How Overemployment Is Making People Rich – 35% Of Remote Workers Work At Least 2 Full-Time Jobs At The Same Time
Those that can work multiple jobs are doing it more often than ever.
Artie Medvedev / Shutterstock Remote work has entirely changed the landscape between employers and employees. The newfound autonomy of workers makes it necessary for them to establish some semblance of trust between them and the company they work for.
But more and more employees who work from home are double-dipping and working multiple full-time jobs at the same time.
In a video uploaded by a woman named “Kayy,” and captioned, “Your job doesn’t want to give you a raise, so you go get 2-3 WFH jobs and make 10k+ a month. I gave myself a raise,” a mother is shown multitasking between two laptops while her toddler played nearby.
A TikToker named Jerry Lee added his own commentary on Kayy’s situation. He said that his friend had doubled his own income by working two jobs at once. Lee had known the man since kindergarten and hadn’t seen him in about a year and a half. The two met up for lunch, and according to him, the first thing his friend said was, “Hey, Jerry. I got a Tesla.” Apparently, with the income from two full-time remote engineering jobs at once, he was able to purchase the vehicle.
But he is not alone. Lee said that 35-79% of remote workers have two full-time jobs that they work simultaneously.
The concept of committing to two or more employers at once is known as “overemployment.”
Employees have been able to realize more income than they ever did before by simply accepting multiple job offers and juggling.
Lee shared one Redditor’s story of making seven figures by working multiple positions at once.
“This story is the craziest story that I’ve seen so far,” he said. He pointed above his head at the post from Reddit that said a person was about to start a fifth job on the upcoming Monday and expected to pull in a cumulative $1.2 million per year.
Though that is not the typical success story, it is entirely possible to multiply your income and change your tax bracket while working more than one job, if you can manage the workload successfully.
At the end of his video, Lee suggests that if your current remote job is not demanding and gives you a lot of downtime, you, too, could take advantage of the situation by picking up another gig or two and maximizing the return on your time investment. It’s the perfect recipe for wealth if you are a workaholic and don’t mind being obligated to multiple employers.
Your ability to balance more than one job at a time depends on your job duties.
Those of us who are busy day in and day out find it hard to imagine adding more work to our plates. But for many others, the work-life balance sacrifice is worth it.
It should be noted that picking up a second job just might land you in hot water with your current employer. Many have policies that prohibit moonlighting, especially if the position is with a competitor or if the schedule overlaps with the time that they expect you to be on the job working for them.
But perhaps the tendency for employees who work from home to seek additional employment is a nod to the fact that people simply don’t make enough money at work to support themselves or their families.
There’s no doubt there are people out there who are underpaid and unable to make ends meet. But there are also people who are simply looking for a windfall and if they can handle the responsibilities of both roles and their employers don’t mind, more power to them.
NyRee Ausler is a writer and author from Seattle, Washington. She covers issues navigating the workplace using the experience garnered over two decades of working in Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.