Dear J.T. & Dale: Have you heard of the term "overemployment?" I recently heard about it and couldn't believe people do this. Apparently, some remote workers have two, sometimes three full-time jobs with benefits. I heard about one guy who is literally making over $800,000 a year working for Apple, Tinder, and Meta — and none of the companies know it. This seems so unfair. Is there a way to call these people out? They're taking jobs from people who need them. — Isabel
J.T.: Overemployment isn't new. It's just that people don't talk about it for fear of getting caught. Most companies in their employment handbooks have clear policies around something like this, and if you get caught, you would be fired. But that doesn't stop people from doing it.
DALE: Let's not forget that people have held multiple jobs long before we had "remote employees" involved. There have always been people who've held two or three jobs. One acquaintance of mine works from dawn till early afternoon heading a landscape crew, then goes to a second full-time job, working as a janitor until 9 p.m. He's part of the tradition of hardy souls we admire for their work ethic. Somehow, though, it's not the same with a remote employee collecting multiple electronic paychecks.
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J.T.: Proving an employee is working multiple jobs can be difficult. And, for some, it's a way to fast-track their financial security. If you want to be the whistleblower on someone like this, you certainly could be, but I don't know if that is really going to do much good, given the changing workplace. It's more important for each person to focus on the value they provide in their own jobs to stay employable. I spoke to one HR executive who said that since their jobs are all remote, they no longer need to hire expensive U.S.-based employees when they can hire three people in European countries for the price of one here. Plus, AI and ChatGPT could potentially eliminate thousands of good-paying jobs.
