Let me answer this as I am a software engineer who is a notorious daylighter. Daylighting was coined by CNN in a 2009 article entitled Sneaky 'daylighters' risk firing by working extra jobs. It was about people who work on a side job at their full time job.
Now, why should you listen to me? Well, if daylighting were a group, I would be their President. 1/4 of my last book was devoted to it. The only difference is, Im not blatant about it like your employee is. I work in stealth mode at my day job. Ive been daylighting for 10 years now, and while I dont know your employee, I know why hes daylighting. Put your seat belt on, because its going to get fun.
First, ask yourself why your employee is daylighting? I already know the answer, but I want you to understand. Lets pretend I worked for you as a software engineer. I know that as a full-time employee (FTE):
I signed a contract with you stating I will be given annual performance reviews with the potential for raise and bonus based on superior work and output if goals are met. I also signed that same contract with the understanding you would honor skill sets above and beyond the standard salary for a particular skill level.
Now, what made me turn to daylighting? Why did I suddenly turn to the dark side? It was a transition, not an overnight thing. Here is how it went down:
For the first 10 years in my career at any new job, I worked hard for 1 year. I finished more projects than my peers. Id take on extra work. Id automate and simplify many of the processes so the business ran like silk. Peer reviews backed up my performance. After 1 year, it was time for the annual review as promised in the signed contract.
Ah, but here comes the interesting part. Listen up, because this concerns you the business owner or middle manager. At the end of one year, my raise and bonus were at cost of living levels. Or, the annual review was pushed back citing company delays.
When asked why the review was not stellar since I beat out most if not all of my peers on speed and output, no answer was given. Sometimes, it was corporate politics. Sometimes, it was because management was lazy and didnt want to pay. Sometimes, it was due to we want you to socialize more and play the game.
I discovered other programmers who pumped out quality output at staggering rates went through the same thing as I did at review time.
So, middle managers and business owners, pay attention. At that point, you BROKE the employment agreement. I exceeded above and beyond my standard job output. And at the end of the one year, you simply paid the same you would for an average output software engineer. You were getting 50% or more increased output over another guy with the same or relatively same salary.
Lets put this into perspective: Consider 2 software engineers. One of them gets 4 high difficulty programming tasks done in an 8 hour shift on average. The other gets 6 high difficulty tasks done in an 8 hour shift on average. At the end of the year, you should be paying the second guy more money than the first in raise and bonus. The other guy is pumping out 50% more work in the same timeframe.
If you dont pay them more, then you as the business owner or middle manager have broken the employment contract. (Remember the part about performance and raise and bonus?) Many middle managers and business owners get amnesia when raise and bonus time comes. Funny how that works, isnt it?
Lets take that same example, but we will use 4 high difficulty tasks as the average expectation of a programmer paid $x per year to complete in a day. Programmer A pumps them out in 8 hours. Programmer B does it in 4 hours. If Programmer B knows that the lazy middle managers or business owners wont be paying him any more money to increase output, what is Programmer Bs motivation to take on extra work? He knows the employment contract has been broken. He also knows the hundreds of imaginary hoops management will present so as not to pay him more money.
So what does he do next? If hes smart, he daylights. Ruthlessly. Because if the employer doesnt care about the employment contract, why should the programmer? You see where Im going with this? Im going to use those extra 4 hours in the day to earn more money for myself.
Now let me pause here for a moment, because I know the business owners and lazy middle managers are out there reading this. And they are saying, Well you should take on more work to show you are a team player. Nope. Team Player is code word for Do more, and never get paid extra for it.
Sometimes, you middle managers who table pound for team players never pay more than an extra 12% for high performers. Which isnt worth the paper its written on.
Other middle managers and business owners say, Ill just find another programmer who does more and doesn't ask for more money. Good luck with that. Its only a matter of time before the new programmer who pumps out tasks at light speed realizes the futility of his extra effort.
The beauty of daylighting is it goes back to a meritocracy in its purest form. I serve clients, I smash deadlines, and other people, either customers, or other clients, pay me money. There is no office politics. There are no broken employment contracts. For my side business, every hour I side hustle at my day job translates directly into more money. And the amount of money my side hustle gains me is more than any paltry raise or bonus you middle managers will ever produce.
Daylighting is the natural byproduct of middle managers abandoning the meritocracy due to laziness or greed. I bet middle managers are out there right now saying, Why should I give a programmer a 20% raise? Its too much money! No matter how much they pump out. But these same middle managers never do a dollarization measure of what the extra output gains their company.
So once again, if middle managers and business owners are too lazy to do the homework, or too lazy to honor the employment contract, then I, and others like me will continue to daylight.
Dont worry middle managers, youll get high output as mentioned above. You just wont get any more. If you need me during those last few hours in the day, Ill be at my desk embracing the meritocracy.
Please leave your tip in the jar.
