Have you ever been in a work meeting and wondered why a colleague always keeps their camera off? Or why they’re always seemingly offline on Slack? It might be because they are trying to get away with an elaborate plot to work at two companies at once—or maybe close to half a dozen—and bring in a salary exceeding $500,000.
Across the world, hundreds of thousands of workers have begun to embrace “overemployment”. According to the r/overemployment subreddit, with more than 430,000 members, they all have one simple mission: “Work multiple jobs, reach financial freedom.”
The overemployed community was thrust into the public eye thanks to a viral X post by Suhail Doshi, the founder of tech startups like Playground and Mixpanel. The entrepreneur highlighted an employee he fired after discovering they may have been working multiple jobs simultaneously.
“I fired this guy in his first week and told him to stop lying / scamming people. He hasn’t stopped a year later,” Doshi said in the post. “No more excuses.”
The practice of overemployment (or polyworking) is nothing new, having exploded during the pandemic thanks to remote work. But it’s only gotten easier thanks in part to AI’s enhancement of workplace productivity. In fact, one Reddit user claims to have just landed their fifth concurrent job, bringing their income to over $3,000 a day.
“I tell them up front that I’m a ‘consultant,’” the user wrote. “I won’t be at the all-hands meeting. I skip daily stand-up calls. They know how to reach me if I’m needed, but I keep distance from the organization. I’ll get a few tough things assigned in a sprint and solve them at some point over two weeks. They leave me alone.”
“I’m determined and vigilant,” they added. “Never letting a plate drop. Always checking emails and Teams throughout the day. Up early, working multiple time zones across the US.”
While Fortune could not verify the authenticity of Doshi or the Reddit user’s employment status, it signals a broader ability for workers’ desire and ability to balance multiple “full-time” jobs and rake in high salaries.
How workers are landing multiple six-figure jobs at once
With some workers struggling to land even an interview in today’s rocky job market, it may come as a surprise that others are securing multiple highly sought-after roles simultaneously. The Reddit post reveals that many are breaking ethical boundaries to do so.
“Interviews should be gamified,” one user wrote. “Lie, cheat, and steal. Use AI. Tech interviews are 80% an opportunity for some blowhard at the company to impress their skill on you. With AI, the walls of tech are coming down.”
But you still have to be good at what you do, especially in your first job, according to the Reddit community’s pinned FAQ; that way, you can get away with exceeding expectations while only working a few hours a week. The ideal jobs for overemployment are ones that are not meeting-heavy, are senior enough to delegate work to other staffers, and are at large companies, so you’re less visible.
Just over 5% of all employed workers have more than one job, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Considering the average multi-job holder still works 35 hours at their first job and about 13.5 hours at their second, it’s clear the more extreme overemployment trend is not for everyone.
“If you’re not skilled enough to pull this off you could end up screwing up your career. Don’t try this before you’re ready,” the FAQ states. “If you have to ask questions like ‘How do I find a second job?’ you’re not ready.”
Remote work is enabling an era of job juggling
Remote work is prime territory for overemployment, but dealing with RTO or an occasional in-person meeting is possible to handle, too. The page suggests finding disused office spots or the parking lot to take calls for all your other gigs.
“People take personal calls all the time,” it advises. “If you don’t act nervous then you won’t look suspicious.”
And while some might call this time theft, overworkers insist they are not part of the problem; in fact, many just use the opportunity to feel like they can earn a fair wage.
“Every CEO and HR department already knows about OE (overemployment) and has for well over a decade,” the overemployed Reddit community FAQ says.
“This isn’t a new thing. It’s all the quiet quitters out there who slack off and deliver nothing of value while working remote(ly) that are causing problems. Not the folks who are delivering as expected at multiple jobs.”
Are you “overemployed” and balancing multiple full-time jobs at once? Fortune wants to hear from you. Reach out to [email protected]
