I was fired for doing a side job at work

Would you develop a side job after work? Is it wrong for a worker to have a side job? What will happen if the company leader finds out? This article interviews five friends who tried to do a side job after work but were discovered by the company. Their stories can help you find the answer.

The resignation of Dong Mingzhu's internet celebrity secretary Meng Yutong has once again sparked heated discussion.

In May this year, Meng Yutong, who was regarded as "Dong Mingzhu's successor", announced her resignation from Gree. At that time, she gave the reason that she was preparing for postgraduate study, but Dong Mingzhu never responded positively.

Recently, Dong Mingzhu responded to the issue of internet celebrity employees during an interview with the media: whether someone is an internet celebrity or not depends on their quality, and it is not in compliance with regulations for people working for Gree to do advertising outside.

This has sparked a heated discussion on whether it is wrong for workers to have side jobs.

It should be noted that there is a difference between "doing a side job" after work and "taking private work" using company resources. Everyone has a relatively consistent attitude towards "taking private work", believing that it will damage the interests of the company and even violate laws and regulations, but there are different views on whether to "do a side job". Some people think that you can't do a side job while working, which is not acceptable in terms of rules and morality; some people think that there is nothing wrong with doing a side job as long as it does not affect your main job; and some people think that it depends on the company's regulations.

For workers who are doing or want to do a side job, how to deal with the relationship with the company is an issue that must be seriously considered. Because if the company does not allow it or the leader does not support it, once the company finds out, it may have an adverse impact on your career.

"Focus" talked to five professionals who had side jobs. They were all found out by their companies and then treated unfairly. For example, some were "killed as a warning to others" by the new leaders, some were ignored by their leaders, had their salary increases canceled, and some were ruthlessly fired by the company.

It's fun to do a side job, but who dares to take it on when the boss finds out? Here are their stories.

01 The new leader took office and used me, who was doing a side job, as an example to scare the monkeys

Song Tian | 30 years old, Hangzhou

In 2021, I transitioned from the education and training industry to a large Internet company to do marketing work. After joining the company, I found that there were not many restrictions on working hours here, and even if I was late occasionally, it was not strictly managed. Some colleagues often came after 11 o'clock, so I had the idea of ​​doing a side job.

I used to be a blogger and sold insurance. Lately, I’ve been focusing on video editing and article writing. My average monthly income from side jobs is around 10K when it’s high and around 5K when it’s low.

Because my boss appreciated me and the atmosphere in my team was harmonious, I became a little careless. During this period, I let it slip to two colleagues that "because of the pressure of mortgage, I occasionally do a side job." Fortunately, everyone expressed their understanding.

Everything was fine at first, but at the end of last year, the leader who admired me was transferred to another department and a new leader was parachuted in. It felt like the world changed in an instant.

Our team felt that things were getting more competitive, and everyone became anxious. Leaders started to check attendance, investigate illegal taxi rides, tighten performance appraisals, and increase reporting...

The key is that the boss gave me a lot of work for no reason . The most annoying thing for me was that half of another colleague's work was suddenly handed over to me, and no one discussed it with me in advance . The reason was that the colleague was very busy. In fact, in my opinion, the colleague often made mistakes at work, but he was a "confidant" brought by the boss.

I don't know why I successfully caught his attention. I was angry for several days and finally couldn't help asking my leader, "Why did XXX give so many jobs to me?" He directly said: I heard that you have been doing a side job. It seems that your workload in the company is not saturated, so you started looking for work outside.

I was stuck for nearly half a minute, explaining that I always put my main job first, and that I had only done my side job after get off work. I was very busy recently and had not had time to do my side job for a long time. My boss only said, "It's good to be busy," and then turned around and continued working.

That’s not all. My boss started to be sarcastic in public. For example, when I bought a new bag, he said, “Those who have a side job are different. They have more confidence to spend money.” He made everyone know that I had a side job. I never explained it in public because I didn’t want to break up with him. I knew that if I talked back, I would definitely not be able to control the scale.

