Why has the Side Hustle become a Problem for Employers?

It has been well documented over the years, anyone who needed to make ends meet, they took multiple jobs.

It is also no secret many have told stories about how single mothers worked 3 jobs to take care of their children and for this reason, behaviors such as responsibility, “by any means necessary”, the will to survive, all of these instances should be celebrated.

However, in this day and age, employers are not too happy knowing they are sharing their employee’s time with another company.

Depending on who the business owners are and their personalities, the situations can vary. Here are some valid points of concern and maybe some not so valid.

Competition Fear

This can be a valid concern, considering we live in a very competitive world.

While an employer can have concerns of their employee working for the competition, this can also pose a larger problem of ethics.

Let’s say the scenario falls under an employee working for a competitor. This leaves a lot to be desired of the employee and the competitor. Why would the employee take such a position unless they now have become a “mole” for the current employer. Depending on the current employers’ policies and industry field this can be considered a crime.

It’s never a good idea to be employed with one company and decide your side hustle will be the competitor. It’s not a good look for the employee and said competitor who can’t survive in their field without stealing if this is the case, even so it’s not a good look at all.

I have a personal bias with this scenario, due to the experiences I’ve had with individuals who I shared an idea with because I felt they would be a good fit to be a part of a team I was developing, and they went ahead and ran with my ideas.

Even though they failed at executing the idea, I can look at it and think well they tried and failed, so there is no reason for me to go that route. I can also view it as the person I shared this idea with untrustworthy and unethical and if they can pull a stunt like that, well imagine what else they can do with other people they claim to respect. Good riddance on that.

With all this in mind, if there is a clear policy, which is something normally given during orientation, and you signed an agreement stating you understand and agree to the terms, then there should be no surprise of termination or any other charges that may come with stealing company secrets and sharing that information with a competitor.

Think about it in the sense of working for a department store. If you’re a cashier, and you steal money from the cash register for your own personal gain, you can be charged with a crime.

Your personal manager may not like the idea of charging you with a crime, however, they also have to report missing money and report these findings to their managers. When it comes down to decision making, keep in mind, it’s not just one person who’s making the decision. Your manager can be the best and most understanding person, however, they too, have a manager who may not be as understanding and in turn that manager has to report to someone who may be in a much higher position and cannot bypass policies because of an employee who decided to steal. Someone will always have to report to someone in the hierarchy of the organizational corporate chart.

Stealing Time

In the world of Human Resources or better known as the acronyms “HR”, the number one rule of time is “don’t steal time”. Get to work on time, leave on time, take lunch during the hours allotted you are either assigned or the time allotted as in 30 minutes, 45 mins, etc. and if you work overtime, make sure you have permission from your manager, as nowadays, you can’t just work overtime because you want extra money in your pocket.

Working overtime and playing video games on company time is considered stealing time.

But did you know working on other assignments other than your assigned workload at work is considered stealing time. Yep.

And it sucks when you’re low on work and you’re sitting there wasting away, but there are some who make do with what they are dealing with until their exit strategy. Does it make it right? No. People will still be people and honor their goals if this is the case.

Micromanaging isn’t a healthy approach either.

Now employers aren’t dumb. They know people are venturing on Amazon and YouTube and whatever other site, they do have choices. They can have the IT department block these sites, such as an employer I worked for in the past where they blocked YouTube completely. They even blocked USB drives as a source to save files. Employers should not complain about the employee isn’t doing work when the day is slow. As an employer, it is their responsibility to be productive in ensuring there is enough work for all employees.

By any means necessary, I’m not the ‘time police’. I have done my “bids” when confronted about doing personal work during my work hours. There was a situation where an employee was fired and rightly so, due to her irresponsibility of coming into work and as a result of her excessive absences, she was terminated. Because she was also a vindictive person, she sent a letter to HR with copies of my live journal talking about her. I’m sure she figured it out because I gave her the name Alfred E. Newman and if you know who that is, you know why I gave her that name. The HR woman sat there trying to chastise me for the things I said in my blog but she couldn’t do anything about it due to the nature of the contents, I never put real names, nor did I used the name of the law firm I was working for at the time. And while she unsuccessfully convinced me to stop writing in my journal, I made the journal private. I may have not used my work hours to write in my journal, but no one in my workplace, including the HR manager, has the authority to tell me what to write or why I should feel bad about what I wrote. Fuck that!

And it’s funny how I got in trouble for writing a blog during work hours while the attorneys were committing accounting fraud, coincidentally, during work hours, which I would think on the scale of ethics, cooking the books is a much bigger crime. Wouldn’t you agree? Where was HR addressing this issue?

Going back during this point in my life, the internet was very new and we didn’t have a Google then and YouTube was a free for all. The corporate industry wasn’t super lenient when anyone was perusing the internet, but they weren’t micromanaging assholes in the sense of what we are dealing with now.

The Side Hustle

Today people are trying to make ends meet and this isn’t anything new. The top part of this article opened up with that sentence and here’s the reason why. The same way a single mother who needed to work a variety of jobs to clothe and feed her children while keeping a roof over her head, is the same reason people are doing it now. And this goes for any single parent. We live in very different times so it should not be surprising when men are single parents, left to raise their own children due to circumstances beyond their control.

This also affects anyone who isn’t a parent and just trying to keep a roof over their head.

