Should I take some work on the side?

Question

I was just leaving a client site today after fixing a few problems and they seemed pretty happy because one of they guys asked me if I want to do any work on the side (outside the consulting company I work for). Do you think this is too risky a proposition to take up even if the work is unrelated to what my company was doing there?

Answer 1

I would say go for if, but first check your contract to ensure that it wont cause any problems, after-all you probably don't want to be sued or fired.

Answer 2

What I do in such a case is tell the person who asks that I have to talk to my client (in your case, your company) about this first. Then just lay it out to your company.

If your company accepts, there is no ethical problem and no need to worry.

If your boss says no, then both your boss and client know you acted ethically. In the long run, this pays off.

Answer 3

Slightly risky proposition.

Even though it's unrelated to what you were doing there, to put in into semi legalese: "But for you being at that location, working for your employer, the opportunity would never have come up" - So in a court room (IANAL), the opportunity to do that work really belongs to your employer.

If the work is unrelated to anything that your employer does, and your employer is happy about you doing it, no problem.

It is a very different situation to meeting some guy at a bar outside of work, but even then, some contracts will stop you from taking that work to.

Not an easy question, depends a lot on what your contract with your employer is.

When times start getting tough, this sort of thing comes out of the files when they have to swing the axe.

Answer 4

Well, I think that the ethics involved are more important than the "risk". If you work for a company, then trying to use their clients for your own personal gain without express (sometimes written) consent is a pretty shady thing to do, period. It' also risky, because I'm sure that your NDA says that this is not Kosher.

What you should do is tell your client that you don't feel comfortable doing that without the permission of your employer. Also, your employer has the first right of refusal for the business. If they give you the go ahead, you can ask your employer, and give your employer the option to take on the business themselves or let you do it on the side. Remember that the client might be trying to do something shady as well. They probably signed an agreement with your employer banning this sort of thing, so you don't want to make your client look bad, because it looks like they like you, and you don't want to hurt your relationship with them in the future, because they can always give you a job or business in the future.