'No Two-Timing': Wipro Fires 300 Employees Found Moonlighting For A Rival Company

On Wednesday, Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji announced that the company had found that 300 of its employees were simultaneously working for one of its competitors and added that such incidents were handled by terminating their services.

Premji asserted that he stands by his recent comments on moonlighting being a complete violation of integrity “in its deepest form.”

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“The reality is that there are people today working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors, and we have actually discovered 300 people in the last few months who are doing exactly that,” Rishad Premji said, speaking at AIMA’s (All India Management Association) National Management Convention.

Asked about the action taken against employees who were found to be working in parallel for the company and for rivals, Premji, on the sidelines of the event, said that their employment had been terminated for an “act of integrity violation.”

What is moonlighting? 

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“The definition of moonlighting itself is having another job secretively. As part of transparency, individuals can have candid and open conversations about playing in a band or “working on a project over the weekend,” he explained. 

The topic of moonlighting tech workers has sparked a new debate that is polarizing the industry’s perspectives.

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“That is an open conversation that the organization and the individual can make a concerted choice about, on whether that works for them or doesn’t,” he said.

Separating such cases from those where employees secretly worked for competitors, the Wipro top boss made it clear “there is no space for someone to work for Wipro and competitor XYZ, and they would feel exactly the same way if they were to discover the same situation.”

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“That is what I meant…so I do stand by what I said…I think it is a violation of integrity if you are moonlighting in that shape and form,” he said. “That is what I meant…so I do stand by what I said…I do think it is a violation of integrity if you are moonlighting in that shape and form,” he said. 

The issue of ‘moonlighting’ (techies taking up side gigs to work more than one job at a time) has emerged as a big talking point after the Wipro chairman flagged the issue.

Premji had once taken to  Twitter recently to highlight the issue, saying:

“There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating – plain and simple.”

Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani tweeted recently that it is necessary to keep changing with the times and added,

“I welcome disruption in the ways we work.”

Many have, however, taken a strong stance on moonlighting.

Earlier this month, Infosys had shot off a message to its employees, asserting that dual employment or ‘moonlighting’ is not permitted and warned that any violation of contract clauses would trigger disciplinary action “which could even lead to termination of employment.”

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“No two-timing – no moonlighting!” In a strong message to employees last week, India’s second-largest IT services company said.

Infosys’ internal communication titled “no double lives” made it clear that “dual employment is not permitted as per…Employee Handbook and Code of Conduct”. The offer letter also cited the relevant clause to drive home the point.

“Any violation of these clauses will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment,” Infosys’ mail had said.

(With PTI inputs)

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