A third of remote workers are working two jobs

A third of remote workers are working two jobs, according to a new report, sparking questions about how some may be multitasking while on the clock.

“Remote workers are increasingly working multiple jobs due to the rising cost of living in recent years,” Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek. “Additionally, many remote roles are relatively easy to manage, allowing workers to take on additional jobs without a noticeable drop in productivity.”

The report from SideHustles.com, based on 1,000 Americans, found that only one in five in-person workers had multiple jobs, and one in six hybrid workers said the same.

Across the country, one in four employees has multiple jobs and works an average of 50 hours a week.

“With no rush-hour traffic or endless watercooler chats, remote workers have found extra hours in the day—and they’re cashing in,” Jennifer Lee Magas, a communications professor at Nova Southeastern, told Newsweek.

“Remote work is the Wild West of modern employment. Employees are juggling side hustles and second gigs while mastering the art of looking ‘available’ on Slack. Employers don’t always have the tools or policies to detect this, so unless there’s a conflict of interest or a missed deadline, most workers are flying under the radar.”

Of those who identify as “polyworkers,” three in five said they keep their other jobs secret from their employers.

“The implications are significant,” Thompson said. “Workers are now doing exactly what is required of them—nothing more, nothing less. They are unlikely to go above and beyond the basic duties of their roles, which has led to a workforce that is less loyal to any particular company.”

Women were also significantly more likely to work multiple jobs, according to the report. Roughly 26 percent of women said they had more than one job, while 18 percent of men said the same.

When it came to managers, three in four said they have no issues with employees working multiple jobs.

But having multiple jobs also comes with its fair share of struggles. Roughly half (49 percent) of polyworkers said they were overworked, and 48 percent struggled to maintain time for their personal lives or families.

“This comes down to one thing: survival,” HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek. “People, especially in the last couple of decades, have often worked more than one job to get by. Remote work has simply made this easier on the worker, giving employees the space to reevaluate their worth and to realize that one paycheck isn’t enough today.”

Driscoll said some of the second jobs are happening under the radar because companies often don’t prioritize work-life balance.

“They don’t care if they’re paying their workers enough to survive,” he said. “They expect full and unconditional loyalty for whatever scraps they hand out.”

He added: “If you have employees successfully managing two jobs, meeting their goals and expectations, that’s not an employee problem. That’s a structural inefficiency problem.”