After that, my workload only increased, and I no longer had the time or mood to pursue a side job. I tried to submit resumes and chat with senior colleagues in the workplace to see if there was any place that would hire me, but there was really no better choice, so I had to swallow my anger here and be a "working machine."

Two months passed, and my boss suddenly came to me one day. He asked me how my side job was going. My first reaction was, "Is my job in jeopardy?" He smiled and started to act like a caring older brother, saying that everyone knew I was doing a side job, and he didn't mind it, but he had just taken office and wanted to establish his authority, so I became the "chicken" to scare the monkeys.

When I was still wondering why he suddenly changed his attitude, I learned that he was also going to be transferred. It seemed that he wanted to have one less enemy in the workplace before leaving.

In today's environment, it is very common to have a side job in addition to the main job, but my experience as someone who has been through it is that you should never tell any colleague or even anyone who has connections with the company, otherwise this matter will become your weak spot that can be exploited.

02 Low-key sideline selling insurance, improper grouping was caught by colleagues in WeChat Moments

Xiaoying|30 years old, Beijing

By chance, I started to get involved in the insurance and pension industry this year and developed a side job as an insurance broker.

I paid great attention to confidentiality throughout the whole process and did not tell anyone in the company. However, because I would share my experiences and insights on learning about the insurance industry on my WeChat Moments, one time the group labels were not properly added, and a colleague of mine saw it.

He asked me directly in WeChat Moments, "Have you started selling insurance?" Then he sent me three messages in a row in private chat, "Are you working in insurance?" "What's wrong with you? Has something happened in your family?" "You're not really selling insurance, are you?"

I hadn’t actually opened an order yet, so I could only reply with an emoji saying “I haven’t really decided yet.” After a while, he sighed again, “I didn’t expect that the end of my life would be selling insurance.”

Gradually, some of my good colleagues probably found out that I was engaged in the insurance side business. Although I am very open and not averse to insurance, most of my colleagues look at the selling of insurance with "tinted glasses". They may think that I am doing badly and always think that I want to do business from them. Sometimes I can even feel that everyone is looking at me with a hint of pathos.

Before, my colleagues would chat about their family situations together, but after knowing my side job, sometimes I would kindly explain some concepts, but everyone would be wary and think I wanted to do sales.

In fact, I chose insurance brokerage as my side job because I felt that my original job had a low sense of value. Whether a project was promoted or not, and whether it was fruitful or not, did not depend on me. There were very few things I could decide on my own. At the same time, I felt that I had not learned anything new for several years, but had been consuming what I had learned before, and the ceiling was very low.

So I thought, is there a thing or an industry that I can use myself as the smallest action unit to promote and continuously maintain input, and I chose the insurance and pension side business.

I thought that this side job, which I could control the progress of, would not distract me from work and my energy. I put in the same amount of effort as before. But one day, my boss would often keep an eye on my work progress or ask about my schedule. Sometimes he would remind me, "I feel like you haven't been doing well recently" or "You need to work harder."

I didn't want to continue working under this feeling of "not being trusted", and I also wanted to take some exams during that time, so I simply resigned. I plan to continue looking for a job, but I will keep this side job strictly confidential during the interview. I also recommend other friends who have side jobs to keep their side jobs confidential.

Because I also understand that from the perspective of the employer, a person needs to put all his energy, even the time and energy outside the office, into work, because the boss needs this sense of security. I kept my side job secret, which is actually an act of self-protection, but I will not let my side job affect my work. This is my professional foundation.

03 I quit my job after being caught doing a side job. I realized that this is an invisible red line in the workplace.

Xiao Zhai|27 years old, Beijing

Never let your boss know if you are doing a side job. I left the company because of my side job.

My main job is a programmer. I work from nine to five every day, but the job is relatively easy. I have a lot of free time both during and after get off work. I also have a strong desire for shopping, so I wanted to find something for myself to do and make some pocket money. So I opened an online store to sell clothes.

I keep my side job very secretive and don’t often promote it on WeChat Moments. Even if my store sales are average and I need to use WeChat Moments to promote it, I will block my boss and colleagues.

