- A Wisconsin woman secretly worked two jobs to make $250,000 in 2021.
- The surplus money allowed my husband to take a career break and also helped us to significantly increase our savings.
- She told us why she finally quit being “overemployed” after 18 months.
In 2020, Lisa was working remotely in corporate manufacturing and making roughly $110,000, but she wasn't satisfied with her salary.
Lisa, a Wisconsin resident in her 40s, told Business Insider in an email that she found a hybrid job offer in the same industry paying nearly $150,000 a year, but she was hoping for a higher salary.
So my husband thought, what if I tried to work two jobs at the same time?
18 months From 2020 to the end of 2021 Lisa has quietly been juggling fully remote and hybrid work in 2021. She made roughly $250,000 from two full-time jobs in 2021, according to documents viewed by Business Insider.
Lisa said the extra income has been a big help to her family's finances. She and her husband are confident they can cover the cost of their three children's college education and various extracurricular activities, as well as future family trips. Working two jobs has also allowed her husband to take some much-needed time off work and focus on caring for their children.
“Working two jobs gave us the freedom to quit a stressful job that we feared would literally take years of his life away,” said Lisa, whose identity was shared with BI and who asked that her name not be used because she feared her husband would be negatively affected at work. “Working two jobs gave us financial security that would not have been possible otherwise.”
Lisa is one of a growing number of Americans who secretly work multiple jobs to boost their income. Business Insider interviewed about 20 “overemployed” people working in the IT and technology industries. They use their extra money to pay off debt, save for retirement, buy expensive vacations or buy diet pills. While some companies are okay with employees having side jobs, doing so without permission can have negative consequences.
As a woman, Lisa is quite an anomaly in the overemployment community, as most of the people BI interviewed in busy jobs are men. One reason for this may be that it's less common for women to work in IT and technology. Some workers told BI that remote roles are common in these fields, and the flexibility these jobs offer has helped them adapt to being overemployed.
And because many women still shoulder the bulk of household and childcare responsibilities, some may not have the time to take on a second job. In Lisa's case, her husband took a few months off work, which made it easier for her to juggle both roles.
Lisa tells us how she managed to juggle both jobs and why she ultimately decided to stop being overemployed.
As mandate to return to the office looms, overemployment seems unsustainable
Lisa said having her husband home when he's not working is a “huge bonus,” especially since their children have been learning remotely throughout the 2020-21 school year. The pandemic allowed him to slowly return to work, taking on part-time work before accepting full-time employment.
Having essentially three full-time incomes for over a year has truly transformed the family's finances, Lisa says.
Lisa didn't have much trouble juggling both jobs while working from home, working roughly 40 to 50 hours a week across them.
On days when her hybrid work required her to come into the office, she conveniently brought two work laptops with her, both of which looked identical, and she usually worked in a cubicle at her office, but sometimes she would go to a cubicle when she needed to switch to a side hustle.
“There were moments when I thought I might fail, but I received positive feedback from both workplaces during my tenure,” she said.
Lisa said she doesn't feel guilty about keeping her job a secret from her employers because she sometimes believes many companies are greedy and put profits before workers.
“I felt like I was rebelling against the guy as much as I could,” she said.
But toward the end of 2021, Lisa began to question how much longer she could continue this way. She assumed that her fully remote employer would pivot to a hybrid work schedule once the pandemic situation eased, and juggling two hybrid jobs seemed impossible.
So she decided to get ahead of the situation.
Lisa said she was offered a job that paid about $175,000 a year and required in-person work. The job paid less than the roughly $250,000 she was making from her two jobs combined, but more than she was making in either job individually. In early 2022, she decided to accept the job and said goodbye to both jobs.
“This was a good career advancement at a time when I thought remote work was going to disappear,” she said.
Some companies have brought employees back to the office, while others continue with fully remote work arrangements. About 22% of full-time U.S. workers age 16 and older worked from home at least part of the time in April, and 10% worked from home all the time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some overemployed workers have been forced to adjust their plans due to return-to-office orders, but others are still continuing to work thrive.
Lisa said she would consider juggling work again once she found two fully remote jobs that mostly met her needs, and her biggest concern is burnout.
“I think it would be incredibly stressful to have two jobs that require 100% of your effort. I'd much rather have a job that fully values what I do and pays me accordingly,” she said.
Do you have multiple remote jobs at the same time and can you share details about your salary and work schedule? If so, please contact this reporter. jzinkula@businessinsider.com.
