Do I need to tell my employer about side work?
Taking on independent projects raises questions about whether it is ethical to bypass your main company and if you must disclose the extra work to leadership. Because many are not ready to go fully independent, they want to keep the work a secret but worry about how their jobs might find out.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Disclosing the outside work to both current leadership and freelance clientsDid this help you?
- 2Getting written acknowledgement or approvalDid this help you?
- 3Running specific opportunities past the Executive Director to ensure they don't competeDid this help you?
- 4Telling the client to call the main company insteadDid this help you?
- 5Starting an independent company legallyDid this help you?
- 6Only doing favors for friends and family rather than paid side workDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I guess my question is, as long as I'm vigilant about taking projects that would not compete with my organization, and of course make sure my time is well-managed, is there any ethical issue here? Also, do I need to tell my leadershiop I'm taking on this extra work?”source ↗
“Do anyone do side gigs, was wondering, my building asked me to help but don't want to go thru the company I work for. I only been doing exclusion and roach gel as of now”source ↗
“How can jobs find out that I'm doing side work? Definitely not ready to go on my own”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Finding a flexible part-time accounting job while in college
- 6How to grow a side business while working a full-time job
- 6Why is it impossible to find freelance work anymore?
- 7Why is it so hard to find a fully remote job?
- 40Why are teachers expected to be available 24/7?
- 33Doing higher-level work without a pay raise