IT services giant Wipro fires 300 for moonlighting
- Reference: 1663849450
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/09/22/wipro_fires_300_for_moonlighting/
- Source link:
"The reality is that there are people today working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors. We've actually discovered 300 people in the last few months were doing exactly that," [1]said Premji at the 49th All India Management Association convention in New Delhi.
Premji called such activity "a complete violation of integrity in its deepest form," adding that "there's no space for someone to work for Wipro and competitor x, y, and z."
[2]
The chairman [3]reportedly confirmed to the Economic Times India on the sidelines of the convention that the 300 people he referred to had their employment terminated.
[4]
[5]
The anti-moonlighting rhetoric is not new to the former NASSCOM chairperson. Last month he [6]tweeted his views, sparking a debate as to how employees use their off hours in an era when IT skills are in demand and the cost of living is on the rise.
There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple. — Rishad Premji (@RishadPremji) [7]August 20, 2022
"I've never got so much hate mail as I got for that and I think it was meant more sincerely than people interpreted it," said Premji.
Premji did clarify that by the term "moonlighting" he meant having a second job secretly. However, his message became a little muddled as he declared an employee should be candid with their employer about their after-hours activities, disclosing if they "play in a band at night or work on some project over the weekend."
"The two adult individuals – the organization and the individual – can make a concerted choice about whether that works for them or doesn't work for them as an organization," said Premji, whose LinkedIn bio shows him serving on at least four boards.
[8]One in five employees at top Indian outsourcers left in the past year
[9]Infosys noncompete clause sparks complaint from labor rights org
[10]Indian IT services biz HCL sees boom in business – and staff attrition
[11]IT labor rights group files complaint against HCL, claiming it's clawing back bonuses
Predictably, IT labor rights org Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) weighed in on the hypocrisy that only the elite are allowed such extracurricular activities.
Will [12]#Moonlighting be termed as cheating just for employees or employers as well?? [13]#Wipro_cheats [14]#Wipro [15]@RishadPremji [16]pic.twitter.com/JPByGvMlRi — Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (@NITESenate) [17]September 21, 2022
The issue of moonlighting has become a hot topic among India's top IT companies. Tata Consultancy Services' chief operating officer, N Ganapathy Subramaniam, [18]labeled moonlighting an ethical issue that damages the culture, resulting in short-term gain for long-term pain.
Infosys sent an email to employees last week titled "No Double Lives." The email, viewed by The Register , warned staff that "dual employment is not permitted" and can result in disciplinary action, including possible termination of employment.
[19]
"Employees have a contract to work with Infosys for 9 hours only," said NITES president Harpreet Singh Salujah of the email. "What the employees do outside working hours is their prerogative."
Prior to the email, Infosys's former director, Mohandas Pai, [20]mused that moonlighting is caused by junior pay grades staying stagnant for over a decade, compounded by the extra time recovered when employees work from home and no longer have (sometimes lengthy) commutes.
Top players in India's IT services industry have struggled to find new employees and keep existing ones. Quarterly reports in May and April of this year [21]revealed that India's big four outsourcers averaged 22.7 percent attrition in the year prior.
[22]
Creative tactics that are often not so employee-friendly have been used to keep staff from jumping ship. Infosys instituted a [23]noncompete clause that bars staff from working for the company's customers for six months after terminating employment, and from working for competitors for one year after employment. Meanwhile, HCL technologies has [24]forced employees to pay back bonuses when they leave. ®
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[1] https://youtu.be/Q94t6rPAFTk?t=7720
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YyyGln1didhn56Vudx1QswAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/information-tech/wipro-fires-300-staff-members-found-to-be-moonlighting-for-competitors/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YyyGln1didhn56Vudx1QswAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YyyGln1didhn56Vudx1QswAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/29/india_it_worker_moonlighting_debate/
[7] https://twitter.com/RishadPremji/status/1560894886026440704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/03/attrition_tcs_wipro_infosys_hcl/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/19/infosys_noncompete_clause_complaints/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/18/hcl_q3fy22/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/07/hcl_complaint/
[12] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Moonlighting?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[13] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wipro_cheats?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[14] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wipro?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[15] https://twitter.com/RishadPremji?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[16] https://t.co/JPByGvMlRi
[17] https://twitter.com/NITESenate/status/1572568330615279616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[18] https://www.businesstoday.in/news-reel/video/tcs-exclusive-take-on-moonlighting-345679-2022-08-26
[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YyyGln1didhn56Vudx1QswAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVjWSdhmEuE
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/03/attrition_tcs_wipro_infosys_hcl/
[22] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YyyGln1didhn56Vudx1QswAAAMg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/19/infosys_noncompete_clause_complaints/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/07/hcl_complaint/
[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Must show loyalty constantly
Maybe Europeans, but definitely not Americans. America is very much in the grips of the same nonsense. Employees are expected to have cult-like devotion to the employer, but the employer is free to abuse them, or even discard them, on a whim, and the employees are expected to be grateful for it. There's no shortage of talking heads ready to defend this sort of thing either.
I'm a little torn
On the one hand, I'm generally of the mindset that, as long as you are getting the work done you're being paid for... what you do in your spare time is none of your employer's business. If I am paying you to produce 50 widgets over the span of 8-hours, but you can do that in 2, with no reduction in quality, you can have the extra 6-hours off as a reward as far as I'm concerned.
The one exception I might grant is when your after-work activities might impact your day job. If you're part of Apple's iPhone development team, for example, and you do some consulting work for Samsung in the same area... that could be an issue. But if you were doing some contract work for Adobe on the next version of Photoshop, that doesn't have anything at all to do with your work at Apple. So, as long as you don't blab about specs for the next iPhone or something, it's none of Apple's business.
Re: I'm a little torn
Nominally, I would agree, though conflicts of interest can arise. Particularly where working for one employer gives intel that can be used and abused by a second.
There are a few regulated industries in the UK where moonlighting is not blocked, but needs to be declared to control such risks.
And then there are the downright corrupt that will just do it anyway; but that is a different story!
restrictive conditions?
> working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors. We've actually discovered 300 people in the last few months were doing exactly that
Did their contract of employment explicitly prohibit that?
It also makes you wonder, how does Wipro know that they were working for them (Wipro) before starting work (moonlighting) for someone else. It could be that their Wipro gig was the moonlighting.
Still, it sounds like they have another job to fall back on.
Re: restrictive conditions?
"> working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors. We've actually discovered 300 people in the last few months were doing exactly that
Did their contract of employment explicitly prohibit that?"
First, in almost every country I've been to, and I suppose India is one of them, 2 full times jobs is prohibited by the law.
Second, every IT services company I've worked for, of course, not only prohibits this, but also prohibits leaking any info to a competitor.
I can't imagine Wipro didn't do the basics !
Have they thought of paying enough so that workers don't need another job to make ends meet?
Oooh there go my stitches again!
To quote George Carlin
We don't have time for rational solutions!
inflation
"Prior to the email, Infosys's former director, Mohandas Pai, mused that moonlighting is caused by junior pay grades staying stagnant for over a decade, compounded by the extra time recovered when employees work from home and no longer have (sometimes lengthy) commutes."
Not to be forgotten India's inflation which is now quite high. India employee salary stagnant for one decade ???? Not happening, ever, mate. Less than 10% increase YoY is seen as an insult or a way to show you the door.
Must show loyalty constantly
Minions Must show loyalty constantly but saintly mangers can have as many jobs as they want.
How long will it take for India to get out of this phase in their catching up to the sophisticated heights of the Europeans or Americans?