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This story was originally business insider.
Less than a year into his first full-time job out of school, Jason, a 22-year-old West Coast-based software engineer, decided he wanted to make extra money to cover his $75,000. bottom. salary.
Jason told Insider that since his position was completely remote and he was able to get all of his work done in just 10 to 15 hours a week, he figured he had time to do other things.
he thought of trying side hustle He said he’s done microgreen farming, odd jobs on Craigslist, and freelance programming work, but eventually decided to look for a second job, either full-time or part-time.
In November 2021, he started his second full-time remote software engineering role. Now, he typically works 20 to 30-hour weeks between two jobs, and said he made $144,000 combined last year, according to documents seen by insiders.
And he hasn’t told either employer that he’s in a double bottom. Jason’s real name is known to insiders but has been left out to avoid professional repercussions.
“I wanted to increase my income,” he says. “I felt my workload was light enough in my first job.
in the meantime juggle two roles Jason said he can be stressed when he has a meeting or an unexpected job offer, but in some ways the work arrangement helps reduce stress.
“I learned to proactively say ‘no’ to my work tasks because I knew I had back-up work,” he said.
Jason took on additional work Partly due to high inflation, he is one of a small group of white-collar workers who secretly own it. Multiple full-time remote jobs In many cases, double their salary.
But the window to make this happen may be closing, as it is for many companies. call the employee back to the office And reduce the list of positions that are completely remote. About 13% as of March Job postings were remoteThat’s down from 17% in March 2022, but up from the pre-pandemic level of 4%, according to staffing firm ManpowerGroup.
And as knowledge of this phenomenon grows, some members overemployed community I’m afraid it will happen will eventually be discovered. Holding two jobs at the same time does not violate federal or state law, but it may. breach of employment contract And employment lawyers told The Wall Street Journal.this is already happened to some workers.
The desk in the apartment where Jason usually works.Jason, via BI
5 Strategies for Doing Two Jobs Remotely and Avoiding It
Jason said he uses five different strategies to juggle both jobs without getting caught.
First, I mentioned that I try to overestimate how long my tasks take in order to have more time to manage the workload of both jobs.
“Once you’ve completed a task, hold onto it for a while before submitting it for review,” he said.
Second, he said he was careful not to over-perform at work and get undue attention or assignments.
“When it takes me a long time to finish my work, whenever possible, I try to appear somewhat incompetent so that my colleagues are more understanding and do not give me a lot of difficult work.” I am trying,” he said.
Third, Jason said that when he can do a job, he spends less time on it.
“I have certain tasks, such as reviewing other people’s work, so sometimes I don’t review their work properly in order to spend more time doing other things,” he said. .
Fourth, he learned to turn down projects.
“Sometimes when I’m asked to take on more work, I say ‘no’ because I already have a job,” he said.
Fifth, he said he makes sure his colleagues are aware when others are preventing him from completing his tasks.
“Whenever something like this happens, I make sure to tell my colleagues and managers about it and expect work to be delayed,” he said.
Why he’s not worried about cracking down on overemployment
Jason said he has been immersed in an online “overhired community” since taking on two full-time remote jobs. r/overemployment subreddit It has 176,000 members.
He said many locals were concerned that overemployment was too prevalent and overreported. Employers may then try to identify and police these employees.
But Jason said he wasn’t particularly worried about it.
“I didn’t think enough people could manage over-employment because of their careers, their particular jobs, their stress tolerance, their desire to work more, and I still think that’s true,” he said. He added that he did not think so. Most employers will take good care of policing this, especially if their employees are getting the job done.
Going forward, Jason said he would like to devote more time to his new venture, which he started last December, although it is still in its early stages.
In the meantime, he said he plans to keep both jobs and that the extra income has given him financial security and the life he wants. He is said to be quite thrifty. He doesn’t own a car, rarely eats out, and lives in a $1,200-a-month one-bedroom apartment.
“For me, I feel like I’ve done my lifestyle, because I have pretty much everything I want,” he said.