Job stacking is the practice of working two (or more!) full-time jobs simultaneously. Some people refer to it as over-employment. It’s only for ambitious, determined, detail-oriented people who want two salaries and aren’t afraid of hard work.
Here at Wade Marketing, we’re pretty experienced in the area of job stacking. Our founder, Zach Wade, worked multiple jobs at various digital marketing agencies. Today, we help over 130+ of our Partners do the same thing.
Job stacking is growing more popular. Just by looking at the r/overemployed subreddit, you can see that it’s gained over 100k subscribers in a little over a year. This growth is due to a few factors:
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Job stacking is easier in a remote work world. You don’t have to worry about your boss catching you on a different Slack group.
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Job stacking is easier with better productivity tools. Worker productivity has increased dramatically over the last few decades and the pandemic. You have more time to get your job done.
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Job stacking is more appealing in a disillusioned workforce. Employee loyalty and job satisfaction are down. Wages have stagnated.
Workers want, deserve, and can manage job stacking today like never before.
The problem is that employers are growing savvy to job stackers. Thanks to (in our opinion) backward beliefs about what employees owe their employers, bosses aren’t happy if they catch you working more than one job even if you’re still performing your job’s requirements. They’re using eye monitoring software as well as mouse and keyboard trackers which often brush up against privacy and ethical concerns.
This confluence of factors means would-be job stackers have one very important question: is job stacking legal? If employers use this shady software and catch you, are there legal repercussions?
Short Answer: Yes, Job Stacking is Legal.
Disclaimer: We’re not lawyers. If you have any doubts, we encourage you to speak to a lawyer.
That being said, we’re fairly confident that as of today, nobody will arrest you for job stacking. You won’t get sued. One Redditor put it particularly well: “…[W]hile you can technically be sued for almost anything…the plaintiff (ie one of your [employers]) would need to prove that A) you engaged in conduct that violated your contract, B) that it was materially damaging to them, and C) the monetary value of those damages.”
As long as you’re doing all the tasks you were hired to do, they’ll have a difficult time proving points B and C. The burden of proof is on your employer. Most won’t go to that effort. They’ll just fire you.
Be sure to carefully review your contract before signing it. You’ll want to check that you’re not breaking any easily sue-able points in it, for example by working for a competitor or breaking NDA.
Consequences of Job Stacking
Now, just because it’s legal to job stack doesn’t mean you won’t face consequences. The primary risk is that you might get fired. To be honest, in the States you can get fired for pretty much any reason that isn’t a protected class like gender or sexual orientation, so don’t sweat it.
The best advice against getting fired is to have multiple jobs. If you’re going to be fired for any reason anyhow, you may as well have a safety net of another job.
This is happening with some frequency – employers are discovering and firing job-stacking employees, so be on your guard as much as possible.
Another important consequence is that you might struggle to get your job done. That’s why we at Wade Marketing encourage workers to only take on achievable roles. For personal satisfaction and the moral high ground, don’t half-ass two jobs. Only take on additional jobs if you truly believe you can manage them. Many jobs don’t require 40h a week, but some do.
The final consequence you might face is word of mouth. If you work in a tight-knit industry, the word can get around about you. We recommend sticking to the first rule of job stacking wherever possible: don’t talk about job stacking.
If you do get fired for it, be sure you can prove you’ve been doing your job to the fullest extent. That way you can at least prove to future employers that no matter what anyone is saying about you, you’re getting the job done.
How To Avoid Getting Fired
Job stacking is legal. The most likely consequence of over-employment is getting fired. Want to avoid that? Read on.
- Step one: do your work. Only take on extra jobs if you genuinely can still do your work well. Take account of how many hours you have free during the week at your first job. Use that data to determine your capacity for another job.
- Step two: read your contract carefully. Make sure you’re staying within the bounds of your employment contract, not breaking any NDAs, outsourcing work where you’re not allowed, or giving your employer permission to run dubious surveillance on you.
Step three: Tell very few people. Don’t tell your work wife. Don’t tell your friends. You might run into people who disagree with you and want to snitch.
Resources
Now that we’ve established job stacking is legal (though you may face some repercussions if you get caught), we’d like to provide our resource to help you on your job stacking journey.
Our Independent Partnership Program is here to help any digital marketers who want to add some jobs to their stack. We offer resume boosting, portfolio help, interview coaching, and a steady stream of ideal job opportunities. Check us out.
