A Significant Number Of Workers Are Secretly Doing This Behind Their Boss's Back, Survey Finds
nuttapong punna's Images | Canva Pro A new survey found that a significant number of American workers said they are secretly working a second job and hiding it from their boss, shedding more light on not only how tough the economy has become, but how totally out of touch many business leaders are about it.
Everywhere you look, there is new data about how impossible the economy is becoming and how inadequate wages are. Yes, many bosses consider it a fireable act of betrayal if workers take on work on the side. This delusional sense of entitlement seems to be creating a culture of secrecy in many American workplaces.
1 in 3 workers secretly work a second job and hide it from their boss, a survey finds.
The survey, conducted by workforce solutions firm Careerminds, focused on 1,000 American workers who self-reported having both a full-time job and a side hustle. The survey aimed to understand their motivations, how job security factors in, and how they juggle multiple streams of employment.
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The short answer is that it's not going well, and all too many workers are being forced to lie about it to make it work. Just shy of one-third of respondents said they have had to keep their side hustle secret from their boss in order to avoid creating a bigger employment problem for themselves.
That, in turn, is adding even more to the already overwhelming pressure workers are feeling, as they struggle to keep the secret on top of already working multiple jobs. It's hard not to blame this on the bizarre culture we have at the moment, where everyone in leadership seems to be pretending not to know anything is broken in the economy.
Job security is among the top reasons workers said they have a side hustle.
Unsurprisingly, Careerminds found that the simple need for more income is the number-one motivator for taking on a second job, with 93% of respondents citing it. But the number two reason is awfully telling.
More than 37% of respondents said they took on a second job as a "safety net" in case they got laid off. This was even more common among Gen Z workers, who overwhelmingly said their side hustle was "career insurance" amid the constantly shifting tides of the job market.
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They also, unsurprisingly, had the highest proportion of workers with side hustles at nearly 70%. Women, too, were more likely to have a side hustle, with more than 67% of female workers saying they have a side hustle compared to 61% of men.
Perhaps most tellingly of all, 43% of respondents said their side hustle is providing a substantial chunk of their income, amounting to as much as 25% of their take-home pay. That just serves to further underline how woefully inadequate most full-time jobs' compensation packages are in today's economy.
The necessity of side gigs is causing major stress and work-life balance issues.
The money is a necessity, but it comes at a cost. Careerminds' survey found that 35% of respondents were working 11-15 hours a week on their side hustle in addition to their full-time job, and 1 in 5 were working 16-20 extra hours.
With most American full-time workers putting in MORE than 40 hours a week, according to recent data, that amounts to a punishing schedule. And accordingly, nearly 55% said their side hustle has landed them in moderate or severe burnout, and 87% said it has made them more stressed.
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Having to be secretive and sneak around on top of it surely makes that stress even more intense. "From an employer’s perspective, the biggest concern is whether outside work could interfere with your performance or loyalty," says Amanda Augustine, a career expert and certified professional career coach.
Which is all fine and good, but the entire reason people are working second jobs in the first place is that their own employer shows them no loyalty by paying them inadequately. And it is frankly absurd that so many bosses seem to be operating in a fantasy world where working a second job is some kind of slight.
At this point, if you live anywhere near reality, it should be a default assumption that your staff is side-hustling by necessity. And if you're worried about conflicts or loyalty, well, there's a very simple solution: Pay them more.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