Here's another concept to this. Most people like to be independent. While there may not be an abundance of rich men or women to mooch off, there are people who like to build their own success story.

People aren’t necessarily looking to be in a relationship to feel they can live well off. There are people who enjoy being single or are in a relationship without the conditional mindset of having to get married and build a house together. There are plenty of people I know who are in long term successful relationships and do not live together.

I digress.

My point being, we do not live in 1950 when a loaf of bread was twelve cents. Food and clothing are expensive and for those who are living with extremely difficult financial circumstances, the Dollar Tree food can be a source for survival, even though the sodium is more than ten servings of that shit and probably not recommended.

And while people are trying to survive, employers are punishing employees just for having an extra income.

Someone mentioned in an article I read, if the employer has an issue why don’t they pay the employee their worth.

We already know that’s an argument that will never be resolved.

The fact is, employers/corporations are going to have to review their policies from a realistic standpoint and not from a selfish standpoint, which most employers/corporations do.

In the end, what have they gained?

Finding the Happy Medium

As a business owner, I can understand both sides completely.

Would I want someone who is working for me to spend their time viewing social media when an order would need to be put together or spending time online while doing research for their side gig? Absolutely not.

My mindset is when someone places an order or schedules a session with me, I want to make sure the details on the orders are correct and I am on time for my sessions.

The question, do small businesses have a lot more to prove than bigger corporations – partly true.

Small business owners are usually a niche market which means they should be on point all the time. But realistically that isn’t always the case.

And in the world of Tiktok and Instagram, every time someone is inventing a product, there are three types of people, the “influencer” who wants to promote your product at a cost and some may rip you off at the same time.

The copycat who blatantly steals ideas, claiming their “new invention”, while price gouging their supporters.

And then there’s the one who calls them out.

I used to say Twitter, when it became “X”, is the new cesspool of hate. Facebook was actually the inception of that type of cesspool. The fact is all social apps have their sections of cesspool content.

People are easily swayed by the victim calling out the thief and not realizing sometimes the victim is the thief. A good example of this is Blair who’s been called out by several people when she started the plagiarism drama against Legal Eagle over a plugin – something which anyone can use who has access to video editing software.

Everyone and everything in the world of social media is quickly taken at face value with very little research done and we all must be mindful of this, before feeding into the drama, me included.

“Do’s and Don’ts”

I recently read an article headlining a CEO who fired his employee due to a side hustle they had. Both the headline and the big smile on the CEO’s face were done in poor taste.

I would like to believe perhaps he thought better after the article came out that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to brag about firing an employee because they needed the extra income. Also note, maybe when discussing sensitive topics such as firings, there’s a way of conveying an event, without making it seem like the asshole behaviors of CEO’s are acceptable and employees are taking these so-called firings in stride.

No one I know likes to lose their job, even though it may have been a job they didn’t like, the fact that it happened still preys upon your self-esteem.

And when people tell you, “something better is waiting for you”, nothing prepares you for that type of event on a mental and emotional level.  It will still mess with your head in one form or another.

Should I have a Policy even as a Small Business

YES! I can’t stress enough to have something in place, even if it’s generic – tailor it to your standards. Be realistic, even if it’s just one employee. As a boss, it’s easy to treat your employee as a partner or even a friend because it’s the both of you. Keep in mind you are paying that employee and that employee can always find another job if they feel their career is at a standstill and they are looking to do more. Of course, if there’s an unfortunate event where you have to let go of the employee, you are protected by your policies.

When I used to make 12 step meetings, there was a saying, “it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it”. The same rule applies here. Having policies in place prepares you for unexpected events.

In addition, it may be a good idea to explore a human resource company that can offer you policies to fit your current business needs and for potential long-term growth. They may offer other services, such as paycheck disbursements, marketing and budgeting.  These are all great resources to protect your business.

Not all businesses start large unless they are coming into a business already retaining their sources. When it comes to small business, it is a very small few of employees who will stay with you in the long run.

When you have those employees who stay with you, it means they share your visions. They are the true exception because they may not want to be a business owner but love and respect the vision you laid out and are willing to work within the capacity you are offering as a business owner to the employee.

Give your employees an output where they are able to discuss ideas, disclose challenges, without feeling their job will be threatened because they have a difference of opinion.

And if you feel threatened in any way that’s not a real threat, then it’s time to take a look inward.

As humans we will always have insecurities.

Will they like this product? Will this sell? Will I make money?

It’s a never-ending list of questions and concerns and it’s not unvalidated concerns, but when those unvalidated concerns falls on employees who are doing their best but feel the need to seek outside sources for extra income, then you must reconsider different strategies in order to see success in your employee and your business as a whole.

Many people in different workplaces have wondered why an employer keeps a difficult employee, the one who comes in late, the one with all the dramatic stories, most times, it could be they’ve been there for so long, why get rid of them to hire and train someone new where you don’t know if they will make a long-term commitment to stay. Other reasons could be the employee is in the union so they are protected from getting fired but that employee should never disrupt the workflow of business.

The reality is, there isn’t a perfect business or business model. We are humans and will fall short in one way or another, but when it comes to our business, if an employee is using outside resources to gain extra income, and you cannot strategize a way to pay them more, then you have a lot of soul searching to do. It’s never okay to hurt an employee out of spite.

It begins and ends with you.