Second Jobs and Conflicts of Interests: A Practical Guide for HR Professionals

Many people have second jobs in order to make ends meet, to help fill up their time outside of the usual 9 to 5, or because they have a passion for a cause, project or sector that doesn’t pay well (so their ‘first job’ is there to provide an income).

Some professionals like doctors have a private practice alongside their role in the public sector. Many workers in the gig economy, on zero-hours contracts, may have more than one contract.

Remote working has made it easier for people to have more than one job. This is especially true if that second role is a person’s own business or side-hustle.

Most second jobs create no problem whatsoever. The issue is identifying those that create conflicts of interests and therefore risks to both employers and employees.

 

What Is a Conflict of Interests?

People have interests – things they care about – in their personal and processional lives. This is normal and not something you can (or should) avoid. However, interests can conflict. When that happens there is a risk that people may not behave in the appropriate or professional way expected of them. This creates risks for both people and organisations.

HR therefore has a key role in the identification and management of conflicts of interests. You can read more in our guide to conflicts of interests for HR here.

 

The Risks Created by Second Jobs

Second jobs can create a number of risks for employers.

The main HR challenges regarding conflicts of interest from second jobs include

• Concealment: if an employee works for (or sets themselves up as) a competitor, supplier or customer they can use their inside knowledge inappropriately.
• Under performance: being distracted by a second role makes it harder for people to give their best to their first role. This is made much easier by remote or hybrid working
• Data protection: a breach of confidentiality can be more likely if people work across more than one role. They risk sending sensitive or personal data to the wrong organisation or person, for example
• Legal risks: employers are accountable for breaches of working time regulations.

 

Detection and Visibility

If people do not declare a second job then organisations cannot put in place appropriate management or fulfil their statutory duties. Hiding a second job means a conflict of interests may not be detected until something goes wrong, or performance suffers. It also makes it harder to investigate incidents as you may not be aware of all the potential root causes.

 

Performance and Compliance Risks

Working extra hours leads to mental and physical tiredness, and a drop in output. It could also reduce capacity to take on short term additional work, or even lead to an increase in absenteeism. There is also a risk that having two jobs can push an employee past legal weekly working hour caps, and create health and safety liabilities for the main employer.

In addition employees may inadvertently or intentionally share proprietary information, trade secrets, or client data with a competitor, customer or supplier.

 

Policy and Culture Balance

Everyone must be treated fairly, and be seen to be treated fairly. Bans on extra work often cause resentment and lower morale, whereas open disclosure frameworks foster trust. Conversely there is a risk of perceived favouritism if people are allowed to (or perceived to be allowed to) work differently to colleagues because they have a second job. There should be clear and precise policy and contractual wording to avoid unfair dismissal or breach claims if action is taken in relation to a second job.

 

Common HR Problems (and How to Solve Them)

When managing formal declarations of second jobs, receiving a declaration is only the first step. The challenge lies in effectively processing, validating, and monitoring the information provided.

The most common problems HR must consider include:

 

Inaccurate or Incomplete Information

• Under reported hours: Employees often underestimate or may intentionally under report the hours they spend on their second job to secure approval.
• Vague role descriptions: Workers may describe their secondary role broadly (e.g., “consulting”). They may need to provide more details about their role and duties to support effective management.
• Shifting schedules: Zero-hours or freelance secondary roles have unpredictable hours. This makes it difficult for HR to track cumulative weekly work schedules.

 

Operational and Scheduling Rigidities

• Emergency availability: Employees with a second job are often unavailable for last-minute overtime, emergency shift cover, or urgent out-of-hours calls.
• Holiday clashes: Peak periods for the secondary employer (e.g., seasonal retail or tax deadlines) can lead to staff requesting time off during your company’s busiest periods.
• Training conflicts: Scheduling mandatory internal training, team meetings, or professional development can become difficult if it clashes with the employee’s second job.

 

Administrative and Tracking Fatigue

• Chasing updates: HR departments rarely have the resources to consistently follow up and ensure that employees are submitting their monthly hours as agreed.
• Manager oversight: Line managers often forget to monitor the employee’s energy levels or output until a significant performance drop or safety incident has already occurred.
• System integration: Standard HR software and payroll systems are rarely designed to log, track, and flag hours worked for external companies.

 

Cultural and Consistency Risks

• Claims of favouritism: Approving a second job for one employee while denying it for another in a similar role can spark internal resentment or formal grievances.
• The “side hustle” distraction: Employees who are highly passionate about their second business may use company time, internet, or laptops to manage it during their main working hours.
• Precedent setting: Granting permission without tight, conditional wording can make it incredibly difficult for HR to legally revoke that permission if the business’s needs change.

 

Legal Considerations

There are a range of legal considerations HR may wish to consider, and seek formal legal advice on when considering conflicts of interests and secondary employment

 

 

Cumulative Breach of the 48-Hour Limit

• Shared hour cap: The statutory 48-hour maximum average working week applies to the total combined hours an employee works across all employers, not just your company.
• Failure to limit: Under Regulation 4, an employer commits a criminal offence if they fail to take “all reasonable steps” to ensure a worker’s combined hours stay under the 48-hour average.

