A growing number of telecommuters have quietly found a unique way to double their pay. As tht Wall Street Journal recently noted, “a small, dedicated group of white-collar workers, in industries from tech to banking to insurance, are working two full-time remote jobs…alone in their homes, they toggle between two laptops.”
You can restrict this kind of digital moonlighting, and even set limits on remote workers who work a part-time side gig. Employers are within their rights to require remote employees to give the work the attention is deserves. After all, you’re paying for full-time effort. Here’s how to regain control:
- Establish a remote work agreement. It should set your expectation that this will be the person’s primary job. Make clear the hours you expect and that employees can’t work a second job while on a leave of absence. Consider a clause that requires your OK for any other employment. Have your attorney review your pact. Find a customizable sample agreement at theHRSpecialist.com/telecommuting-agreement
- Terminate – or make ‘em choose. If you catch a moonlighting double-dipper, you have options. You can terminate the employee even without a specific no-moonlighting rule if the employee is at-will. Or you can tell the employee to choose: Either quit the second job or quit working for you.
- Consider the independent contractor status. If your moonlighting employee is hard to replace (and knows it), she may simply walk. A practical, legal option is to offer to convert the role from full-time employee to independent contractor. Given that the employee is already performing work for another organization, you should have no problem justifying the switch. The old argument that the employee is economically dependent on you as the employer falls away if she already has another source of income.
Source: TheHRSpecialist.com | November 2021