Name: Polygamous working.
Age: It’s really a post-pandemic phenomenon.
Appearance: A Zoom meeting window, with video disabled.
I’ve heard of polygamy, but I didn’t know you could make money from it. This has nothing to do with polygamy; it’s a term for having more than one job.
You mean like moonlighting? Moonlighting refers to someone taking on a secondary job to make ends meet, usually at night.
Like a side hustle, then? A side hustle generally involves freelance work undertaken in your own time, as an additional income stream.
What if you don’t make any money doing it? Then it’s a hobby.
So what’s the polygamy thing? Polygamous working is holding two or more full-time jobs simultaneously, without an employer knowing.
Presumably they figure it out when they notice you’re only there half the time. In the old days maybe, but with the rise of hybrid and remote working, polygamous employment can easily go undetected.
If no one can tell, then what’s wrong with it? There’s no law against having two jobs, but in some circumstances it could be considered fraud, and there is a law against that.
How will I know? Did you sign an employment contract?
Signed it; didn’t read it. It may well require you to declare any other employment, it may prohibit it outright, or it may impose confidentiality restrictions that make it impossible for you to hold another job.
The work gets done, the money gets paid – this is a victimless crime. Is it? Last month a woman was convicted of fraud for having two full-time jobs, one at Barnet council and the other at Croydon council.
That’s outrageous! She’s stealing from the taxpayer! The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) has started cross-referencing payroll and pension data to crack down on public sector polygamous working.
How widespread is this? It’s hard to tell. The NFI uncovered 13 cases in the last financial year. But on social media sites – including Reddit’s r/overemployed community – polygamous workers share tips on how to juggle multiple jobs without getting caught.
To be honest, I find it easy to underperform doing just one full-time job; I can’t imagine holding down two. Two is nothing. In July a man was found guilty of fraud after it was discovered he had four jobs.
Do say: “There are many benefits to hybrid working for employer and employee; unfortunately, this is one of the downsides.”
Don’t say: “Honestly, I wasn’t doing another job while pretending to work from home. I was just skiing.”
