On moonlighting, TCS official says companies should show ‘empathy’ for employees

Explaining its position on moonlighting, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recently said the practice is against the company’s ‘core values and culture.’ Now, a top TCS official has said action against moonlighting can ruin an individual’s career, and, therefore, employers should show empathy while addressing the issue.

“The consequences of taking action will be that the person’s career will be ruined. Background check for a future job will fail for him. We have to show some empathy,” said N Ganapathy Subramaniam, the Mumbai-headquartered firm’s Chief Operating Officer (COO).

“We cant’ see them getting penalised at such a young age,” Subramaniam further said. However, he acknowledged that if a company has evidence that an employee has taken up another job besides his primary job, it can take action because as a part of the service agreement between the employer and employee, the latter is prohibited from taking up a second job.

Multinationals such as TCS, which work with top global corporations, cannot let an activity like moonlighting continue as the data of the customer has to be protected, Subramaniam further remarked.

If employees work from office instead of working from home (WFH), a lot of their concerns can be addressed, he also noted.

It is to be noted that TCS is among companies to have taken an anti-moonlighting stand, the others being Infosys, Wipro and IBM. On the other hand, Swiggy and Tech Mahindra have supported the idea.

(With PTI inputs)