Swiggy, the on demand food, grocery and intra-city parcel delivery company, startled everybody on Wednesday when it revealed an industry-first moonlighting policy that allows staff to work on other initiatives and work projects once their working hours are over. Workers are now allowed, subject to internal approval, to accept social or even paid outside tasks under specific circumstances.
Moonlighting in the working industry means the act of working a new line of work other than the main job’s regular hours of operation. The majority of commercial businesses have procedures in place that forbid this and take aggressive stance against workers who accept work from external sources. However, some companies let workers to hold down a second job, particularly if they are employed on a contractual basis.
“This could encompass activity outside of office hours or on weekends that does not impact their productivity on the full-time job or have a conflict of interest with Swiggy’s business in any way,” the company said in a press release.
Per the company Swiggy itself, a large number of individuals in the nation encountered new hobbies, skills and abilities during the nationwide lockdown caused by Covid-19, and an added job may prove to be a new source of revenue for the family.
“Be it volunteering with an NGO, working as a dance instructor, or content creation for social media, Swiggy firmly believes that working on such projects outside of one’s full-time employment can significantly contribute to both professional and personal development of an individual,” the company’s press release added.
The Swiggy app’s operating company, Bundl Technologies, as well as its subsidiaries, affiliates, associates, and group companies may all take advantage of the policy. Every time the business believes there may be a conflict between an external project and an employee’s obligations, it will put in place an approval procedure.
Head of Human Resources at Swiggy Girish Menon also put his take in the press release. He said, “With the Moonlighting Policy, our goal is to encourage employees to pursue their passion without any constraints due to their full-time employment with us. This is yet another step in our journey towards building a world class ‘people first’ organization.”
Though this type of stance does give workers more liberty, more opportunities to develop their skills, and a prospective extra income source that could quell the employee’s desire to transfer out, there will be numerous difficulties in supervising such side businesses and there is a risk of future dispute. One person making a mistake or betraying confidence could cause the remainder of the group to react negatively.