Welcome Moonlighting for “Cheating Employers” Or for Choosing Affairs as It Pleases the Employees to Make It Their Rights and Is the Time Ripe???
Karma Management Global Consulting Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is one of the top 5 consultancy firms, established in the year 2004, with headquarters in the business district of Santacruz East, Mumbai, India, and full-scale operation in all the States, having about 200 direct and indirect staff on its roll, is a leading service provider for payroll and payroll compliances, outsourcing, facility services, HR services, Training & Development, Recruitment & Talent Acquisition, Legal and Para legal services, Disputes and Litigation Handling, Inspection Management and Liaisoning, Advisory Services, Social, Environment and Vendor Audits, Regulatory compliances ad Governance.
Compliance with labour and employment laws has become one of the most important issues that many establishments in India have to deal with. Many of employment disputes result in litigation. Karma Management is an Indian HR, Payroll, and Compliance firm advising clients worldwide on local, regional and global regulatory compliances in relation to their business goals, business strategies, and resolving disputes.
It gives valuable suggestions and advice to corporates, investors, institutions, contractors, establishments, industries etc. on the need for lowering employment risk across all levels and adhering to the laws of the land. It has a lot of expertise on employment-related compliance issues, as well as day-to-day support for the human resource department and in-house counsels. Karma Management is also into employment agreements and policies, structuring of compensation and benefits, employment aspects of merger and takeover, etc.
Karma Management’s force, strength, and reach has brought in tremendous change over from its earlier image of being a consultancy firm in the period of 2000, to now embarking on setting practices abroad in highly regulated markets and competing in the global arena.
With India overtaking the UK to emerge as the fifth largest economy in the world and setting to become the third largest by2029, Karma Global is all poised for long-term value in terms of client outreach and giving state-of-the-art technology and excellent services to global clients better than ever before,
Gig Economy: History, Growth, Statistics, Advantages, Disadvantages, Criticism, Impactful, Lawful, Issues, Pandemic and the Economy, let us take a look!!
Gig Economy, also referred to as “crowdsourcing”, the “sharing economy” and the “collaborative economy”, is where individuals can market their skill sets (in both the unskilled labour market and as skilled professionals) and sell their services online on different platforms or companies.
Examples of the Gig economy
As quoted in leading newspapers, the gig economy is very much prevalent in many organizations, especially in these techno-savvy times.
In this era of the modern technology of the internet and overpowering concepts, the push towards the gig economy has never felt greater. With just a proper running internet connection, transactions of buying and selling can happen online. The following cloud-based platforms, either in the form of websites or apps or both, have brought together the independent worker and the prospective business client:
Some Examples of Gig economy applications:
- Uber: It is a prime example as a representative of the gig economy, especially considering the Uber Driver Partners’ app. Here, anyone, according to their own availability, route, and convenience, may choose to start earning by connecting their own personal vehicles.
- HopSkipDrive: A great start-up idea that provides an easy commute for children whose parents are busy and may not have the time to drop them to their schools, or coaching classes. They have diligently verified drivers, aged 23 and above, and with a proven track record of childcare experience. A good earning opportunity for drivers with complete comprehensive insurance coverage, and also a trusted platform for parents.
- Parking Panda: In these crunch times with traffic at an all-time high, and ever-increasing, parking space is a luxury. Making this luxury, also an earning opportunity for space providers, this app brings the owners and the space seekers together. Anyone may post online, the availability of their parking space according to their own convenience and gain profits through a customer who needs the space.
- Airbnb: What the Uber Driver Partners’ app is in the space of transport, Airbnb is, in the area of housing property. Any type of housing property owners may post online their property’s availability for any probable rental agreement, lasting from about a few hours to even days or months. There is also a provision of referral bonuses for providers and customers.
History of the Gig Economy
The gig economy started to take off in the late 90s and early 90s along with the digital era. During the 1990s, 10% of the US workforce was employed as contractors, temps, and on-call workers, as the demand for more flexible work patterns and non-permanent staff intensified.
In the year 1995 Craigslist was introduced, which provided local San Francisco-based online classifieds for different jobs, items wanted and for sale, gigs, services, resumes, housing, and more.
