What is Polyworking? Everything Employers Need to Know

The share of Americans holding multiple jobs reached 5.3% in 2025, the highest level since 2019.

Rising cost of living, increased economic anxiety, and widespread remote work have created the conditions for polyworking to become a mainstream workforce trend.

As companies navigate the evolving labor market, understanding the rise of polyworking is essential to adapting policies, protecting business assets, and retaining top talent.

What Is Polyworking?

Polyworking refers to employees holding multiple jobs simultaneously—whether that’s a formal full-time job paired with a part-time job, a freelance role, or a structured side hustle.

It goes beyond casual gig economy work, encompassing a deliberate strategy to diversify income streams and accelerate career growth.

Media outlets like Forbes and HR Dive frame polyworking as part of a broader shift toward portfolio careers—where professionals build a work portfolio across roles, clients, and industries to increase resilience and drive professional growth.

For many, it’s also tied to personal fulfillment and personal brand development.

Top Polyworking FAQs

1. Is polyworking the same as moonlighting?

Not quite. Polyworking includes daytime and parallel engagements that are often more structured than traditional after-hours gigs.

2. How common is polyworking?

Roughly 5.1% of U.S. workers officially hold multiple jobs, but broader surveys show nearly 47% engaging in some form of multi-role or gig economy work.

3. Can we just ban polyworking?

That depends on jurisdiction. Blanket bans can be risky or unenforceable—targeted policies that focus on risk exposure and outcomes tend to work better.

Why Polyworking Is Surging Now

Polyworking is surging due to economic drivers, work model shifts, generational signals, and economic and structural change.

Economic Drivers

The rise in polyworking is deeply tied to macroeconomic stressors.

With stagnant wage gains and inflation pressures, more workers are turning to side hustles or additional roles to build a safety net and ensure financial independence.

What once may have been a passion project is now a practical tool for survival.

Work Model Shifts

The widespread adoption of hybrid work and remote work models has made polyworking more feasible.

With fewer commutes and more autonomy, workers can take on roles during off-peak hours or even in parallel, creating the space for part-time jobs or gig roles alongside a full-time job.

Generational Signals

Younger professionals, particularly Gen Zers and millennials, are driving the shift.

According to recent surveys, nearly 47% of U.S. workers engage in some form of polywork—whether through gig platforms, consulting, or project-based work—highlighting a generational shift toward career goals centered on skill development and personal branding.

Economic and Structural Change

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that roughly 8.2 million Americans held multiple jobs in July 2025 of all employed people.

This reflects both cyclical responses to economic pressure and a long-term structural change in the job market.

Potential Upsides of Polyworking for Employers

Potential upsides of polyworking for employers include broader skill inflow, agility and retention.

Broader Skill Inflow

Polyworkers often bring new techniques, software knowledge, or process improvements from their other engagements, enriching internal teams and accelerating career growth across the organization.

Agility

Engaging polyworkers on a project basis allows teams to flex during high-volume initiatives—like system migrations or product launches—without the commitment of increasing full-time job headcount.

Retention Lever

For some, the ability to pursue a side hustle or freelance work may increase job satisfaction.

Allowing structured secondary work can support personal branding goals and help retain top talent in times of limited budget for raises.

The Risk of Polyworking for HR

The risk of polyworking for HR include cybersecurity exposure, conflicts of interest and IP leakage, productivity and burnout, compliance and policy ambiguity, and equity and culture.

Cybersecurity Exposure

Polyworkers often use multiple devices, tenants, and collaboration apps.

This increases attack vectors, especially with email monitoring tools and tracking software lacking uniform application across platforms.

Kaspersky has flagged millions of phishing attempts targeting tools common among remote workers.

Conflicts of Interest & IP Leakage

Overlapping engagements in the same industry can pose direct threats to intellectual property.

Without proactive conflict checks, employers may unknowingly expose themselves to brand or data risks.

Productivity & Burnout

Constant context-switching between jobs can lead to employees feeling burned out, especially when juggling deliverables across organizations.

Time theft or degraded output may follow, further complicating performance reviews in a remote work environment.

Compliance & Policy Ambiguity

Moonlighting and polyworking fall into gray legal zones.

States like California offer protections that clash with many employer policies, creating legal and compliance risks if internal rules are vague.

Equity & Culture

Not all roles or functions can accommodate side hustles—for example, client-facing or shift-based positions.

This can erode company culture and lead to perceptions of favoritism or unfairness among workers who do not have the ability to work as flexibly.

How Leaders Can Leverage Polyworking

Leaders can leverage polyworking by clarifying policy, shifting to outcomes, prioritizing security, contracting hygiene, scheduling transparency, compensation and capacity checks, and intentional role design.

Clarify Policy

Leaders should define what types of secondary work are acceptable, including disclosure thresholds and conflict-of-interest checks.

Differentiate between competitors and adjacent, non-competing industries.

Shift to Outcomes

Focus on deliverables rather than hours logged—especially for remote workers.

Structured time management and measurable goals help avoid ambiguity in performance.

Security by Design

Integrate SSO/MFA, device posture checks, and tenant isolation for polyworking contractors.

Ban personal storage and password reuse to protect core systems.

Contracting Hygiene

Use modern MSAs and SOWs that explicitly cover conflicts, IP protections, and scope limits.

Background checks should align with the sensitivity of the role, especially for those handling regulated data.

Scheduling Transparency

Encourage employees to declare availability for key collaboration hours while protecting deep work windows.

This promotes coordination without micromanagement.

Comp & Capacity Checks

Refresh pay bands to reduce the need for additional income through polyworking.

Calibrate workloads to realistic expectations based on capacity and output.

Intentional Role Design

Create modular roles suited for contract or contract-to-hire engagements.

Certain staffing partners like Mondo excel at crafting these types of opportunities, helping leaders source high-impact talent efficiently.

How Staffing Partners Help Employers Navigate Polyworking

Staffing partners help employers navigate polyworking by leveraging the right mix of workforce types, vetting conflict-screened talent, providing security-ready onboarding, focusing on outcome-first role design and speed without shortcuts.

Right mix of workforce types

Staffing partners help leaders build a balanced team across full-time, contract, contract-to-hire, and freelance roles, reducing the need for polyworking while meeting velocity goals.

Vetted, conflict-screened talent

Staffing experts surface conflicts, competitor overlaps, and NDA concerns early in the process—so your company culture and IP are protected from day one.

Security-ready onboarding

Staffing partners like Mondo can advise on access controls, security configurations, and offboarding best practices tailored to hybrid, remote, and multi-jobholder talent pools.

Outcome-first role design

Staffing partners work with hiring managers to define SOWs, deliverables, and KPIs that align with team bandwidth and company goals.

Speed without shortcuts

With niche talent networks and fast turnarounds, they help you meet urgent staffing needs—without compromising on quality, compliance, or security.

Why Americans Are Polyworking

In today’s volatile economy, polyworking has become a practical response to rising economic anxiety, the need for additional income, and the pursuit of professional growth.

For many, it also supports family time, career goals, and the development of a strong personal brand—especially in a world where social media has become an essential tool for self-marketing.

As the American workforce continues to evolve, the employers who see the most success are those who embrace these shifts with clear policies, flexible role design, and a focus on outcomes over oversight.

Ready to recalibrate roles, policies, and your talent mix for today’s workforce reality?

Talk to Mondo about building a blended, secure, high-performing team—fast.

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By Sarah Magazzo

Digital Marketing Manager for Mondo National Staffing Agency | AI Drafted & Human Crafted