 

Breaching Non-Waivable Rest Periods

• Daily rest failure: Workers are legally entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest in any 24-hour period. If an employee finishes a shift at their second job at 11:00 PM and starts at your company at 7:00 AM, you are in breach.
• Weekly rest failure: Workers must receive an uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours each week (or 48 hours every fortnight).
• No opt-out allowed: Unlike the 48-hour weekly cap, employees cannot legally opt out or sign away their rights to daily and weekly rest periods. You face liability even if the employee willingly works through their rest times.

 

General Health and Safety Liabilities

• Duty of care: Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers hold an overriding duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their staff.
• Fatigue-related accidents: If a severely fatigued employee causes an accident at your workplace—or hurts someone while driving a company vehicle—your business can face civil personal injury claims and criminal prosecution for failing to manage fatigue risks.
• Constructive knowledge: If an employee formally discloses a second job, you possess “actual knowledge” of the risk. You can no longer claim ignorance if the employee suffers a burnout-related health breakdown.

 

Record-Keeping Violations

• Mandatory tracking: Employers are legally required to maintain up-to-date records showing that workers are complying with the 48-hour limit.
• Fines for omission: If you know about a second job but fail to ask for, calculate, and record those secondary hours alongside your internal shift records, you are in breach of WTR record-keeping rules and subject to financial penalties.

 

How to Mitigate This Liability Immediately

To shift the risk away from your company, you must act on the disclosure by implementing two key legal safeguards:

1. Issue a 48-Hour Opt-Out Agreement: Ask the employee to sign a voluntary, written 48-hour opt-out agreement under Regulation 5. This legally waives the weekly cap, though it does not absolve you from managing rest breaks or overall fatigue.
2. Mandate an Hour-Declaration Clause: Require the employee to provide a written schedule of their secondary working hours every month to prove they are still receiving their mandatory 11-hour daily rest breaks.

 

Developing an Effective Second Jobs Policy

All policies should cover the same core elements (you can read more about this here). A second jobs policy should:

• clearly communicate expectations to employees, contractors, and other stakeholders.
• promote consistency in decision-making and behaviour across the organisation.
• mitigate legal, financial, and reputational risks.
• deliver compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
• safeguard the organisation’s assets and reputation.
• promote ethical behaviour, fairness, and respect.

When it comes to second jobs your policy should explain

• all secondary employment, including self-employment should be declared
• how any declaration will be assessed, including for risks, and decisions made
  • as part of this the policy should discuss reputational risks and the organisation’s attitude to these risks
• any ongoing reporting requirements if a second role is approved
• any monitoring or additional performance management that may be needed in relation to a second role
• how the organisations will mitigate legal risks around working time, health and safety, intellectual property and data protection
• that people are not permitted to use company resources or time in relation to secondary employment
• sources of support to help people manage the challenge of secondary employment
• the consequences of either failing to declare secondary employment or failing to abide by the risk and other management actions put in place when people have second jobs
• That any arrangement permitting secondary employment may be revoked under certain circumstances, such as if health and safety risks arise.

 

Managing Declarations and Approvals

Declarations of a second job should happen in the same way as any other interest. In this instance they should happen on appointment. If circumstances change a further declaration should be made. The situation should be confirmed at least annually.

You can read more about how and when to declare an interest here

To safely handle a disclosed second job, HR must evaluate risks objectively, document agreements clearly, and monitor performance consistently. This structured approach protects your business while maintaining a transparent relationship with the employee.

 

Phase 1: The Initial Assessment

• Review compatibility: Check if the second job is with a direct competitor, vendor, or client to prevent structural conflicts of interest.
• Evaluate time commitments: Calculate the total weekly hours of both roles to ensure they do not breach local legal working hour limits.
• Assess schedule overlap: Confirm that the secondary shift times or freelance project hours never bleed into the primary job’s core hours.

Phase 2: Formal Review and Agreement

• Host a discussion: Meet with the employee to discuss boundaries, potential fatigue, and the absolute priority of their primary role.
• Draft a conditional agreement: Issue a formal written approval letter that clearly details the agreed-upon hours and conditions. This should include explicit causes around intellectual property, personal data and other commercially sensitive information. It should also include instructions about declaring further interests if the second job in any way generates an actual or potential conflict in the future.
• Include revokation clauses: State explicitly in writing that permission will be revoked if performance drops or an actual conflict emerges.
• Sign confidentiality reminders: Have the employee sign an updated non-disclosure or data protection declaration to secure proprietary information.

Phase 3: Monitoring and Ongoing Management

• Track key metrics: Monitor the employee’s output, quality of work, and attendance metrics closely during regular performance reviews.
• Watch for burnout: Train line managers to spot early signs of exhaustion, high stress, or sudden drops in team engagement.
• Schedule periodic check-ins: Review the secondary employment status annually or bi-annually to ensure the external role has not changed in scope.

