For some workers, one full-time job isn't enough. They're quietly taking on two, three or even more high-paying roles at the same time, a practice known as overemployment.
But with bigger paychecks comes bigger risks, and one veteran says there's one slip-up that can ruin everything.
Double-Booked Meetings Are The No. 1 Danger
In a viral post on Reddit's r/overemployed forum, one contributor recently shared 20 rules from five years of working multiple jobs. They've been caught once before, and it was for the same mistake that takes down most people.
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"Avoid double meetings at ALL costs. It's the No. 1 way people get caught, including me. Use a sick day if needed," the poster wrote.
The survival guide covers everything from using separate devices for each job to avoiding shared human resources systems. The poster recommends completely separate laptops, webcams, keyboards and phones for each role, instead of juggling accounts on a single machine. They also change notification sounds, block off calendar time to separate each job's hours, label devices to avoid mix-ups, and use preferred names so coworkers can't link profiles across companies.
They caution against letting a company install device management on a personal phone, using a real headshot in Slack or Teams, which are popular workplace communication platforms, or sharing payroll logins between jobs. "If they want to manage your device, they should provide a separate phone," the post said.
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LinkedIn And Legal Risks
When it comes to LinkedIn, the advice is to create a burner account with no photo and strict privacy settings. Others in the thread disagreed, saying they've simply hibernated their main account without issue. One commenter noted, "You raise more red flags by having different LinkedIn accounts, with different versions of your name."
The post also stresses that if an employer catches on, you should never admit to overemployment. "That lets them fire you immediately with no severance," it said. Instead, it suggests mentioning "tortious interference" and possibly contacting legal counsel.
Other Survival Tactics
The list also includes avoiding overlapping jobs that use the same HR systems, steering clear of multiple active health insurance plans that might prompt questions, and never listing both jobs on a mortgage application. For those facing a return-to-office mandate, documented accommodations like a therapist's note, caregiver responsibilities or religious practices can keep you remote.
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Many in the comments offered their own tips—from working for companies in different time zones to create natural schedule gaps, to always prioritizing the original job, to using visual mute indicators to avoid being overheard on the wrong call.
Despite the risks, the original poster remains confident the payoff is worth it. "The risk of a sudden layoff from a single job is FAR greater than the risk of being caught," they wrote. "With OE, a layoff or termination is a minor setback, leaving you with another income stream and a powerful financial cushion."
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