Multi-employment is Growing — 5 Tips for Managing ‘Polywork’

Out of the roughly 135 million-member, full-time U.S. workforce, an estimated 376,000 workers held two full-time jobs at the same time in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Employees may be tight-lipped about working for two different employers at the same time — it all depends on what noncompete agreements their organization has established.

An extreme example of an employer holding multiple jobs, or polyworking, came to light in July: Fortune reported that a software engineer in India had simultaneously and covertly been cashing paychecks from full-time positions at several Silicon Valley startups. Unlike this software engineer, most polyworkers typically work at just two employers at a time, HR experts say.

So, as an HR executive, how should you react when you discover a full-time employee is moonlighting at a “secret” full-time job? And what should you do to cope with a situation like this?

HR professionals dispense the following five tips for dealing with workers who split their time between two full-time jobs (or even more).

1. Don’t overreact

Kristen Appleman, SHRM-SCP, CEO at CoAdvantage, a professional employer organization, said that if you’re made aware of a dually employed worker, you should treat it like you would any other workplace concern rather than overreacting.

“You never want to have a knee-jerk reaction,” she said.

Appleman suggested initially reacting by reviewing your organization’s existing policies surrounding second jobs and conflicts of interest.

2. Tread carefully

Susan Snipes, head of people at Remote People, which operates an employee recruitment, hiring and payment platform, said it’s not necessarily a problem if an employee is working two full-time jobs at the same time, but HR professionals should proceed thoughtfully. 

Snipes suggested asking the following questions about the two-job circumstances:

• Is the second job affecting the employee’s performance at your organization?
• Is there a conflict of interest for the dually employed worker?
• Is the other employer a direct competitor of your organization?

If the answer is “no” to all of these questions, you don’t need to take action (unless, of course, the two-job scenario clearly violates your organization’s policies), according to Snipes. But if the answer is “yes” to at least one question, you should help the employee’s manager address the issue. After that, it’s time to speak with the employee.

“The goal is first to understand what’s going on … and if the employee is performing well in their role at your company,” said Alice Chin, founder and CEO of HR consulting firm Your Other Half.

Snipes suggested finding out the specifics before recommending action.

“A secret job could have no noticeable impact, or it could have an extreme impact, depending on the circumstances,” she said.

Still, what Appleman branded as “theft of time” by a dually employed worker could harm revenue, compromise customer service, and erode team morale and engagement.

3. Investigate your suspicion

Early on, you should chat with the person who found out about a dually employed worker, Chin said. How did they discover this, and can it be verified?

One way to verify dual employment is to check the employee’s LinkedIn profile, as long as your organization’s policies allow this. Oftentimes, polyworkers list both of their jobs on LinkedIn, according to Snipes.

In addition, you might ask co-workers whether the employee mentioned a second job to them, Chin said.

4. Assess the employee’s performance

Once you’ve gotten a handle on what’s happening, ask the employee’s manager about their job performance, Chin recommended. Ideally, your organization should be able to measure performance with data such as objectives and key results or key performance indicators.

Furthermore, Chin and Appleman said check with the employee’s manager and colleagues to see whether the employee:

• Appears on camera during virtual meetings
• Is readily available for in-person meetings
• Responds in a timely fashion to email, Slack messages and other communication
• Has been the source of numerous customer complaints
• Has fallen behind on deliverables
• Is less engaged in their work
• Is less likely to participate in team activities
• Is logging into your computer network from unexpected locations or devices

Magen Gicinto, SHRM-SCP, chief people officer at Nisos, whose platform helps protect organizations from human-triggered security threats, said other red flags include missing deadlines, failing to participate in career development opportunities, no longer volunteering for overtime work, attending career-related conferences without your organization’s knowledge and “generally appearing exhausted.”

“Working multiple jobs without the knowledge of the employer — or polyworking, as it’s often called — is not always malicious but can be dangerous to a company if left unchecked,” Gicinto warned.

Appleman said that if the employee’s performance is suffering or they’re misusing company resources, this issue needs to be addressed promptly.

“Document everything you find out so that you have it clearly on paper for you and the manager to review when you are complete,” Chin said. “Generally, if the employee is performing well and is responsive, and is meeting policy requirements, it will be hard to discipline them for just having another job. It’s how that other job impacts this one or violates policies that generally allows employers to take action.”

5. Establish moonlighting policies

Chin said that if you don’t already have one, a policy regarding outside employment should be added to the employee handbook.

“Companies should have solid moonlighting policies that explain what is and is not acceptable when it comes to working a second job,” Snipes said. “The policy should be clear and enforceable.”

In addition, you should go over your organization’s noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements, or create these agreements if your organization lacks them, said Chin.

“These should be specifically and narrowly scoped,” Chin said, “but should outline that the employee cannot take your clients if they leave.”

John Egan is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas.