6 people who made up to $500,000 a year secretly working multiple remote jobs
overemploymentremote-worktech-industrylabor
Abstraction: Tech workers secretly holding multiple remote jobs earning up to $500k
Key points:
- Six workers earned $90k-$500k+ annually by secretly holding 2-3 full-time remote jobs simultaneously, primarily in IT/network engineering
- Workers justify it as layoff protection: one worker had two of three jobs eliminated in layoffs, validating the strategy
- Remote job postings on LinkedIn fell from 20%+ (April 2022) to ~10% (Dec 2023), yet remote roles still drew 46% of all applications
- ~263,000 tech workers laid off in 2023 (Amazon, Meta, Google); ~50,000 more in early 2024, fueling overemployment as self-insurance
- Common ethical defense: CEOs routinely hold multiple executive/board roles; outcome-based pay means completing work matters, not hours clocked
- Legal risk: no labor law violation if no contract clause prohibits it, but termination risk if discovered
Connections: Remote Work ยท Overemployment