employees and outside work

fmcbrandon · Mar 12, 2013

Has anyone ever had a machinist working for them doing design work on the side? And for a customer of the firm?

How would this be handled?

LS Machine · Mar 12, 2013

Yeah...... That would be a huge "no-no" in my book. Valuable employee?

DDoug · Mar 12, 2013

Day job or night job.....pick one.

It's one thing to moonlight, but you've got to CLEARLY not cross the line. (i.e. night job has
nothing to do with day job)

Upfront and honest all the way with all parties involved.

omrc7771 · Mar 12, 2013

MYOB - His call only. What impact has it had? Does he have any input in what YOU do with your off hours? Come on! Regards, Mike

Guest · Mar 12, 2013

Pretty sure the only way this guy finds this work is through you. Unless he asked your permission first and he is performing a task your company doesn't do I would fire him on the spot.

ewlsey · Mar 12, 2013

Unless the guy has signed a non compete agreement or non disclosure agreement, I don't see what grounds you have to fire him.

This is pretty common in my experience. I doubt there is any shop owner on the forum who did not start out moonlighting in his own shop, sometimes for the same customers he was serving at the day job.

len_1962 · Mar 12, 2013

1 st, when you hired did you have a no moonlighting clause in affect?

2 nd, is he using your equipment?

3 rd, did your customer contact him or did he go to them?

4 th, if he is still getting his work done for you and you didn't take the work from that customer, maybe not such a bad thing as your customer is happy because they have you to credit, he is your employee. heck they could hire him away or even get him started in his own shop. just saying.

have had employers ask employee's if they wanted side work to keep their cost down, overtime, social security ...... good customer can only spend $X amount for parts.

kpotter · Mar 12, 2013

I worked for a jeweler who insisted I do no work outside of the shop. I got paid to make stuff for my wife for her birthday. He dropped the rule when one of my customers marched in the store holding a human skull and had me set rubies and diamonds on it. I figured he would have folded when my best friends gay brother came in and had me make a diamond cock ring. I was given free reign after the skull, no more questions.

John Welden · Mar 12, 2013

kpotter said:
I worked for a jeweler who insisted I do no work outside of the shop. I got paid to make stuff for my wife for her birthday. He dropped the rule when one of my customers marched in the store holding a human skull and had me set rubies and diamonds on it. I figured he would have folded when my best friends gay brother came in and had me make a diamond cock ring. I was given free reign after the skull, no more questions.

So funny....

VMC_Jeff · Mar 12, 2013

fmcbrandon said:
Has anyone ever had a machinist working for them doing design work on the side? And for a customer of the firm?

How would this be handled?

If your company doesn't do design work then they are not competing against you, probably helping you get more work from this customer. If you do do design work then they are competing against you and it needs to be dealt with.

behindpropellers · Mar 12, 2013

fmcbrandon said:
Has anyone ever had a machinist working for them doing design work on the side? And for a customer of the firm?

How would this be handled?

Does your business do design work?

charlie gary · Mar 12, 2013

Dualkit said:
Pretty sure the only way this guy finds this work is through you. Unless he asked your permission first and he is performing a task your company doesn't do I would fire him on the spot.

That quite an assumption unless you've had conversations with the OP we're not privvy to. I do side work all the time, and I can assure you it has nothing to do with my day job.

Guest · Mar 12, 2013

charlie gary said:
That quite an assumption unless you've had conversations with the OP we're not privvy to. I do side work all the time, and I can assure you it has nothing to do with my day job.

It says "Customer of the firm." 99.9% chance he found the side job through his employer, whether by seeing him at his day job or seeing the company name on some paperwork. My assumption is probably correct. I have no problem with people taking side jobs as long as they don't use an employer's time, money, or resources to acquire and perform them.

Gordon B. Clarke · Mar 12, 2013

fmcbrandon said:
Has anyone ever had a machinist working for them doing design work on the side? And for a customer of the firm?

How would this be handled?

I'd hate to give an opinion on this without more information. If this employee is good at designing (and your customer seems to think he is) do you use him for this too or not? If it isn't costing you anything then all you risk by action is pissing your customer off.

Will fmcbrandon return?

PaulT · Mar 12, 2013

Side jobs that are totally independent of an employer's business are one thing but working on the side for customers of your employer would not be acceptable in my book. Its just got way too many conflict of interest landmines.

I'd talk to both the employee and customer about it, in particular tell the customer in a very nice way that you can definitely get this work done for them but it has to be through your business, not by using your employees on the side.

I'd make it clear to the employee that he can do extra work on his own time but not for customers of your business, that's a reasonable rule.

Paul T.
Valve and Chassis Spring Tester Home Page - Power Technology Valve and Chassis Spring Tools

Pattnmaker · Mar 12, 2013

I think Fmcbrandon is the employee. Sounding out what is likely to happen.

sniper1rfa · Mar 12, 2013

Dualkit said:
Pretty sure the only way this guy finds this work is through you. Unless he asked your permission first and he is performing a task your company doesn't do I would fire him on the spot.

Why?

Is he doing work that you would normally be doing? Doesn't sound like it, since he's a machinist and doing design work, which are not the same thing. In fact, I would say that having him doing design work for a customer would be a boon, since he can design his stuff to fit your equipment and so you're more likely to get the work.

Not sure that it's really a conflict of interest either. Again, he's not doing work that a machinist does at his day job, and design and manufacturing companies work together during development all the time.

Seems like a lot of people are getting worked up over nothing.

Gordon B. Clarke · Mar 12, 2013

sniper1rfa said:
Why?

Is he doing work that you would normally be doing? Doesn't sound like it, since he's a machinist and doing design work, which are not the same thing. In fact, I would say that having him doing design work for a customer would be a boon, since he can design his stuff to fit your equipment and so you're more likely to get the work.

Not sure that it's really a conflict of interest either. Again, he's not doing work that a machinist does at his day job, and design and manufacturing companies work together during development all the time.

Seems like a lot of people are getting worked up over nothing.

I agree

jrmach · Mar 12, 2013

Sounds like the Machinist has other valuable skills to offer than just machining.If the employer has a problem with that,maybe an increase in pay is in order if the employer does not want him Moonlighting with customer.

sable · Mar 12, 2013

I 'm sure that this is a story off American Hot Rod ,Mike the machining guy got sacked for designing wheels for a competitor, sorry for bringing AHR up!

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