary action including termination of employment".

"No two-timing, no moonlighting", the company said in an internal memo, adding that it "strictly discourages dual employment".

Former Chairman of Wipro Azim Premji recently said that the concept of a second job in addition to the regular job was "plain and simple" cheating.

"There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating -- plain and simple," he emphasised.