This was followed by the launch of Upwork in 1999, which allowed freelancers to use the internet to find new projects and clients.
The gig economy gained significance around 2008 when the Great Recession hit due to which people had less secure and limited location-based work and found themselves unable to find stable work.
How does the Gig work?
It consists of tasks (anything like delivering a lecture, housekeeping service, or working on software development) that the worker completes. A person can opt to work for specified hours or on a project basis. Once either of these is completed, he moves on to the next gig. When workers tend to work on a variety of tasks or different shifts for various clients or companies, their aggregate earnings may resemble that of full-time employment.
In the Gig Economy, the company is not the employer of the worker but rather a connector between the contractors and the clients. The gig economy mostly operates on technology platforms that aim to connect workers looking for flexible work arrangements with the companies who need them in a centralized location, such as an app or website. However, Gig economy workers can also work for more traditional companies, which have changed how their staffing system operates.
Why is the Gig economy growing?
There are various reasons that contribute to the growth of the Gig economy.
The workers seem to prefer freelancing over full-time employment due to its flexibility and independence. It has created better opportunities of finding more work across the globe and made work more adaptable to the changing needs and demands for flexible lifestyles.
With Gig, freelancers can make lifestyle choices that a conventional job would not allow. They can choose when and where to work and at the same time determine how much they will charge for their services.
Companies are benefitting from having a flexible workforce; they are spending less money on training or recruitment, need not pay for any medical coverage, and can more easily replace their workforce if needed.
Contracted workers are more cost-effective for businesses and employers are benefitted from a wider range of applicant pool to choose from, also, they don’t necessarily need to hire one based on one’s proximity.
Gig economy by Numbers:
- 36% of the entire US workforce, is a contributor, based on their primary or secondary jobs.
- 29% of US workers have an alternate work arrangement, thus contributing towards the size of the US gig economy.
- 63% of full-time employees have expressed their desire to start working independently if given the opportunity.
- Almost 40% of the US workforce now earns at least 40% of their total income through gig work.
- More than 75% of gig workers have explicitly stated that they wouldn’t leave their current freelance work for a full-time opportunity.
- 55% of the US gig workers also do have a second full-time employment.
- Close to 37% of full-time freelancers, independent gig workers, and consultants are relatively young and are aged 21 to 38 years.
- Over the span of the next five years, more than 50% of the US adult workforce will either be working or would have worked as independent gig workers.
- More than 90% of Americans, in general, are open to the idea of freelancing and independent working.
- 10. According to Forbes magazine, the gig economy is expanding three times faster than the US workforce as a whole.
India has emerged as the 5th largest country for Flexi-staffing after the US, China, Brazil, and Japan.
India ranks 7th in the talent pool of graduates in science and engineering.
Further, India is witnessing a rise in the need for supplemental income due to high unemployment amongst the urban youth, increasing cost of living, growing aspirations of students, and changing mindsets of women engaged in homemaking.
Major Industries that hire Gig workers
Here are career categories that hire for freelance and gig economy jobs that you can do remotely.
- Computer & IT: The Computer & IT category covers a broad range of jobs. You can find postings in everything from Digital Marketing to internet security.
- Writing: Writers produce a variety of written materials for various audiences. This can range from corporate reports for the executive suite to blog posts and web content. Gig jobs include Content Writer, Project Manager; Resume Writer; Senior UX Copywriter.
- Accounting and Finance: Careers in accounting and finance include all things money-related. Jobs can include handling accounts payables and receivables, tax return preparation, or financial forecasting.
- Project Management: Project managers coordinate projects from start to finish. This can include working with internal and external vendors, managing the budget, and dealing with delays.
- Administrative: Administrative professionals provide support for executives, including handling incoming and outgoing communications, managing projects, and scheduling travel.
- Education and Training: As an educator or trainer, you’ll help teach people new skills. You can work as a corporate trainer, part-time professor, coach, tutor, or instructor.
The Pros and Cons of Gig Work
Like any job, there are pros and cons to participating in the gig economy.
Pros of Gig Work
- Flexibility: The most obvious gig work pro is flexibility. As a gig worker, you get to choose when and where you work, which clients you take on (and which ones you don’t), and even set your rates in some situations. You can choose to work only weekends, only nights, or only one hour a week if you like.
