What is double dipping?

Double dipping, also known as moonlighting, refers to doing two remote jobs simultaneously without informing your employer.

Since COVID-19, many employees have switched to home-based work. As remote work started to become a permanent thing, many workers started seeking other jobs or did both jobs at the same time.

In many cases, double dipping during remote work violates the employment contract, especially if the two jobs present a conflict of interest. This is why working two jobs at one time and hiding it from your employer may lead to termination.

Here’s how an employer can catch early signs of double dipping in remote workers.

Keep a Close Eye on your Employees’ Social Media Accounts

Social media keeps no secrets. Keep an eye on your employees’ social media accounts, especially any new job announcement on LinkedIn they’ve commented on, a query they posted in a headhunter’s page, and so on.

Monitor Employees’ Tax Documents:

Sometimes, an employee’s tax document will say it all. Different jobs require different codes. If you suspect that an employee is double dipping you, you will find proof in their tax documents.The relevant document in the United States for this is the state unemployment tax returns.

Keep Track of the Employee’s Work Pattern

Managing two equally demanding jobs is not easy! Chances are that a worker may not be able to do justice to both jobs or might be ignoring one job entirely.

One way to know whether your employees are two-timing you is to keep track of their work trends right from the start. If an employee is double dipping you, you will notice a change in their work pattern. This could be a delay or inability to deliver tasks, slow response time, or a drop in the quality of their work.

Keep in Touch With the Employer Community

Knowing people always helps add to your information. This is especially true when it comes to work-related information. If you have a good community of businesspeople in your circle, you will likely know if your employee is working anywhere else. For this, you need to keep your eyes and ears open while being receptive to discussions.

An employee who works for another company without informing you is surely deceitful. Once caught in this act, you may want to fire the employee or talk with them.

Working on two or more jobs is not a bad thing, as long as the employee has informed you. However, there are certain things you need to keep in mind if your employee is moonlighting.

• Is this affecting the productivity of your organization?
• Is the employee working with a business that conflicts with the interests of your business?
• Is the employee working for a competitor?
• Are there any trade secrets that might be at risk?