Is it a good idea to engage into a part time job with previous employer after starting a new full time job?

Question

A friend of mine is working in a company A on a full time position. He has been given an offer from a small company B for a full time position working from home and has accepted it. However he wants to continue working for A part time (on Saturdays) for whatever reason.

The contract with B says that an employee should not engage with any other employment or activity without consent from B, which I pointed out to him. Now he wants to go and ask B if he may do so or not. Both A and B are not direct competitors, however share common industry and technologies to some extent - the way I see it.

While I understand that he may ask B about part time with A. I have a feeling that this may be looked at as not a good thing in the new company. What do you think?

Answer 1

People often have part-time jobs in addition to their full-time jobs - especially on weekends - to augment their income.

A contract that states you cannot work elsewhere at all without permission seems odd - unless it is looking for a conflict of interest (e.g. a government agency wanting to make sure your side work does not appear to be a conflict of interest).

All that being said, I think he still has an issue.

Perception Management Issue

If he were physically present working at Company B and his side job would not present a conflict, there is no harm in asking company B and they may even say yes.

However, he is working from home and that presents a perception management issue: How does company B know that he is working on their work and not the other company's work?

Even if B says yes, he should still make sure he addresses this issue as it is a perception issue which could backfire.

People could easily suspect he's working for both companies during company B time, and if that becomes planted in his manager's head, then he may lose his work-at-home ability or worse, get fired.

Therefore, if he highly values working at home, he should probably decline to work at company A unless he can address the possible perception issue above.

Answer 2

While it depends on the employer, the key factors are:

• Is it a competitor?
• Is there any conflict of interests?
• Is there a no-moonlighting clause in the contract?
• Is permission required?
• Is it frowned upon even if permitted?

While there is usually no harm in asking, your friend should probably talk to a colleague first and ask if it's frowned upon before asking HR about it formally. I would advise caution even if the answer to all of the above questions is "no".

Beyond that, if everything is approved and he is permitted to take the PT job with the old company, the new company always takes precedence. If they want you to work late, you call the PT job and tell them you can't make it. If the PT job ever gets in the way of the FT position, there will be trouble.

Answer 3

2 Things here.

1st.

If the contract he signed says to ask about such matters then it is not a issue with the contracted company.

As long as the contracted company says he can work at the other company then he is clear to get that part time job!

Keep in mind most companies who allow you to work a 2nd job require that your work at their company is not effected by your work at your part time job.

As long as the 2nd job does not conflict with your main jobs hours and is not a competitor in the companies eyes then they will most likely say its fine.

2nd.

To answer your question:

I have a feeling that this may be looked at as not a good thing in the new company. What do you think?

It is not something that would be looked down on. As long as what you do outside of work is not effecting your job then there is nothing to worry about. A company will be clear on their requirements for this kind of request.