 

Practical Examples

A Young employee in an office role has an evening / weekend job as a waiter in a restaurant

This scenario is less likely to pose a direct conflict of interests because of the different industries and the lack of overlap between your business and competitors, customers and suppliers. There is still a risk of excessive hours and fatigue which should be carefully managed but apart from regular reporting and oversight this kind of second job may not present too many conflicts.

Experienced colleague is elected as a local councillor

This type of secondary employment is different, partly because it is not paid employment in the traditional sense. Time off for party political activity and council duties may be needed and should be negotiated. Organisations should also consider the public nature of being a local councillor and whether your organisation does or might tender for or provide contracts offered by the relevant local authority.

Senior colleague has a paid non-executive director role at another organisation

This kind of secondary employment is more likely to post conflicts of interest than the other two. The senior colleague is very likely to be made aware of highly sensitive commercial information about both organisations and might find it difficult to keep the two roles separate. As one of the employers you may need to monitor what information and activities the senior colleague might need to be excluded from to avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interests.

 

Common Mistakes

Common mistakes that should be avoided include:

1. Not requiring declarations of second jobs. Because secondary employment has the potential to create conflicts of interests all such second jobs should be declared and managed.
2. Failing to consider perceived conflicts of interests. Actual conflicts, such as time commitments, can easily exist. But perception matters too. What happens if people feel, even if they are wrong, colleagues are underperforming due to a second job, or are getting special treatment?
3. Failure to consider conflicts of loyalty. Conflicts of interests can be more than financial or operational. People can feel conflicted if they have two competing interests that command feelings of loyalty, which second jobs – especially things like a side hustle or one person small business – can easily generate
4. Not keeping declarations up to date. Circumstances change – a second job could offer different hours, a promotion, or additional duties. Any of these could create a conflict even if one did not exist before
5. Not maintaining oversight or taking action. Employees can underestimate the mental and physical impact of second roles. If this happens then action should ideally be taken before the situation requires disciplinary action.

 

Demonstrating Good Governance

Organisations can demonstrate good practice by shifting from a culture of policing to one of transparent disclosure, structured risk assessment, and active wellbeing support. This balances the protection of business interests with empathy for employees’ financial or creative goals.

1. Shift to a “Declaration Culture”

• Encourage proactive disclosure: Frame the policy as a tool for safety and support, rather than punishment, to encourage staff to come forward early.
• Streamline the process: Provide a simple, digital, and confidential declaration form that takes less than five minutes to complete.
• Commit to fast turnaround times: Guarantee a response within a set timeframe (e.g., 5 working days) so employees do not feel forced to hide work while waiting.

2. Standardise Risk and Compliance Evaluations

• Use objective scorecards: Evaluate every request using a standardised risk matrix assessing conflict of interest, IP risks, and total hours.
• Automate WTR compliance: Embed 48-hour opt-out agreements directly into the secondary employment approval workflow.
• Treat part-time staff fairly: Acknowledge that part-time employees inherently require more flexibility to hold multiple roles to maintain a viable income.

3. Integrate Monitoring into Routine Operations

• Incorporate into 1-to-1s: Normalise brief, supportive check-ins regarding secondary work boundaries during regular performance and wellbeing chats.
• Train line managers properly: Equip supervisors with specific, objective training to spot fatigue or performance dips without micromanaging or accusing staff.
• Conduct regular policy audits: Review all approved secondary arrangements annually to ensure the external roles have not changed in scope or hours.

4. Provide Supportive, Clear Offboarding (When Revoking)

• Give contractual notice: If a second job must be restricted due to a performance drop, provide a reasonable notice period (e.g., 4 weeks) for the employee to wind down their external commitments.
• Offer alternative support: If an employee took a second job due to financial hardship, offer internal solutions like overtime opportunities, financial wellbeing resources, or flexible scheduling before enforcing a ban.

5. Training

• As well as HR expertise managers need training to identify issues, support staff and make decisions. This training should familiarise them with your policies and procedures, and help ensure everyone is treated the same.

 

 

Practical Checklist

You can use the checklist below to help ensure you have the right foundation to manage conflicts of interests in secondary employment.

✓ do you have a policy or policies that cover the declaration of interests and the management of second jobs?

✓ do you require declarations at appropriate points?

✓ are you able to assess risks relating to secondary employment?

✓ do you document decisions that can be used as an audit trail?

✓ are declarations reviewed at lease annually?

✓ do you train managers in making decisions on secondary employment and any performance issues arising from them?

✓ do you investigate concerns?

✓ are processes in place to protect confidentiality and treat people consistently?

✓ do you consider wellbeing as part of your review or assessment processes?

 

Conclusion

Second  jobs can pose material risks and may need to be carefully managed within your conflicts of interests processes. Having the right kind of policies and procedures will support compliance as will training and communication. The evidence that comes from the right oversight and monitoring also helps. People should understand their responsibility to report secondary employment. They must abide by any agreement on the management of the challenges it poses.