The rise of digital media and remote business has made it easier than ever to find flexible work outside of business hours.
Whether it’s a hobby to satisfy interests or a necessity to put food on the table, nearly a third of workers (csnbc.com) maintain a side hustle in addition to their regular jobs.
This trend might be concerning to employers and hiring managers for many reasons…
In some instances, a side gig might put an employee’s full-time job at risk (i.e. you might find that the side project is stealing work time or sacrificing some much needed overtime.)
In other instances, it might be flat-out against company policy due to competing industries like marketing freelance graphic design.
Time spent not on the job is always allocated elsewhere. Sacrificing attention from time to time by answering occasional emails or text messages might make you less focused on the job at hand – the job you’re getting paid fairly for.
So… what’s Omada Search’s stance on the trend?
And how should employers think about side hustles as they become more common?
To answer the first question, side hustles are something that we are on board with (to an extent).
As an employer, those are the types of people we want to work with.
For example, Katie and I are always talking about doing things to make us better people, better wives and better friends.
We’re constantly searching for more. For better.
Katie and I are not the type of people that just log off at 5pm and sit in front of the TV for 4 hours (only sometimes LOL).
That’s just not who we are. We’re always looking to learn a new skill or to better ourselves. So of course we want to work with other people that are similar in that aspect because that’s a part of the growth mindset.
Side hustle or no side hustle (it could be an interest, it could just be learning something new), growth minded candidates are the type of people we want to attract.
Now that’s not to say there aren’t drawbacks in this arena as an employer (stated above) but as long as it’s known that they’re all-in and the quality of work is not suffering, employers may want to consider an employee’s aspirations outside of business hours too – especially when 56% of side hustlers do it because they have to (creditloan.com).
If you want to attract great employees, investing in them personally means you must realize they are real people outside of your organization too. People will do more for you if you invest in them personally.
What are your views on side hustles?
