SECONDARY EMPLOYMENT - 06.10.2022

Cost of living crisis: secondary employment considerations

New research

A survey by comparethemarket.com has found that nearly half of all working adults in the UK - which is around 16.5 million people - are considering taking on some form of paid work in addition to their primary employment.

Raising the issue

There are several reasons why you should raise this with your employees. The first is that many employment contracts either prohibit, or seek to restrict, secondary employment .

If an employee takes on another job role, or does so without seeking your prior permission (if it’s required), they’ll be in breach of contract. If you are aware of this, but don’t challenge it, you probably won’t be able to enforce it later.

Working time and conflicts

Also, where an employee takes on secondary employment , you may inadvertently end up breaching the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) . Aside from the legal implications, working longer or excessive hours may also lead to a deterioration in the employee’s performance in the job role you employ them to do.

Thirdly, with secondary employment, there’s a risk of actual or possible conflicts of interest, e.g. the employee could either start working for a competitor or set up a competing business.

A relaxed approach

However, whilst you are entitled to protect your business, you must also be reasonable - financial problems or worries are a significant cause of stress, depression and anxiety. So, what else should you do in relation to secondary employment ?

Where your employment contracts prohibit or restrict it, you could advise employees that you may relax this at your discretion. This enables you to protect your business yet support employees. It also encourages staff to keep you in the loop, rather than hide things.

Opt out agreement

If an employee takes on a second job and they’ll regularly exceed the 48-hour working time limit, you’ll need to either ask them to sign an opt-out agreement, or take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that they stay within the limit, e.g. by asking them to reduce their working hours in one or both jobs (see The next step ).

Tip. If the employee challenges you on this, point out that you have a statutory duty to “take all reasonable steps” to ensure statutory compliance with the WTR and the buck stops with you.

Tip. By starting conversations about secondary employment or the possibility of it, you can prevent actual or possible conflicts of interest. You can also put the onus on the employee to show why there won’t be any conflict.

For an opt out agreement, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 24, issue 18.