Moonlighting, a new wave in job market

WE SIT atop a time bomb of unemployment in South Africa. In the first quarter of this year 27.6% of South Africa’s potential workforce was unemployed and more than half was the youth – would-be first-time entrants to that same market.

Whichever way you look at it, the figures are ominous. It’s a dire situation further bedevilled by the fact that our economy is sluggish at best, GDP contracting by 3.2% in the first quarter of this year, which means those who are employed find themselves caught in a vice of rising costs and near stagnant pay levels in real terms.

At the same time, we speak of entrepreneurs and of innovation and creativity to break the impasse in which we find ourselves and yet – thanks to a groundbreaking study conducted earlier this year by Henley Business School Africa – perhaps that very answer lies right in front of us.

Working off the platform of the inaugural study conducted last year by our parent organisation Henley UK, our researchers went forth to explore the phenomenon of the gig economy – the Side Hustlers and Side Jobbers.

Side Hustlers are defined as people who are employed but who run a business separately to their main income, they might even be self-employed but running one or more separate businesses on the side. A Side Jobber on the other hand is a person who is employed but offers the same services to other clients. These services, irrespective of whether they are performed by Side Hustlers or Side Jobbers are done after the normal nine-to-five working day – and over weekends.

The truth though, as our study shows, is that these intra-entrepreneurs are actually far harder working than their non side-hustling or working colleagues – averaging 53 hours a week on their main jobs, as opposed to the median 43, before they even start on their other interests.

They employ people, some many more than one person. They up-skill themselves at their own expense, they become less dependent on the company for those all-important annual cost-of-living expenses or life changing career paths because they have literally taken control of their own destinies. And they’re making it work: Side Jobbers are supplementing their monthly income by up to a quarter while Side Hustlers are earning up to 20% more.

So, why are they doing it? Some are doing it to make ends meet, others to pursue a passion. This is not an isolated phenomenon either: almost 30% of our respondents have a side hustle or side job and among those who have been in the same main job for more than 10 years, almost 78% of them have disclosed their side jobs to their employers, with more than 70% of Side Hustlers doing the same.

This shows us two salient things right from the outset: corporate South Africa is aware of the phenomenon and is neutral about it, but at the same time there is nothing to fear. On the contrary, there is everything to be gained. We want to develop entrepreneurs.

It makes compelling business sense to regularise and legitimise this practice in companies to everyone’s benefits because these side hustlers and side jobbers are incredible innovative and creative and already among a company’s greatest assets. They learn new skills that they bring back into their primary employment. Instead of developing national incubators, which are often seen to be of little value, we might incubate a whole new wave of entrepreneurs who are side hustling while working, and building economic value and jobs. It may open the door to more job sharing and shorter working weeks.

Foster-Pedley is Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa