Doing other paid jobs on the side of your day job, what are your opinions about it?

EVIL

I currently work at this game developer for almost 3 years.
A freelancer that works at our company for the past 6 years, is looking for help at a freelance gig he might be doing. He can't do it alone and he asked me and another colleague to help him out.

So now the question is, should I ask permission or at least notify my boss that I will be doing another paid gig in my free time? Or is that something he does not need to know about since it is my own free time I will be sacrificing.

The reason I ask this is, is that the freelancer asked us to ask permission from our boss, but my opinion and that of my colleague is that its our free time and I can do whatever I feel like in those hours (I don't send an email to my boss every time I do some sketching at home).

Also there is nothing in my contract that prohibits it, since the company we would be doing art for, is no direct competition to the company I work for.

what are your opinions about this?

EzMeow

First I would check your work contract if you have the possibility to do so. Many contracts won't allow you to work for a client if it conflict with the compagny interest.

Farfarer

If you work doing game art for a living then try and do game art on the side, more than likely it'll be against your contract. In a lot of contracts, anything you do at any time that's related to your job is property of the company you work for (yes, including all the game art you do in your spare time).

I'd read your contract very carefully, I'd ask your boss and then only if both those allow it would I go ahead and do the work.

gavku

I've never had a contract like that, and pretty much anywhere I've worked, hasn't minded myself or others doing extra work on the side.

EVIL

We have come to the decision to notify our employer. We have goggled further on the matter and came to the conclusion that we have the right (at least thats the case in the Netherlands) to have the freedom of doing work on the side. Our employer cant deny us the freedom, unless there is a very VERY! good reason to do so. If we would fail to notify to our employer to do stuff on the side, it could mean that we could be fired on the spot if this would be discovered by our employer.

This discussion could go further, as I have no idea how stuff are done in the states.

Tom Ellis

One other thing to note, (I'm not sure how it works in The Netherlands) is that you'll need to figure out how your tax will be calculated.

If you're employed, I'm guessing your employer handles your tax. As you're doing extra taxable work (I'm assuming you're getting paid for it), your employer will need to know this to properly calculate your income tax. Additionally, you'll then need to do your own tax return for the work you have done outside of your studio job.

Figuring out tax can be an absolute pain in the ass, and get quite confusing if you've never done it before and especially if you have two sources of income. It seems almost pointless to do a whole return just for a couple of small freelance jobs, but obviously it's very important it's done properly.

Kewop Decam

just ask to be sure. Different contracts at the same company have different rules. You can be contracted at a big company like EA or through a different company but still at EA and those contracts have different rules and regulations.

SHEPEIRO

Talon wrote: »

If you work doing game art for a living then try and do game art on the side, more than likely it'll be against your contract. In a lot of contracts, anything you do at any time that's related to your job is property of the company you work for (yes, including all the game art you do in your spare time).

I'd read your contract very carefully, I'd ask your boss and then only if both those allow it would I go ahead and do the work.

this is the case with every in-studio contract ive had, just cos its in the contract though doesnt mean the studio would act upon it...best ask

and even if its in your constitution its probably good to ask as if you piss your employer off, they can usually find other reasons... ;-)

EVIL

We let up a balloon about it with our employer and he doesn't have a problem with it. As long as everything gets communicated clearly and the job doesn't have us work late night so we would appear at work like zombies by the lack of sleep (so as long as it doesnt influence our day job), its fine.

Farfarer

SHEPEIRO wrote: »

this is the case with every in-studio contract ive had, just cos its in the contract though doesnt mean the studio would act upon it...best ask

and even if its in your constitution its probably good to ask as if you piss your employer off, they can usually find other reasons... ;-)

Well, yeah. It's really in there as a sort of catch-all in case something does come up that they're not happy with.

i.e. If you do do something that's flying in the face of those terms, they can pull you up on it. I don't think many companies actually will. Unless you're off doing freelance work for a company that's making games like the ones you do or you're using company tools to do the work.

Ninjas

I always made it clear to my employer that I periodically did work on the side before I took the job.

Richard Kain

You should check your employee contract to make sure that such behavior is not forbidden. Of course, you should have already checked your employment agreement for that kind of stipulation BEFORE YOU SIGNED IT! Personally, I would never sign an employment agreement that attempted to lay claim to, or otherwise limit, the work that I do outside of my day job.

One thing to keep in mind is direct competition. If you do contract work on the side for a company that is in direct competition with the company that pays your salary, that is going to create a conflict of interest. And your employer could legitimately call you out on that, whether its in your contract or not.