The Rise of Side Hustles and Polygamous Working

In the evolving world of work, the rise of side hustles and “polygamous working” is reshaping the employment landscape in the UK. While side hustles—secondary jobs or freelance gigs—have long been part of the economic fabric, the more recent phenomenon of polygamous working, where individuals secretly hold down multiple full-time jobs, is raising serious legal and ethical concerns.

Seen as a direct result of the recent cost-of-living crisis, we have seen a surge in employees seeking to add to their income streams. The availability of digital streams of income, and the popularity of handmade gifts has only increased this, and led to an influx of videos demonstrating side-hustle culture on social media.  Added to this, the flexibility of hybrid and remote working arrangements have also contributed to this surge. However we have been seeing a recent trend of some workers not just supplementing their income with evening or weekend gigs, but are actively working two or more full-time roles simultaneously—often without informing their employers.

This trend, dubbed “polygamous working” was brought to the forefront of media attention when a report by the National Fraud Initiative identified that a civil servant held several full time jobs at different government organisations, including Defra and the Department of Health and Social Care. The civil servant Mr Chowdhury, has denied the allegations and a civil case is currently being pursued against him.

Legal and Contractual Implications

From a legal standpoint, UK employment law does not prohibit individuals from holding more than one job. Rather, this point is often governed by the company in the terms of the employment contract. It is usual for an employment contract to contain clauses that:

1. Restrict secondary employment entirely, or require prior disclosure and approval for additional employment.
2. Require employees to devote all of their time and attention to their role whilst working.
3. Impose confidentiality obligations that may be breached by working for competitors.

It is important to note that employers are unable to enforce exclusivity clauses into zero hour contracts, or contracts for employees who earn below the lower earnings limit. In these cases, employers will need to rely on the ‘devote all time’ clause to ensure that another job is not being worked simultaneously.

It is therefore likely that an employee working a second job, simultaneously with their other job, will be in breach of the contractual terms of both jobs. This issue is greater where the jobs are being worked simultaneously, rather than with the convention idea of a side hustle, which should not in theory impact an employees ability to carry out their full time job.

Employers must also be mindful of the Working Time Regulations which impose a 48-hour average weekly working limit across all jobs. Employers are responsible for ensuring this limit is not exceeded unless the employee has voluntarily opted out in writing.

Risks for Employers

There are a few key risks that employers should be alive too as this concept continues to trend:

Contractual Breaches: Employees who fail to disclose secondary employment may be in breach of contract, particularly if their roles overlap in hours or responsibilities. For most employers this would be a misconduct offence and should be dealt with as a disciplinary matter.

Fraud and Misrepresentation: In extreme cases, such as claiming full-time salaries from multiple employers simultaneously, employees may face allegations of fraud or dishonesty.

Performance and Productivity: Divided attention and fatigue can lead to underperformance, absenteeism, and burnout. This can be an issue whether the other employment is simultaneous or a genuine side hustle. This may also cause health and safety concerns, particularly where one role involves manual labour or dangerous work.

Data Security and Confidentiality: Employees working for multiple organisations, especially in similar sectors, pose a heightened risk of data breaches or misuse of confidential information.

Best Practices for Employers

In reality it is very difficult for employers to police how their employees spend their evenings and weekends, and many take the view that employers should not have a say in what is fundamentally personal time. However, if side-hustles start to impact on the employees other role, or if they are in fact carrying out these roles during company time, it’s important for employers to have some guidance to hand on how to approach this.

As a starting point, if you have discovered an employee is working polygamously, we recommend seeking legal advice as to the potential impact of this on your organisation, and the best approach to dealing with this.

Ahead of dealing with an active issue, employers should adopt a proactive and transparent approach to try to mitigate these risks:

Review and Update Contracts: Firstly employers should ensure employment contracts clearly address secondary employment, exclusivity (where appropriate), and confidentiality. They should include clauses requiring disclosure of other jobs.

Monitor Working Hours: Employers should use timesheets or declarations to ensure compliance with working time regulations, especially for remote workers. Employers need to be particularly aware of this if the employee has not agreed to a 48 hour opt out.

Foster a Culture of Openness: Employees are more likely to disclose side hustles if they feel supported rather than scrutinised. Promote transparency and offer guidance on acceptable external work. If an employee discloses a role, engage them in a genuine conversation about this and assess it on a case by case basis.

Conduct Risk Assessments: if you have an employee who has disclosed another role, consider if a risk assessment is necessary to check for and address any health or safety concerns.

Tailor Oversight by Role: High-risk roles — such as those involving sensitive data — may warrant stricter controls on secondary employment.

Side hustles and polygamous working present a complex challenge for employers, and require careful consideration. As the workforce becomes more flexible and financially pressured, employers must strike a balance between respecting employees’ rights to privacy and protecting business interests and the wellbeing of their employees.

If you would like any guidance on this issue, or a tailored review of employment contracts and policies, please get in touch with our employment team.