'You're stealing...': Tech CEO fires two engineers who were caught working two jobs in this viral post

This topic has been trending across the wider web this week as multiple reports emerged from businesses claiming to have fired employees working multiple full-time jobs. Notable stories have emerged from the software company mentioned in this thread and a multinational credit reporting agency claiming to have caught and fired 24 workers holding a secret second job. These reports have attempted to "warn" employers of this new trend.

Here are screenshots of the LinkedIn post with more discussion continuing below.

via u/BurtMacklin09

via u/BurtMacklin09

The poster elaborates and shares the employer's views on the "moral issues at play" in "'working' two full-time jobs," claiming that the practice was "stealing" from the employer. 

If we're talking about the morals and ethics involved in the practice of holding two jobs. It's probably essential that we also take a quick look at other similar practices that are common in the US workplace.

Off the bat, it's interesting to consider how all of this ties into, and has likely emerged from, hustle culture—aka "the mentality that one must work all day every day."₁ The idea here is that hustlers with the "grindset" have consistently been brought up and sold the idea that they need to do anything and everything possible to further themselves financially and professionally. It's an idea that Corporate America has both blatantly and subtly pushed for so long that one can't help but observe the fact that, if this whole "having two full-time jobs" thing is a trend, it's simply that they've finally lost control of a monster of their own creation.

This has brought forth the practice of "side-hustling," working a side gig, moonlighting, or freelancing, typically in order to meet the financial requirements of an increasingly expensive world. "Side-Hustling" has been growing in popularity as wages have fallen further and further behind inflation rates. For those facing significant education debt or simply trying to "get ahead," it can be a necessity. 

Is "side-hustling" really all that different from signing yourself to two full-time roles? Where is the line?

How about here? Where does being required to hold two full-time jobs fit into all of this? As we look around for other practices born from the same breath as this “trend,” one can't ignore the fact that certain sectors almost require workers to hold multiple jobs to put food on the table and keep themselves off the street. We're talking retail, service, and even teaching; All industries where holding multiple jobs is a complete necessity. (We won't even get into the fact that this practice exists because these employers are putting workers on a lower-than-full-time contract just so they can avoid giving them essential benefits.)

On the other side of the table, as commenters on Reddit have pointed out, executives often sit on the boards of multiple companies simultaneously. So just where exactly are we drawing the line here?

There are definitely some considerations to be made about people who aren't keeping up with their work, but with or without a second job, these people should be ousted anyways. In that sense, these two workers were no different than that coworker (who can be found in every workplace) who is just being lazy and making their team members pick up their slack. In my mind, that makes this argument kind of a moot point. The issue isn't the two jobs; the issue is that they weren't getting their work done. I wonder how many other engineers there are out there who are doing this same thing but not letting either of their teams down? No one would probably ever know.

Anyways, the above screenshots were posted to Reddit's r/antiwork subreddit, and the Redditors were not shy about roasting the CEO and making some arguments of their own. (Parts of which I have borrowed. Cheers fellas.)

Keep scrolling for the comments. For more like this, check out this viral email thread that bizarrely asked employees to eat their lunch at their desks just in case the CEO came to visit. 

Catch you in the next one.

via u/BurtMacklin09