But somehow, my boss found out about my clothes business. One time, he suddenly asked me, "Do you have an online store?" I was shocked and didn't dare to say anything. I just nodded. Later, I thought about it and it was probably when I was processing orders during lunch break, my colleague's boss saw my computer screen and told my boss.

However, even though my boss knew that I was having a side job, I didn't take it too seriously because the company didn't have any clear rules prohibiting it, and my boss never talked to me about it later.

In addition, I have a colleague who also has a side job. He sells books online. His boss has talked to him about it, but didn't ban him. He just said that he shouldn't make his side job too obvious and that he can learn professional knowledge after finishing his work.

But later I found that my leader’s attitude towards me was becoming more and more wrong.

When a new task comes down, he would assign it to others instead of me. He would not even leave any work for me. This caused my colleagues to be very busy, but I had nothing to do. He would not even invite me to meetings. Once I took the initiative to tell my leader that the work at hand had been completed. He said "OK" and there was no follow-up.

At first, I was enjoying myself, but I had a hard time writing the weekly report . There was nothing to write, and this weekly report was not only read by my boss, but also by the company's senior leaders. I did not meet my KPI that month. I thought about communicating with my boss further, but he didn't seem to want to talk to me at all. In the end, with my salary deducted and the low pressure from my boss, I chose to resign.

This incident made me feel a little wronged. First of all, my side job was not related to the company's business, and I didn't use any company resources. Secondly, I mostly worked on the online store after get off work, and occasionally checked the store during the day or during lunch breaks, which did not interfere with my main job. So I don't think there is a big problem with my side job.

I told my friends about my situation and found that they had the same experience. Everyone generally believed that there was nothing wrong with having a side job. They only signed working hours for the company and could use the rest of the time as they pleased.

However, once I was talking to a friend of mine who is an entrepreneur, he told me from the perspective of a boss that having a side job is an invisible red line in the workplace.

He believes that human energy is limited. Although many workers view side jobs as a way to earn pocket money, this goal is not low. It is difficult to determine whether employees investing more time and energy in side jobs will affect the completion of their main jobs. In addition, many people's side jobs are more or less related to their main jobs, so it is hard to say whether they will affect the company's interests.

Although I understand his concerns as a boss, I still don't want to give up my side business. My current status is that I continue to look for a job while running the online store.

04 The boss does not understand technology and thinks that the side job will bring competition to the same industry

Ji Fei|30+ Beijing

Many people who can program and write code have side jobs if they have a wide range of options.

I used to work as a technical developer in a technology company, managing a team of more than 10 people. The company's business was not very large, and I came into contact with some partners at work. They or their friends would occasionally ask me some technical questions, and I would usually help as long as I had time.

Later I resigned from the company and took a break for a while. During this period, some friends took the initiative to introduce me to work, and I took a few part-time programmers with me and made a living by doing projects.

One of our clients was a startup company that was expanding rapidly and transforming to the Internet. The boss of the company found me and said he wanted to make websites, apps and other products. We had a good chat, so I joined them as CTO.

The boss had no technical knowledge at all, and the company had no technical accumulation, but the boss was very ambitious and wanted to package the company as a technology company and then raise funds. To this end, the company equipped me with a whole set of new equipment and gave me five programmer recruitment quotas.

But not long after, conflicts arose between me and the company because of my previous side job.

At that time, I still had two projects to complete, so when I first joined the company, I had to spend a lot of my spare time to catch up . Often after work, when I finished my work, I would work on the project, and sometimes I would run programs on the company's computers.

These two projects have nothing to do with the company's business, there is no conflict of interest, and the boss is aware of it. But some people in the company began to spread rumors that I had another company outside and was doing a side job while working, and that they were all big projects.

I didn't want to explain, I just thought I should do my job well. I worked very hard at that time, recruiting people while typing codes, writing programs, building architectures, and making plans, working overtime until very late every day.

But gradually, the boss began to come to "inspect" at night frequently. He would suddenly appear behind me and stare at my screen from a certain distance, which scared me a few times. Then he would ask me some technical questions intentionally or unintentionally, and asked me to explain various details, even though he didn't understand them.

