Side Hustles – good or bad?
What is on the job menu for today …. would you like a “side dish” with that? As an employee you are thinking along the lines of “French fries” and your employer is thinking about something skewered at this point. We are going to be discussing the contentious concept of the “Side Hustle.”
Side Hustles, the Starting point
The term “Side Hustle” itself is a rather unfortunate term for a potentially positive concept. The word “hustle” can imply or is that infer that a suspicious or illegal activity is taking place and is further subverted by including “Side” in the term, as if to say the activity should be hidden or “wink wink” we are doing something on the side that no one should know about. As a result, the conversation between the employee and employer is off to a bad start.
The “Non-negotiables”
To be clear any second job or “Side Hustle” must be disclosed to your employer. Yes, there are legal considerations in terms of employment contracts, however it is simply right thing to do even if there were not potential contractual issues. Any potential conflict of interest must be avoided and if a potential conflict arises, it must be disclosed immediately. Whilst an employer does not own you and is renting your time, you will always have a fiduciary duty towards them as your employer, never forget that (to employers, that also applies to you). Do not conduct your “Side Hustle” by utilizing your employer’s infrastructure or resources.
Employers should be rewarding their employees fairly, if they are living in a prudent / sensible way, they do not have to have a Side Hustle. It is something that they should want to do.
Now that we have established a few “non-negotiables,” let us crack on.
The Bad
From an employers’ point of view when they hear the term “Side Hustle” or a second job, alarm bells start going off. They are concerned that you will be distracted from your “day job,” that they are paying you to do. They are concerned that your side activity may lead to conflict of interests that may be detrimental to their business. Be that competition for your time or perhaps competing against you, the employer, in your industry and stealing your customers.
If your “Side Hustle” becomes successful, you may decide to leave your employer. These are all valid concerns, the latter whilst being understandable is unfortunate, as an employer you should want your employees to succeed and if they do reach the point where they want to pursue their own business, they have already moved on and it is best for the employer to do the same. Rather keep them as an ally going forward.
Terrible employers will think that they own you and all of your time. As they employ you and as your primary employer, they feel entitled to your full attention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This mere “fact” makes it unacceptable for any employee to even consider a second job, if they have time for outside interests …. then they are not working hard enough.
Remember this, from an ethical point of view and a topic for another day, an employer is renting your time and expect you to provide a service in return. It does not mean that they own you and it definitely does not mean that they can expect you to make ethical compromises, they are paying for your time, they are not buying you or your principles. You are entitled to fair remuneration for your time and a reasonable working week.
The Good
Now for the positives which we firmly believe outweigh the negatives.
The employee gains experience in business and develops a number of new skills, at their own expense and on their own time. The employer is getting an “upgraded” employee at no additional cost, even better, they are obtaining the practical experience in these skills, that training or a theoretical course cannot provide. The employee makes and learns from mistakes in running their “Side Hustle,” once again not at the employers’ expense. The employee will likely improve their Time Management to allow them to continue with their “Side Hustle.”
As an employer you may not be able to provide experience in a field or skill that interests the employee, due to organisational or monetary constraints. The employee is showing initiative in finding a way to gain this experience or skill.
Your employees gain a different perspective, they gain an understanding of the challenges that running a company entails and even better the change of mindset, by becoming entrepreneurial, helps them to identify opportunities for your business.
How about this, the employee might even be doing something that they enjoy, that they are not able to do in their “day job,” if it does not negatively impact on their “day job” is it not better to have happy and motivated employees.
Life is tough and there is a massive amount of uncertainty in terms of job security, does it not make sense to allow and employee to have a “safety net” or alternatives should your company run into financial trouble or go through a reorganisation. By having a “Side Hustle” the employee gains a greater sense of security or peace of mind, which can only benefit your business as they will be able to give greater focus to their work.
As one nears retirement (hopefully still far in the future) why not consider a “Side Hustle” as a Retirement “hobby”, one has years of experience and hopefully wisdom that would otherwise be sadly lost to the commercial world. Not to mention you can supplement your pension (Do not risk your pension starting the business, rather start a business that is not capital intensive, particularly if it your first attempt at starting a business). The advantage to employers …. the employee spends more time focused on positive and constructive thoughts (and learning new skills), that can only benefit your business.
An employee building their own personal brand and business can be a very powerful form (and indeed free) of advertising and marketing for your business. Does it not make sense to have a range of dynamic and interesting people, making positive mentions of your business on their platforms. Sounds like a place where I would want to work …. Don’t let that last statement put you off the concept 🙂 .
From a practical point of view, costs are rising rapidly as we speak (or write), your business does not necessarily have the resources to make up for the higher costs of living, a “Side Hustle” enables the employee to supplement their income. An important note, the employee is still providing you with their services and performing their duties in Good Faith, a “Side Hustle” does not mean that the employer should reduce their compensation or bonuses, after all you want to keep your performing employees, for that you must compensate them fairly.
The numbers
We carried out a survey on LinkedIn and worked out that we should have run the survey for a longer period, not confused matters with the same question, but from different perspectives at the same time. The survey response is statistically far too small to achieve any meaningful insights, our main take away would be to work on our surveying technique, build a larger following on LinkedIn (greater than 1,000) and improve engagement on the platform.
However, for what it is worth these were the questions and the results, indicating resistance or hesitance on the side of employer and a more positive view by the employee, neither of which are surprising:
Side Hustles – should they be encouraged by an employer?
As the Employee, Yes 80%
As the Employee, No 7%
Other, please comment 13%
15 responses
As the Employer, Yes 57%
As the Employer, No 43%
Other, please comment 0%
7 responses
Weighing up the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The good, the employee learns a different skillset, is motivated, shows initiative and there is a greater chance of having a happy employee. The employee gains a different perspective and understanding of business. They develop and learn at their own cost and on their own time. As the employer you gain something priceless, a committed advocate for your business and someone who will work even harder to return the trust that you have shown them.
The bad and the ugly, were covered under the “bad section.” Conflicts of interest in terms of time lost, distractions and competing against the employer are genuine concerns. If you value the employee, is dismissing the concept and request, not a bigger risk.
Conclusion
A very clear understanding of the boundaries must be agreed upon upfront; this should be done in writing. Conflicts of interest must be avoided and it must not adversely impact the primary employer, if a potential conflict does arise it must be disclosed immediately.
“Side Hustles” – a positive concept and endeavor if you ask us.
Similar to my hair, hair today gone tomorrow, let the employee take the opportunity whilst it is there.
We will surely revisit this topic in the future, however I leave you with 3 questions if you still believe that a “Side Hustle” is a negative concept.
Have you ever been retrenched, if not, would you change your opinion if you were to be retrenched?
If you cannot pay your employees fairly due to genuine economic constraints, is a “Side Hustle” an option that should be considered, if so, why wait until that point?
If the employee asked if they could do work for charity in their spare time over the weekends, would you say no?
(We are not trying to compare a “Side Hustle” to charity work (we could have used a hobby or sport as an example) …. we are asking the question, is it the employee having an outside interest or using their own time, the issue?)
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