Should You Try To Juggle Two Or More Full-Time WFH Jobs? (Probably Not.)

Although many employers are pressuring employees to return to the office following pandemic-related restrictions that fueled the work-from-home revolution, there are still plenty of remote positions available across much of the economy.

There are some downsides, including loneliness and missing out on opportunities to collaborate — but many folks think the pros (no commute, no boss breathing down your neck, etc.) make up for the cons.

Then there are those people who try to scam the system by putting in fewer hours than they should be by running personal errands on company time.

Others try to pick up multiple full-time gigs and get paid for all of them simultaneously. Believe it or not, this has become a pretty common occurrence in recent years.

If it sounds tempting to you, though, here’s why it’s not a good idea.

• The burnout risk: If a full-time job is supposed to take 40+ hours per week and you’re trying to do two of them, that’s going to take up a heck of a lot of your life even if you’re doing the bare minimum.
• The conflicting schedules: Although work-from-home jobs generally offer a great deal of freedom, it’s probably impossible to juggle all of the teleconference meetings, phone calls, and other obligations that come from handling multiple jobs.
• The sagging performance: At the end of the day, there’s no reliable way to do multiple jobs at a high standard for a long period of time — and your bosses are virtually guaranteed to start suspecting something fishy is going on.

As one manager told Slate’s Alison Green: “The worst of these types will claim sick children, dead relatives, and other similar excuses to play on your emotions and drag out the extra paycheck as long as they can.”

Chris Agee February 21st, 2023

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