BENGALURU: Infosys is allowing its employees to take up gig work outside their day jobs that would be a gamechanger for the Indian IT industry.
In what appears to be an industry-first practice in Indian IT, Infosys has formalised guidelines for those wanting to pursue gig opportunities outside their primary jobs and earn extra bucks with full disclosures, albeit with some caveats.
In an internal communication to its employees, it said, “Any employee, who wishes to take up gig work, may do so with the prior consent of their manager and BP (business partner)-HR in their personal time, for establishments that do not compete with Infosys or Infosys’s clients.”
“We count on our employees to ensure that this does not impact their ability to work with Infosys effectively. In addition, as per Infosys employment contract, employees may not work in areas where there is an actual or potential conflict of interest or by accepting dual employment,” an internal communication to employees said.
When TOI reached out to Infosys, the company, however, did not comment on the development.
In the past, Indian IT companies were very tightlipped about articulating policies for gig work or exploring newer models in a remote or hybrid first world. And the managers ruled with an iron fist without giving flexibility for role rotation and lateral moves. But with a paradigm shift in workplace models, companies like Infosys have expanded the employment ambit to newer ways of working by embracing gig work.
The internal note said that care needs to be taken to ensure that these projects comply with the company’s policy for gig working and do not breach client contracts and employee’s ability to be effective in their full-time jobs with Infosys.
Infosys has launched a platform called Accelerate where employees can look at internal gig work and projects outside their main area of work.
Infosys had told TOI that Accelerate and Infosys Gig Marketplace enable managers to list short duration gig work, and internal talent across the organisation can pick up these jobs for execution.
“In addition, we have created several opportunities for gig working internally through our own Accelerate platform that enables managers to list gig work jobs for Infoscions. Accelerate allows skill-based job matches to recommend the right gigs for employees and incentivises both gig workers and hiring managers. The platform, over the years, has been helping us to create a richer job variety and more immersive learning for Infoscions,” the note said.
In the recent earnings call, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh had said that Infosys was developing the more comprehensive policies while ensuring contractual confidentiality commitments are fully respected. He, however, said that Infosys doesn’t support dual employment.
