- A millennial woman secretly started a second remote job in January to boost her income.
- She found advice in the community of r/OverEmployedWomen, a subreddit with about 8,000 members.
- She believes that one reason why men make up the majority of overemployed workers is due to gender roles.
When Nicole set out to increase her income, she never imagined that she would secretly be juggling multiple jobs at the same time.
Nicole is one of a niche group of people who secretly work multiple remote jobs while getting away with it. But she is relatively unique within the “overemployed” community for several reasons. She doesn't make much more than six figures, she doesn't work in an IT or technical field where working remotely is common, and perhaps most notably, she's a woman.
Towards the end of 2022, Nicole came across a subreddit called r/OverEmployedWomen. There, around 8,000 members share advice on how women can overcome overemployment. It is less well-known than the subreddit r/overemployed, which has nearly 300,000 members.
Then her salary will increase Jobs for remote program managers at Fortune 500 companies haven't kept up with inflation, she told Business Insider via email. This made it difficult to pay off my mortgage and credit card debt.
Nicole thought that overemployment could help make ends meet, so she decided to give it a try. Throughout the last year, she applied for “hundreds” of jobs through LinkedIn and Indeed, she said.
“I was browsing Reddit pages almost every night, using other articles as inspiration to stay motivated in my searches,” Nicole said. Her identity is known to BI but is being withheld for fear of repercussions for her professional life.
Nicole's efforts finally paid off. The 30-year-old Washington-based worker is on track to earn nearly $100,000 this year from two remote jobs, according to documents seen by Business Insider. In addition to her main program manager job (which makes about $85,000 a year), she expects to make about $10,000 from a part-time program manager job she found on Craiglist that pays $20 an hour. She said the approximately 10 hours a week she spends at her new job overlaps with her day job, and she has not told either company about the overhiring.
Because of the secrecy of their working arrangements, hard data on the demographics of the overemployed population does not exist. But over the past year, Business Insider spoke to more than a dozen job jugglers, nearly all of whom were men.
Nicole talks about why she thinks female overemployed workers are relatively rare and whether she plans to continue juggling jobs.
Differences in gender roles and expectations may be holding some women back
Nicole has several theories as to why overemployment seems to be more common among men.
First, not all industries have the remote work structure or flexibility that job jugglers need.
Nicole said one of the main reasons it took her nearly a year to find her second remote job was likely because she wasn't a high-tech worker.
“I think technology is the main area of overemployment, and it's a male-dominated sector,” she said. “I'm a woman and not a technical person, but I thought that was why I didn't have much success securing her second job.”
According to Women's Tech Network, a global organization working to increase diversity in the technology industry, women hold 23% of technology jobs in the United States. While some technology companies have brought employees back to the office, many continue to work remotely, providing opportunities to juggle multiple jobs.
Nicole said differences in gender roles and expectations may also be holding some women back from overemployment.
For example, many women still shoulder the majority of household and childcare responsibilities. Nicole, who is married and has no children, said that for many women, there may not be enough time to pursue additional work.
“Typically, men are the economic providers in the family and don't have the same expectations as women in the home,” she says.
Additionally, Nicole believes that many women feel undervalued in the workplace and therefore feel unable to escape overemployment. In fact, she was also worried about the same thing.
“Women use mental gymnastics at work to feel valued and constantly underestimate themselves, whereas men achieve what they want and think they deserve. I see people overestimating their abilities in order to do that,” she said.
Overemployment may provide a path to early retirement
When Nicole began investigating overemployment, her main goal was to increase her income by finding one new job with a higher wage or adding a second job.
She said she had tried many different side jobs, but one with predictable income was the best option.
Nicole said she plans to continue to overemploy, and her ultimate goal is to use the additional income to retire early.
She would consider taking a second full-time job if she thought she could do it. Currently, Nicole said, she is able to balance both jobs without exceeding 40 hours a week.
Some bosses may allow employees to take on additional work, but if they are found to be taking on additional work without approval, they may be fired. But Nicole said she wasn't too worried about being found out.
“I believe things happen for a reason, so if my employer found out and fired me, there would be better things out there,” she said. “At the end of the day, these are just jobs. There are always more jobs out there.”
Do you work multiple remote jobs at the same time and would like to discuss pay and schedule details? If so, please contact this reporter. jzikula@insider.com.
