You Had One Job! No, Wait…

August 19, 2021

The Coronavirus has many of us still working remotely. And a natural part of that remote work, I’ve found, has been a propensity to work more than normal or necessary.

In a lot of ways, work is the one constant that I have some control over. I may not be able to control Covid, or people who choose not to wear masks, or people who choose not to take the vaccine… but I can control the small parcels of work that pass by desk and Inbox.

I can write some code, I can update some tests. I can improve a thing. I can leave the Github repository I work in a little better than I found it.

Working more seems a natural extension of working from home. Likely an unhealthy habit for both me and Liz, but we’ve found we tend to be working more, day to day.

What I didn’t imagine: people working less while also working more. Namely: people taking on a second job, and juggling it at the same time as their first.

The WSJ article title pretty much says it all: These People Who Work From Home Have a Secret: They Have Two Jobs.

Taking on a second job seems like a crazy amount of work, until you consider slowing down your output for both jobs. Doing the bare minimum to skirt by, without getting in trouble or found out? That’s pretty risky. But the reward of double your salary seems incredibly, incredibly tempting.

This article is based on conversations with a half-dozen workers who have secretly worked multiple full-time jobs, as employees and contractors, during the pandemic. The workers spoke anonymously for fear of being fired or not being able to pull off the arrangement again. The approach doesn’t violate federal or state laws, according to employment lawyers, but it could represent a breach of contract or raise issues around confidentiality. And it could certainly result in an employee’s termination.

The article also has some gems, in terms of quotations:

“Am I trying to be, like, a five-star employee? Not really. I’m just trying to do the job I need to not get fired.”

I don’t know if I could ever really do something like this. It’s a big gamble, and I feel like if you’re ever found out… you’ve burnt some serious bridges. I’m reminded of polyphasic sleep, and the incredible upside to a thing that requires an equally incredible amount of effort.

Working two jobs feels like something I could potentially do, if I really forced myself. But doing a job… poorly? Intentionally poorly? That seems actually harder.

Then again though, double paycheck.

[Illustration by Sam Peet]

compelling read

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