Fancy a second salary to go with that annual pay packet? Erm, yes please. The catch is that it does mean taking on a second job...
Half of us are so busy at work we already feel like we’re working two jobs – though, sadly only for one pitiful salary - something Grazia columnist Mother Pukka calls the 'fake flex'. But since the pandemic, another (jammy) subset of society is sitting at home finishing their day’s work by 1pm with no boss peering over their shoulder to pile on another report.
If you’ve gained some free time in your working day by WFH, skipping commutes and watercooler goss sessions with Laura from marketing, it makes sense to log on at home with another employer and monetise that free time. It's more productive than mainlining back to back Below Deck anyway.
Throw in the covert nature of it all (if you’re squeezing it in during your current working day it’s probably not a good idea to tell your colleagues) and the treble figures and it sounds pretty glamourous - until you mention ‘four extra hours of data migration’.
Well, according to Business Insider, a growing number of people are working two or more jobs while WFH. They cite The Wall Street Journal's Rachel Feintzeig, who interviewed a number of workers, some of whom told her they work up to 100 hours a week and earn as much as $600,000 at the top end.
A site called Overemployed.com emerged in April offering advice for people hoping to sign up to several full-time jobs, and they’ve been inundated with interest in the past few months.
A mysteriously one-named ‘Isaac’ appears to have founded Overemployed.com and writes on the site about how he had planned to quit his job, then realised it was more profitable to overlap two jobs instead… Well yes, two jobs generally pay better than none.
It’s not just in the US this is happening. In the UK, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case revealed a few months ago that dozens of top civil servants hold second jobs too (no conflicts of interest, apparently). Nice to hear our tax is being spent on salaries where the worker has enough time to fit in another career.
But, surely it would stunt progression in either job to take on two? How do you grow in a role and get promoted if you’ve only got one eye on the prize? For anyone serious about staying in their current role for the long haul, surely it’s not a very smart long term plan.
It would only really work if you’re one of the lucky people who is able to condense your current job into a smaller chunk of the day now you’re at home.
Also, hello burnout. How on earth do you manage two workloads and not end up feeling too frazzled to get dressed in the morning? I can barely put an outfit together anymore and I only have the one job. It would only really work if you’re one of the lucky people who is able to condense your current job into a smaller chunk of the day now you’re at home, leaving your afternoon free to take on something new.
And let’s check our white-collar privilege before we mark double jobbing as a brand new phenomenon – lots of people have been killing themselves working two or three jobs for years, going from, say, a factory shift straight onto a cleaning job on any given day. Basically, this is the first time office workers have been able to do it from the comfort of their dining room tables.
Yet, it’s undeniable that the flexible working revolution we’ve seen this past year is exciting. We’re mixing it up and challenging the status quo. People feel more able to pick and choose what works for them and fits around their lives, which is brilliant and long overdue. And for those hoping to figure out a new direction it could work well; dabble in a few areas and see what roles energise you the most.
If workers are able to cash in, make more money and gain new experiences by double jobbing, it’s a nice change from the big wigs at the top being the only ones to benefit from the systems under which we work.
Is this the future of work? If it involves the same number of hours as one job and more money in my account each month, sign me up!
READ MORE: 'If Bosses Really Want To Show They Value Workers, They Should Pay For Our Commute'
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