Rishad Premji launches crackdown at Wipro, SACKS 300 employees

Wipro chairman Rishad Premji fired 300 employees who were allegedly ‘moonlighting’ for rivals. Know the full story.

300 employees have been asked to leave by chairman Rishad Premji after they were allegedly found to be working with rival companies. (Bloomberg)

In a shocking move, Wipro has sacked 300 employees after they were found to be moonlighting for rivals. In simple terms, moonlighting means working a second job in addition to one's regular employment. The information was revealed by Wipro chairman Rishad Premji. He stated that after finding out that 300 of their employees were working for rival companies, the decision was taken and their employment was terminated due to “act of integrity violation”.

The issue of moonlighting has become a pressing matter for many IT companies and they have been coming up with ways to stop it. And Wipro has become the first to take stringent measures against the employees. Speaking at AIMA's (All India Management Association) National Management Convention, Premji said, “The reality is that there are people today working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors and we have actually discovered 300 people in the last few months who are doing exactly that”.

Wipro sacks 300 employees for moonlighting

Going further into the action taken against the fired employees who were working in two rival companies at the same time, Premji said that it was a violation of integrity “in its deepest form”. He also explained that the entire idea of moonlighting is about secrecy. Individuals should have an open conversation candidly around side gigs like playing in a band or “working on a project over the weekend”.

“That is an open conversation that the organization and the individual can make a concerted choice about, on whether that works for them or doesn't,” he added.

Premji also mentioned that it is not just Wipro which has a problem with such behavior. He said, “There is no space for someone to work for Wipro and competitor XYZ and they would feel exactly the same way if they were to discover the same situation”. Emphasizing his stand, he further exclaimed, “That is what I meant...so I do stand by what I said...I do think it is a violation of integrity if you are moonlighting in that shape and form”.