- Test Drive Something New: Gig work is something some people do for additional income. But for other people, it’s a way to test-drive a new career.
- Being a gig worker allows you to explore a passion and see if it’s something more than a passing fancy, without losing your primary source of income.
- Save time and money, while making businesses more agile: In a gig economy, companies may lessen their costs linked to resources like money and time. Money is easily saved by hiring experts not for longer permanent durations, but for shorter project-based timelines. This also saves on the lots of privileges that any permanent expert enjoys as perks of a high-paying job, ones like paid vacations and insurance. This especially is useful for jobs requiring more technical expertise where the concerned person is hired for a shorter duration.
Cons of Gig Work
- Lack of Benefits: You can choose when you work and when you don’t work, but the reality is, you don’t get paid if you don’t work. And, as a gig worker, you likely won’t have health insurance or other benefits, either.
- Inconsistent Income: With most gig jobs, you’re paid by the project or task. The problem is, you may not have control over how many tasks you’re able to complete in a day or a week.
- Burnout: Working multiple jobs or at odd hours isn’t for everybody. Some people find that as flexible as the work is, gig work becomes tiring and stressful after a while.
- Loneliness: Long distances or even longer working hours to contend, the delivery personnel or drivers, may face loneliness. Also, people involved in writing, editing, designing or web development, or similar desk jobs, may start to have limited access to real-life human interactions.
- Need for more discipline and resilience: Individual workers in a gig economy may enjoy a lot of freedom, but this freedom may also create a sense of indiscipline sometimes. With greater responsibility, the workers will have to show even more grit to complete projects on time, and assure the clients of quality delivery, while also showing more resilience to probable rejections or even greater scrutiny from the clients.
Criticisms of the Gig Economy
Despite its benefits, there are some downsides to the gig economy. While not all employers are inclined to hire contracted employees, the gig economy trend can make it harder for full-time employees to develop in their careers since temporary employees are often cheaper to hire and more flexible in their availability. Workers who prefer a traditional career path and the stability and security that come with it are being crowded out in some industries.
Is the Gig Economy Worth It?
To the individuals working in the gig economy, it is worth it. Studies show that 79% of individuals who work in the gig economy are more satisfied than when they were working traditional jobs.
Impact of COVID-19 on the Gig Economy
With all major economies going into recession and slowdown, COVID-19 has greatly hit the job market. However, in the case of gig workers, some are struggling to find work while others are seeing job opportunities increase. Delivery drivers or those who pick up food orders for online platforms such as Big Basket and Zomato have seen demand skyrocket as consumers obeying calls for quarantining have ordered food and supplies to their homes rather than venturing to physical stores.
A challenge that gig-economy workers may face is that they are typically not registered with the government and regulatory agencies, making it difficult to ensure that government help will reach them.
India’s tech outsourcing giants are not happy about employees taking up second jobs.
The Indian technology outsourcing industry has been abuzz with debates about “TWO TIMINGS” and “CHEATING” over the past couple of weeks, as companies deal with a growing trend of employees “moonlighting” or taking up second jobs.
On September 16, Infosys sent an email to its employees, reminding them that they were not allowed to hold dual employment.
On September 21, Wipro fires over 300 employees over allegations of moonlighting.
” Tech Mahindra, a mid-sized IT firm, has said it might consider framing a policy that allows dual employment, as long as “someone is meeting the efficiency and productivity norms.”
What does the Indian law say about moonlighting in the IT industry?
With respect to the IT industry, the Shops and Establishment Acts regulate the hours of work, terms of services, leave and holidays, payment of wages, and working conditions, among other things.
The Act, in some states, says that an employee cannot work with another organization on a day on which they have been given a holiday. It is fair from a human rights standpoint that these are days given to the employee to rest and recuperate.
So, as far as a plain reading of these provisions is concerned, there does not appear to be a specific legal restriction on a person holding two employments on the same day.
There are cases in which employees hold multiple employments, subject to fact-specific scenarios.
For example, the CFO of a company may be looking at the financials of multiple group entities and holding employment with them. In those specific scenarios, it is generally seen that an employee may hold dual employment, and from a purely legal standpoint, it is not restricted.