One time after work, a few friends from the previous project came to me to discuss some technical issues. As soon as they left, the boss came over . He looked a little angry and threw me a ready-made plan and asked me to do it again.

Then suddenly one day, I found that the company computer could not be turned on and the server permissions were revoked. Then the human resources department notified me and asked me to complete the procedures and leave that day. The human resources department told me privately that the boss suspected that my side job conflicted with the interests of the company.

From this incident, I realized that the key to the problem might not be the side job, but the boss's lack of technical knowledge. The boss wanted to delegate power, but he didn't dare to delegate all of it. He was worried that I would use the company's resources to do my own things, or cooperate with others outside the company, thus forming competition with the company.

If the boss understands technology, he will understand that these things don't actually exist. I think there is nothing wrong with doing a side job as long as it does not infringe on the interests of the company and the company does not explicitly prohibit it. The difficulty lies in that it is difficult to clearly define the boundaries, and management itself is an art, and there will be some subtle factors .

05 I was ignored for my side job and my salary increase was cancelled, but I think I did nothing wrong

Xiaoqi|30+ Zhejiang

My main job is to be the factory statistician, responsible for all the clerical and administrative work in the factory, working from 8 am to 5 pm, with one day off, and a monthly salary of 7,000 yuan. The work is relatively leisurely, and even in the peak season, it can be completed in 4 hours at most.

My side job is cross-border e-commerce, which I started in June this year. The side job is somewhat related to the main job. The factory I work for is engaged in foreign trade photo frames and mirror frames, and my own cross-border e-commerce business is in other categories. Because the side job has just started, it does not take up too much time, and the income is not high. I only get one month's salary of a full-time job in three months of side job.

My boss's wife and I were in the same office. In October this year, by chance, when she was using my computer, she saw from the pictures of my computer products that I was doing a side job. Her first reaction was surprise, and then she asked about my income and whether it was easy to do e-commerce.

I belong to the factory management. The factory is not big. There are only me, the boss, the boss's wife, and the production supervisor in the office. The boss is the only man, and the other three of us are women. After she found out that I was doing a side job, I felt that the boss's wife's attitude towards me became subtle. In the past, the boss's wife shared afternoon tea and benefits with everyone, but now she gradually ignores me.

In addition, we used to raise salaries once a year, with an increase of about 500 yuan. This year, the production manager mentioned that she would receive a salary increase after October 1 , but I did not receive any notice of the salary increase . In addition, I clearly felt ignored during our daily interactions.

Our company does not have a clear rule that prohibits side jobs or private work, but I did not tell anyone. This year, the company wanted to develop cross-border e-commerce and wanted me to be the person in charge, but I did not accept it because I felt that the company did not give a reasonable plan and budget for cross-border e-commerce. Now the boss's wife is developing this business herself, without an advertising budget, and the business has not made much progress.

The company did not object to my side job and showed support, but the attitude has changed. I feel that I have no room for salary increase or other advancement. I guess they did not criticize or fire me because my skills are what the boss needs, the salary is not high, and now is the peak season for business.

At present, I feel that another colleague who is a production supervisor is more valued in the company. It seems that this supervisor has learned most of my skills, but I know that due to his academic qualifications, he can only learn the basics. I am currently being ignored, but there is no more serious situation of being targeted. But because I really don’t like this atmosphere, I plan to resign on New Year’s Day 2024.

I will not give up my side job unless I feel that there is no room for development in this path. After I quit my job, I plan to find a new job that is similar to my side job but in a different business category to avoid trouble. When my side job income exceeds my full-time income, I will quit my job and focus on developing my side job into my main job.

I think it is okay for workers to develop side businesses in addition to completing their main jobs. I have good skills, and it does not affect my main job or the company's interests, so there is nothing wrong with me developing a side business.

*At the request of the interviewees, Song Tian, ​​Xiaoying, Xiaozhai, Ji Fei and Xiaoqi are pseudonyms in this article.

Author: Xiangyuan Xingxing Hanmo Bruce Wen Gu, Editor: Wen Gu

Source: WeChat public account "Dingjiaoone (ID: dingjiaoone)"