The latest research from The Global Payroll Alliance (GPA), reveals that with 71% of those in full-time employment maintaining some degree of working from home, as many as 1 in 10 have picked up a side gig to help boost their income, with over a third admitting to earning this additional income whilst on the clocks with their main employer.
The survey of UK workers, commissioned by the GPA, found that 71% of full-time workers continue to maintain a degree of working from home, with as many as one in five working from home all of the time.
But this flexible working arrangement has led to a notable degree of professional polygamy, with one in 10 of those surveyed admitting to having a side gig or second job that allows them to generate additional income.
Whilst just 1% of those with an additional job said they are working on a full-time basis with a second employer, 26% are doing so on a part-time basis, with the remaining 72% having started their own venture or invoicing an employer via their own company.
Most notably, more than a third (34%) admit to spending time on their side hustle while on the clock with their main employer.
When it comes to the additional income earned, 64% say it is only equivalent to as much as 5% of their total annual earnings, while for 19% it’s equivalent to up to 10% of income.
However, some are bringing in substantially more. 14% say their side hustle accounts for up to a quarter of their income, a further 2% say it equates to up to 50%, and for 1%, their additional work brings in more than half of their annual earnings.
And if you think juggling two jobs is hard work, it might be worth thinking again. 42% say balancing this second source of income is ‘easy’, and a further 37% describe it as ‘workable’, which means just one fifth (20%) find it ‘challenging’, ‘stressful’, or ‘almost impossible’.
For those who do find it difficult, the biggest challenge appears to be avoiding burnout (29%), while 15% say it’s tricky balancing their schedule.
And despite many engaging in additional work while on the clock with their employer, it does seem most give priority to their main job, as 11% say the biggest challenge they face is maintaining a good level of productivity in their side hustle, while just 1% say the hardest thing is maintaining a good level of productivity in their main job.
For those who find juggling two jobs a breeze, the secret may lie in delegating at least some of the job to our artificial friends, with 15% admitting they use AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to get their work done.
Melanie Pizzey, CEO and Founder of the Global Payroll Alliance, says: “When you’re working from home, you have a certain level of freedom that you don’t get by having to attend the workplace every day. And while this has been proven to boost productivity and job satisfaction in many, if not the majority of cases, it does also make it easier to step away from work during official work hours and spend your time doing something else.
For some people, this time is spent caring for family, or engaging in hobbies. But for others, it appears to mean focusing on second jobs. Employers might find this upsetting, and consider it disrespectful and unprofessional to use company time to earn money from other sources. And while it’s true that if you’re not performing your main duties to a satisfactory standard, you are indeed letting your employer down, it might well be that the increased productivity that working from home enables means you can do your job well and still have time to take on additional work.
The final observation is perhaps the most important one. If people were earning enough money from their main job, would so many be looking for ways of topping up their income? It’s unlikely. So perhaps rather than being a damning accounting of our professional polygamy, this survey should be food for thought for employers who don’t provide their staff with enough money to survive and thrive in the modern world.”
Survey results
- *Survey of 2,410 UK people who work from home at least some of the time carried out by ProperPR on behalf of GPA via consumer research platform Find Out Now (9th June 2025).
- Full survey results can be viewed online, here.