Are IT companies within their legal rights to fire employees over moonlighting?
Typically, most tech organizations have provisions in their employment contract or policies clearly stating that the employment is on a full-time basis and the employee is not allowed to be employed in any other organization on a permanent, temporary, or part-time basis, without the prior consent of the employer.
These documents also include clauses around conflict of interest, confidentiality, and working simultaneously with another employer, especially a competitor. So long as these clauses are present in the contract and the employee has agreed to those terms and conditions, a company can always legally enforce them in court.
Can Indian IT companies make exceptions to allow dual employment?
Employers reserve their right to allow the same on a case-by-case basis and based on adequate disclosures by employees.
The real issue lies in the fact that employees start to take the liberty to take up another employment covertly, without making disclosures to their current employer.
Advise for youngsters taking up dual employment?
Employees should look at the fine print of their employment contracts, company policies, etc.
Most tech companies already have contractual clauses to restrict dual employment, and those who don’t have them already will now start including such clauses since the moonlighting issue has become so prominent.
Employees must also be absolutely transparent with the employer, and in all integrity, disclose if they have an entrepreneurial ambition and want to explore a new idea at the appointment stage itself.
There is no two ways about this, taking up a regular job and also taking up covertly other assignments may be with competitors. You have to make up your mind clearly whether to proceed as a full-time salaried person or want to freelance.
Conclusion
Global forces will continue to make the gig economy relevant. If individuals and organizations want to consider proactive strategies to beat the global competition, they cannot afford to ignore the freelance workforce. In fact, the gig economy has succeeded to gain momentum internationally to be a critical factor in the very near future.
Redefining Success
Career success usually comes with security and equanimity in professionally run organizations.
For independent workers, however, all this will be elusive. They have to take a call and decide about their own method of redefining success, either with a top organization or as a successful individual. For people in the gig economy, this will come as a different kind of success — one that comes from finding a balance between predictability and possibility, between viability (the promise of continued work) and vitality (feeling present, authentic, and alive in one’s work).
For some of them, a sense of confidence will come from a career as a self-employed person, and others, will get this confidence by building environments around their full-time workplace, by working with routines and people around them for more creativity and growth.
So it will be to the respective groups, whether they want to operate more from a place of choice as opposed to a place of need.”
Some will be able to find mental space or strength in a traditional workplace while others will find working individually more successful.
If you fit in the categories that exist in Organizations to be more effective, the choice lies with you and if you find the working environment in a group or organization a kind of discomfit and uncertain, now is the time to weigh your options and decide what suits you the best.
Karma Management is a fully home-grown successful Organization, operating both with contract employees as well as with the permanent type of employees who are placed in the locations of global and domestic clients.
Karma Management has traditionally been a dynamic regulatory compliance-driven organization with an integrated and up-to-mark approach to HR Services.
Karma has always set its sights on keeping a tab and interpreting the regulatory changes in the manner required by authorities with a focus on the implementation of these new rules coupled with the adeptness to sophisticated technology, which has placed them in the top 5 today as far as HR Service Oriented Organization is concerned.
Karma Management’s experts at the office catering to over 400 clients are fully intertwined with the workflow and processes that are leading most of its clients to convert their value drivers into the transformation of their businesses.
Karma Management’s technology securely integrates regulatory compliance across all types of businesses from trading to operations to investor services to financials and banks while also providing the clients access to these technologies with the power to control their process operations with a dashboard and ready updates on the workflows done monthly and timely as per stipulated dates set by the authorities.
The greatest satisfaction comes from the outflow of communication to clients for future reviews and analysis of the monthly work done with data visualization tools that surface their activities done by the professional team of Karma in its corporate headquarters in Mumbai and Branch Offices in Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Gurgaon, Gujarat, etc.
Proprietory blog of Karma Management Global Tech Firm
This blog has been collated and compiled by the internal staff of Karma with the knowledge and expertise that they possess, for its monthly newsletter Issue 05 of November 2022 in case of specific or general information or compliance updates for that matter, kindly reach out to the
Marketing Team – Kush@karmamgmt.com / yashika@karmamgmt.com