New JobAssist research reveals how undisclosed second jobs are affecting employees’ availability during working hours, with some workers concealing competing commitments and prioritizing whichever employer has more at stake.
Shared calendars and flexible schedules allow employers to coordinate work without seeing how every hour is spent. But the same arrangements can obscure competing commitments when employees hold multiple paid jobs. A blocked calendar slot may appear to be an ordinary part of the working day while the employee is performing paid work elsewhere, leaving employers unaware that the time they expect to have available has already been committed to someone else.
The extent of that divide emerges in a JobAssist survey of 4,300 adults across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia who had held a primary job alongside at least one additional paid job or regular freelance role within the past 12 months. 58% said they had not disclosed their additional paid work to their primary employer. Even among respondents whose contract or workplace policy required disclosure or approval of outside employment, 36% said they had kept another paid role from the company.
The lack of disclosure sometimes extended into the working day itself. Among respondents who concealed their second job, 43% said they had worked on it at least once during hours when their primary employer considered them available for their main responsibilities.
Some workers accommodated those overlapping commitments through ordinary scheduling practices. 29% said they had blocked calendar time under labels such as focus time or appointment so they could work elsewhere. Another 27% had used PTO, sick leave or other paid leave from one job to perform work for another employer or client. Although taking paid leave does not necessarily violate workplace rules, the findings illustrate the different ways employees make room for additional work within their existing schedules.
The consequences could extend to colleagues who had no knowledge of those competing obligations. Among respondents who kept additional work hidden, 32% said they had at least once declined an assignment, moved a meeting or allowed coworkers to overestimate how busy they were with their main role because they needed time for another paid job. Such decisions can affect how teams allocate work even when the additional employment remains undisclosed.
Competing obligations also influenced which employer received priority. 21% said they had sometimes favored whichever role paid more or seemed more immediately at risk, rather than automatically putting their primary job first. This suggests that a worker’s main employer may not always have the strongest claim on their attention when the demands of different jobs collide.
Some employees also took deliberate steps to keep their arrangements out of public view. 31% said they had avoided updating LinkedIn or another professional profile because they did not want one employer to discover another paid role.
Underlying those decisions is a disagreement about what employers are entitled to know. 34% believed their employer had no legitimate reason to know about a second job as long as they continued meeting expectations in their primary role, even when workplace policy required disclosure.
That belief exposes a tension in how employment obligations are understood. Workers may consider satisfactory performance sufficient to meet their commitments, while employers may also expect availability during agreed working hours and transparency about potential conflicts. Those expectations become harder to reconcile when outside work begins affecting assignments or the time colleagues believe is available to them.
For employers, the findings highlight a limitation of managing work through schedules and observable performance alone. An employee can appear available on paper while handling obligations elsewhere, and competing demands may influence decisions long before a missed deadline makes the conflict visible. The central issue is how reliably employers can count on working hours that employees may already have committed to another source of income.
About JobAssist
JobAssist is an AI-powered job search platform that brings job discovery, personalized matching, applications, and tracking into one place. It helps people find relevant opportunities, understand which roles fit their profile, prepare tailored applications, and apply with less repetitive work. The platform provides access to personalized AI-validated matches, 1-click auto apply, AI-personalized cover letters, a job board, and one place to track applications and emails from recruiters.
Media Contact
Harriet Venter
PR Manager
JobAssist.com
pr@jobassist.com
The extent of that divide emerges in a JobAssist survey of 4,300 adults across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia who had held a primary job alongside at least one additional paid job or regular freelance role within the past 12 months. 58% said they had not disclosed their additional paid work to their primary employer. Even among respondents whose contract or workplace policy required disclosure or approval of outside employment, 36% said they had kept another paid role from the company.
The lack of disclosure sometimes extended into the working day itself. Among respondents who concealed their second job, 43% said they had worked on it at least once during hours when their primary employer considered them available for their main responsibilities.
Some workers accommodated those overlapping commitments through ordinary scheduling practices. 29% said they had blocked calendar time under labels such as focus time or appointment so they could work elsewhere. Another 27% had used PTO, sick leave or other paid leave from one job to perform work for another employer or client. Although taking paid leave does not necessarily violate workplace rules, the findings illustrate the different ways employees make room for additional work within their existing schedules.
The consequences could extend to colleagues who had no knowledge of those competing obligations. Among respondents who kept additional work hidden, 32% said they had at least once declined an assignment, moved a meeting or allowed coworkers to overestimate how busy they were with their main role because they needed time for another paid job. Such decisions can affect how teams allocate work even when the additional employment remains undisclosed.
Competing obligations also influenced which employer received priority. 21% said they had sometimes favored whichever role paid more or seemed more immediately at risk, rather than automatically putting their primary job first. This suggests that a worker’s main employer may not always have the strongest claim on their attention when the demands of different jobs collide.
Some employees also took deliberate steps to keep their arrangements out of public view. 31% said they had avoided updating LinkedIn or another professional profile because they did not want one employer to discover another paid role.
Underlying those decisions is a disagreement about what employers are entitled to know. 34% believed their employer had no legitimate reason to know about a second job as long as they continued meeting expectations in their primary role, even when workplace policy required disclosure.
That belief exposes a tension in how employment obligations are understood. Workers may consider satisfactory performance sufficient to meet their commitments, while employers may also expect availability during agreed working hours and transparency about potential conflicts. Those expectations become harder to reconcile when outside work begins affecting assignments or the time colleagues believe is available to them.
For employers, the findings highlight a limitation of managing work through schedules and observable performance alone. An employee can appear available on paper while handling obligations elsewhere, and competing demands may influence decisions long before a missed deadline makes the conflict visible. The central issue is how reliably employers can count on working hours that employees may already have committed to another source of income.
About JobAssist
JobAssist is an AI-powered job search platform that brings job discovery, personalized matching, applications, and tracking into one place. It helps people find relevant opportunities, understand which roles fit their profile, prepare tailored applications, and apply with less repetitive work. The platform provides access to personalized AI-validated matches, 1-click auto apply, AI-personalized cover letters, a job board, and one place to track applications and emails from recruiters.
Media Contact
Harriet Venter
PR Manager
JobAssist.com
pr@jobassist.com