Polygamous working is a huge and growing issue across the UK, particularly in the public sector. This term refers to people who work more than one job simultaneously. This phenomenon is very different from moonlighting where individuals work at secondary jobs outside of their primary employment hours. Imtiaz Shams is a former public sector finance assistant. Having personally executed such a transition after leaving government service, he sheds light on the deeper forces driving this employment trend.
In just 2023, the UK recognized 301 cases of polygamous working, 256 of which were in England. Local councils and government officials are more concerned with a lack of transparency. These figures highlight their desire for greater accountability in government service positions. Barnet Council is fully committed to taking part in the NFI (National Fraud Initiative). They have recently criminally prosecuted one of these individuals who was successful in conviction for fraudulent procurement practice and ordered to repay £10k for full-time working across two councils at once.
Sham’s annual salary of £16,000 while taking a gap year as a finance assistant. He went on to rant in equally visceral terms about the level of compensation in the public sector. He believes that many public sector workers are inadequately compensated and that the government is attempting to “punish people for what is a broken system.” His concern is part of a growing frustration among public sector workers, especially teachers, about their pay and working conditions.
Kaajal Nathwani, an employment lawyer, calls polygamous working a “really new phenomenon.” This practice is distinct from moonlighting—which typically refers to secretly taking a side job, often at night. She cautions against the pitfalls of productivity when workers take on too many duties.
“There’s also the question of whether or not you are fully able to devote your time and attention to performing a role if you are carrying out multiple jobs and multiple roles throughout the day.” – Kaajal Nathwani
The ramifications of polygamous working go beyond the individual level to hurt the interests of taxpayers. Simon Radford, Barnet Council’s Cabinet member for Financial Sustainability at Barnet Council condemned the practice as a “misuse of taxpayers’ money.” He continued on to mention that public sector workers should be held to a greater level of accountability. He remarked on the stereotype that public sector employees do not work as diligently as those in the private sector.
“I think there’s an old cliché, right, that in the public sector people don’t work as hard as the private sector.” – Simon Radford
The surveillance of polygamous working is increasing. Yet a recent case of Beatrice Eduah, a social worker found guilty of fraud, illustrates the problem as she worked for three different councils simultaneously. Such acts erode the public’s confidence in government agencies and reek of inefficiency and misappropriation of resources.
Alex Burghart MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, criticized the government’s lack of oversight on second jobs within the civil service. He claimed that North Carolinians want transparency and efficiency from our public servants and that this is what taxpayers are demanding.
“Hard-working taxpayers expect efficiency and transparency from the public sector, yet Labour has overseen a bloated system that operates in secrecy.” – Alex Burghart MP
The NFI is increasing its efforts to crack down on waste and fraud. So councils are working together more than ever to identify polygamous employees. Josh Simons, a spokesperson for the initiative, pointed to recent work pairing payroll and pension data together to identify differences.
“Through the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), we are working with councils to root out these polygamous workers. By matching payroll, pension, and benefits data nationwide, we are spotting the inconsistencies that criminals try to hide.” – Josh Simons
Simons noted an increase in participation from government departments, which may facilitate more comprehensive oversight and enforcement against fraudulent employment practices.
“We brought 14 government departments to take part in the exercise for the first time. Users of our Fraud Hub database, which includes records of staff dismissed for fraud to ensure they don’t get a new job in government, have risen by 30%.” – Josh Simons
Polygamous working isn’t criminal in and of itself. Nathwani cautioned that it becomes illegal if your employment agreements explicitly prohibit you from pursuing side work. The intricacies of these circumstances pose important and crucial issues regarding employee rights and duties under contracts in our rapidly changing economy and workforce.
Shams is still hopeful that the trend continues in recognizing the importance of making workers happy, with the goal of increasing productivity. He repeated his conviction that people are driven by their self‐interest and that institutions need to reward them for their value.
“Why? Because I want them to be happy. Good people are hungry. Where there’s a problem is if they’re not delivering for me.” – Imtiaz Shams