Is it ethical to be working two full-time jobs?

I recently came across a post that highlights a disturbing trend. Some white-collar workers are working from home and holding down two full-time jobs without explicit consent from their employers. 

As it turns out, I know someone who has had first-hand experience of this unethical practice with not one but two colleagues in recent weeks. In other words, it is real.

Some unscrupulous defenders of this practice have suggested that this is a practice to be admired. They say that if you hire someone to build a shed at $100/hr for 20 hours ($2,000) and they complete it in 10 hours, you still owe them $2,000. 

That may be true if you're being paid by the job. But a full-time job is precisely not that. When you're done with your assigned tasks, you're expected to look around and see how you can make yourself useful by mentoring and helping colleagues, picking up stories from the backlog, refactoring your own code, resolving technical debt, getting to know your team members, etc. 

Not unrelated to this travesty is the concept of a "side-hustle" that also tends to be lionized by many. In my mind, this is also squarely in the gray zone. If you're spending your evenings and weekends engaged in real estate ventures (for example), it is entirely likely that you return to work not refreshed but exhausted. 

Undoubtedly, those of us who are working not only a full day but occasionally more than that at our only job feel as if we are compensating for those who aren't. So, either we all get to game the system openly or none of us do. 

And this goes to the heart of why employers often make such a big deal about wanting employees to work from the office, and always be seen to be online, and so on. Those of us who are breaking this trust are responsible for employers pushing for everyone to feel like inmates or return to the office as soon as the Covid pandemic shows signs of subsiding.

This is despite the fact that those of us who are not gaming the system are actually more productive working from home. In the end, it seems like a lose-lose proposition for employers and those of us who want to operate ethically.

In summation, I have come up with this checklist of Signs that your co-worker might be working two full-times jobs and taking you for a dummy. 

  • Avoids being on video
  • Takes a long time to unmute
  • Often asks you to repeat the question
  • Joins calls on his/her phone rather than computer
  • Often claims to have problems with the internet (e.g. if simultaneously asked to speak on meetings for both employers)
  • Misses meetings and prefers to message instead
  • Has a missing or out of date LinkedIn profile
  • Demonstrates poor productivity
  • Avoids taking initiatives
  • Never volunteers to look into something that needs doing
  • Seems to do the bare minimum
  • Offers to work unconventional hours
  • Isn't explicitly asking for work when s/he is idle (e.g. if all of his/her stories are done)


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