By George Omagbemi Sylvester
In an era of remote meetings, cloud-based collaboration, and hybrid calendars, a new labour market phenomenon is quietly reshaping how people work: polygamous working. This is the practice of holding two or more full-time jobs at the same time, often without any of the employers knowledge or consent. It is a development at once symptomatic of economic strain, technological shift and ethical ambiguity. What once would have been dismissed as moonlighting has morphed into a secret global workforce strategy with serious implications for productivity, trust, labour law and economic security.
The term polygamous working may sound like a marketing fad, but beneath the pun lies a stark reality: workers are exploiting the flexibility of remote and hybrid work to collect multiple salaries simultaneously , though sometimes running two or three jobs in parallel without disclosing this to any employer.
A Post-Pandemic Phenomenon Fueled by Remote Work
The roots of this trend can be traced to the radical transformation of work precipitated by the global pandemic. When offices shuttered and video calls replaced boardroom meetings, the very metrics of “presence” and productivity changed. Tasks once measured by hours on site became outputs on projects, deadlines met and asynchronous communication. For some workers, this blurred boundary between work and downtime created the space to juggle multiple roles, so long as the results were delivered.
Before hybrid work, doing even one full-time job required being physically present for long stretches. Now, with flexibility baked into most job descriptions, employees can hide their engagement with a second or third employer behind closed cameras and muted Zoom windows. For some, it has become a craft: scheduling meetings back-to-back, concealing calendars and delivering just enough productivity to avoid suspicion.
This is not just a fringe social media trend. Online communities boast thousands of members sharing tips for handling overlapping responsibilities, managing time across roles and avoiding detection, tgere are examples that show this behaviour is widespread enough to warrant serious scrutiny.
Economic Pressures Driving the Shift.
Why would anyone try to sustain two full-time jobs? The explanation begins with rising living costs. Across advanced and developing economies alike, wage stagnation and inflation have eroded purchasing power. Workers tell researchers and career experts that a single salary is often insufficient to cover essentials like rent, utilities, education and healthcare, most especially for families and young adults starting out.
Gary Pheiffer, a psychology professor at Heriot-Watt University Dubai, explains that many workers who attempt polyworking do so out of economic necessity and pressure to perform, not merely ambition. When income from a single job does not match the cost of living, the temptation to add another payslip is powerful and even if the workday must be stretched well beyond normal limits.
In some surveys of labor markets, nearly half of workers report holding more than one job, although many of those are part-time. Nonetheless, the fraction working multiple full-time jobs concurrently appears to be small but significant and growing.
Legal and Ethical Ambiguities.
There is no universally accepted legal definition of polygamous working. In many jurisdictions, having more than one job per se is not illegal. The moment work commitments overlap (or when contractual obligations require disclosure of other employment) the situation becomes legally precarious.
Employment lawyer Kaajal Nathwani notes that while multiple jobs aren’t illegal on the surface, they can breach the implied term of mutual trust and confidence inherent in most employment contracts. Concealing other roles may also violate confidentiality agreements or data protection provisions, especially if work for different employers occurs during the same hours.
Examples from public sector investigations are stark. Authorities in the United Kingdom uncovered cases in which individuals held multiple government positions simultaneously, leveraging hybrid work to keep each employer unaware of the others. In one extreme case, a civil servant was found to have worked three separate full-time roles at the same time, leading to dismissal and legal action.
In other cases, workers have been convicted of fraud for failing to disclose concurrent employment this is not because having two jobs is illegal, but because their deception breached contracts and potentially misused public funds.
Performance, Burnout and Human Costs.
Beyond legality, there is the question of sheer human capacity. Holding down one full-time job is taxing enough; juggling two or three simultaneously pushes the limits of mental stamina and physical endurance. Studies on multiple jobholding suggest that spreading attention across competing roles can lead to burnout, reduce deep skill development and impair overall performance.
Gary Pheiffer warns that the “work always” mindset inherent in polyworking can blur boundaries between professional and personal time, leaving individuals susceptible to stress and exhaustion. In real terms, cognitive overload and conflicting schedules can take a profound toll on health and well-being.
Social scientists studying labor markets reinforce that multiple jobholding is strongly linked to labor precarity, a condition in which workers lack stable, secure employment and feel compelled to cobble together incomes from multiple sources. This is particularly evident in societies where wage growth has lagged behind economic pressures.
Employers on the Defensive
Employers and human resource professionals are also responding to this shift. Some organizations are tightening disclosure requirements and clarifying policies that forbid concurrent work without approval. Others are investing in data-driven payroll checks that can detect overlapping employment.
HR experts emphasize that transparency is key. Rather than allowing secret arrangements that can undermine trust and productivity, companies should encourage open dialogue about second jobs. Scanning for potential conflicts, ensuring confidentiality protections and setting clear expectations around working hours can reduce risk.
Some analysts argue that the rise of polygamous working reflects broader systemic problems, not just individual behavior. When employees feel they must resort to multiple jobs to make ends meet, it signals a mismatch between wages and living costs, declining job security and failures of labour policy.
Beyond Cheating to Structural Reform.
Polygamous working isn’t merely a HR headache. It raises fundamental questions about how work is valued, how economies support workers and how employers balance flexibility with fairness. If hybrid jobs create space for exploitation, the solution is not to abandon remote work altogether. Rather, it is to confront the underlying drivers that economic inequality, cost-of-living pressures and labour models that stress flexibility without security.
As labour economist Juliet Schor has argued in studies on work and inequality, when workers are forced into survival strategies that erode well-being, societies must examine the structures that made those choices necessary. True reform requires comprehensive labour protections, living wages and employer practices that reward productivity without incentivizing secrecy.
A Moment of Reckoning: A Trend Both Real and Troubling.
The rise of polygamous working captures a paradox of the modern labour landscape. On one hand, technological flexibility and remote work have empowered workers to pursue new opportunities. On the other hand, economic insecurity and managerial oversight gaps have created incentives for behaviour that can undermine trust, performance and legal obligations.
Whether polygamous working becomes a widespread norm or remains a marginal tactic, it highlights the urgent need for labour systems that align productivity, compensation and human dignity. In the end, transparency and fairness must be the fundamental currency of work and whether one job or three are on a person’s plate.
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