Exploring the Boundaries of Moonlighting: Balancing Act in Professional Practice

Abstract:

The HR department of ‘Global Consulting Company’ Bengaluru experienced a weird scenario in the midst of June 2022 when the company was put to a lot of tumult. The General Manager HR was shocked when one of the junior executives of the organisation levelled serious charges against her Senior Manager Mrs. Kavitha Malhotra. Even though the complaint was overtly seen as frivolous, the authority felt it has potential to impact greatly on the productivity of the entire department if not attended. The allegation against Mrs. Malhotra was on her attention to other company affairs neglecting her own office colleagues. As per the allegation, this attitude of the middle level manager was slowly leading to a compromised work culture inside the department. The matter was then forwarded to the ‘Internal Ethics Department’ of the organisation for further enquiry. The General Manager was dumbfounded upon receiving the reply from the investigating department two days later. It was surprising to see how people can manipulate the loopholes of their workplace policies to generate individual personal returns. He was taken aback to see the said Senior Manager against whom the charges were levelled is actually in the payroll of 26 other companies and perfectly active in office duties along with ‘Global Software Company’. The entire shell shocked team was clueless about their future action. When talks about terminating Mrs. Malhotra was befallen, some members of the team did not shy away from extolling her multitasking capacity.

The example of Mrs Malhotra for being on the payroll of several companies simultaneously became news in the Corporate Office circle. People started talking about the matter naming term ‘Moonlighting’ and highlighted how the term got more prominence and turned a universal corporate headache for the policy makers. after the pandemic is over. This has further surfaced as an agenda item in the corporate planning department.

Keywords:

Moonlighting; productivity; work culture; multitasking; policy makers; corporate planning.

Citation: Ratnakar Mishral, S Boopathy and S Dhanabagiyam (2024). Exploring the Boundaries of Moonlighting: Balancing Act in Professional Practice. Horizon J. Hum. Soc. Sci. Res. 6 (S), 139–143. https://doi.org/10.37534/bp.jhssr.2024.v6.nS.id1262.p139