Wipro fires 300 employees for moonlighting

Wipro had fired its 300 employees after finding out that they were working with one of its competitors at the same time, Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji said on 21 September.

The Wipro Chairman asserted that he stands by his recent comments on moonlighting being a complete violation of integrity “in its deepest form”.

“The reality is that there are people today working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors and we have actually discovered 300 people in the last few months who are doing exactly that,” Premji said speaking at AIMA’s (All India Management Association) National Management Convention.

Premji added that their employment had been terminated for “act of integrity violation” on being asked about the action taken again employees who were found to be working parallely for the company as well as for rivals.

Moonlighting refers to having another job secretively. “As part of transparency, individuals can have candid and open conversations around playing in a band or “working on a project over the weekend”, he explained.

“That is an open conversation that the organisation and the individual can make a concerted choice about, on whether that works for them or doesn’t,” he said.

Premji even added, “There is no space for someone to work for Wipro and competitor XYZ and they would feel exactly the same way if they were to discover the same situation.”

“That is what I meant…so I do stand by what I said…I do think it is violation of integrity if you are moonlighting in that shape and form,” he said.

Apart from this, Tech Mahindra CEO Anand Mahindra CP Gurnani tweeted recently that it is necessary to keep changing with the times and added “I welcome disruption in the ways we work”.

While in a strong and firm message to employees last week, Infosys said “No two timing – no moonlighting!” Infosys’ internal communication titled “no double lives” made it clear that “dual employment is not permitted as per…Employee Handbook and Code of Conduct”.

“Any violation of these clauses will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment,” Infosys’ mail had said.

This article was first published on the Mint