Companies turn to forensic experts to stop moonlighters

Companies are increasingly hiring forensic and employment verification firms to detect moonlighters and review their compliance. Companies also aim to control regulations because the problem is out of bounds.

Although moonlighting has affected almost all industries, IT services, media and consulting have been the most affected. During the Covid-19 pandemic, people chose to work as freelancers or, in some cases, for competitors of their current employers. This, along with the work from home policy, has increased the attrition rate in the industry.

In their financial results for the third quarter, all of India's top four IT majors, HCL, Wipro, Infosys and TCS, reported an attrition rate of over 20 percent.

Sources in the forensic practice said, "We are getting more calls from concerned clients and orders from pre-screening to investigation." We have signed at least 15 new large clients, including top-tier IT-related companies.

To track moonlighters, forensic experts are using software that sources data from public-source databases and social media analytics.

A significant increase in moonlighting encourages forensic professionals to review the internals of compliance, policy, controls and frameworks. Technology helps create a controlled environment and constant monitoring for course correction.