It may sound physically impossible, but Ash (not her real name) has worked up to seven jobs at the same time — four of which were full-time.
“You know how people have ‘f— you’ money? I have ‘f— you’ jobs,” she told The Feed.
The Australian software industry worker has been juggling multiple jobs for the past five years, working up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week.
When she worked five jobs or more, Ash’s days were hectic. She woke up at 4am and immediately checked her emails. After a quick shower, she ate breakfast at her desk and worked her first job until 8.30am.
She then headed into the office for her nine-to-five government role, spending her lunch break working in the lobby or car.

“I always had a computer and a dongle, so I’d do my other meetings during lunchtime,” she said.

 

She squeezed in more meetings while driving home. She then ate dinner with her partner (who also works) and their children. Afterwards, she logged on to continue working until 1am, before falling asleep for three hours, getting up and doing it all over again.

“There were points where I would not sleep, or I would do 48 hours in a row and then crash for seven hours,” Ash said.

There was always an excuse at the ready to avoid meeting clashes.
“I would blame kids, sick, ‘Sorry, no internet’, doctor’s appointment.”
Ash said she was switching tasks about every 20 minutes.
“A lot of the tech [jobs] are ticket-based, so if you are fast, you have spare time to do other things. It’s not like a customer service role where you’re constantly talking,” she said.
“I just had to learn to be faster and more efficient and utilise different tools, so with the introduction of AI, that helped a lot.”

It can be a lucrative business — Ash says she raked in $500,000 during her busiest year.

The Feed has seen a bank statement and payment invoice from this time, pointing to seven different income sources over a fortnight.
Ash’s schedule might seem extreme to some, but she said her aim was to support her family and avoid worrying about bills.
She is now down to working two full-time jobs. “I don’t see myself doing this forever, what I want to do is probably just get through the kids through school.”

She isn’t alone. Ash is part of a growing international community of workers hoping to multiply their incomes by flying under the radar. No matter the risks.

‘Work multiple jobs, reach financial freedom’

More than half a million people have joined an online Reddit forum dedicated to the practice of secretly holding multiple full-time jobs. Its tagline reads: “Work multiple jobs, reach financial freedom”.
Members of this community label themselves ‘overemployed’. It’s a contemporary spin on ‘moonlighting’, with remote working now allowing people to take on roles simultaneously, rather than after hours.

Members — including Australians — swap career advice and tips to avoid getting caught. They also share experiences of burnout and getting sacked after their employers caught on.

Six screenshots from a Reddit forum showing titles of posts about overemployment, such as: Landed 2Js within 3 weeks

More than half a million people have joined an online community discussing the ‘overemployed’ lifestyle. Source: SBS

Those who spoke to The Feed stressed they wanted their identities hidden, to avoid potential blowback from employers past and present.

The threat of retaliation from employers is all too real. Last month, software engineer Soham Parekh was publicly exposed on X by several Silicon Valley chief executives, who alleged they had fired him for working at multiple tech startups.

One Australian, “Jess”, said they were an engineer who had previously doubled their income by juggling four full-time jobs. For them, it was about having extra money, and what they saw as rebelling against the system.

“I always made sure that I was producing good work. This is not a case of slacking off and just riding the wave until you get caught and fired,” they told The Feed.
“The CEOs all have multiple jobs, multiple things that they’re running all at the same time … why should we just follow the rules that the CEOs have decided?”
Emeritus professor Mark Wooden, a leading expert in labour markets at the University of Melbourne, said most employers still expect full-time employees to work exclusively for one company.

“They’re very nervous about employees doing other jobs because … they would think that would normally mean productivity on their first job declines,” he said.

A man in a suit with brown hair smiling

Mark Wooden headed the The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey for two decades. Source: Supplied

Jess believes traditional corporate ideals, such as loyalty to a single company, are outdated.

“The majority of people who work on white-collar jobs in an office spend most of their time doing useless tasks, like going to meetings,” Jess said.
“If … you can get the work done in less time than the 40 hours and still keep the same level of productivity, then we as free agents in the market should be able to do so.”
However, Jess admits multi-tasking can sometimes be difficult.

“I have done the two meetings at the same time before though … you’ve got one earpiece in just to listen, [then] the other one … It’s insane, I wouldn’t recommend it at all.”

‘Working three jobs to make ends meet’

While juggling full-time office jobs may seem unusual, having multiple jobs is more common for part-time, casual, seasonal and gig workers in many industries, such as administrative services, agriculture and food services.
In March, 6.5 per cent of employed people had multiple jobs, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics . This rate has remained at an all-time high since December 2022, though it’s a small increase over three decades (less than 2 per cent).
Meanwhile, Australia’s unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent in July.
The Reddit community’s use of ‘overemployment’ differs to the definition traditionally used by economists.
Wooden said overemployment usually refers to “anybody who’s working more hours than they would prefer, after taking into account their income”.
“It’s not really about multiple job-holding per se, but multiple job-holders could well be people in this category,” he said.
Nearly a quarter of multiple job-holders would prefer to work fewer hours (i.e. they are overemployed), compared to around 23 per cent of single job-holders, according to the 2023 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.
However, around 18 per cent of multiple job-holders would prefer to work even more hours, compared to around 14 per cent of single job-holders – suggesting people with multiple jobs are more likely to be dissatisfied with their working hours either way.
“Adam”, who earns a $140,000 salary package at his single job, is looking to pick up a second full-time job.

He hopes this will be his ticket to owning a home in Sydney, where the median house price has jumped over $1.7 million, according to the latest Domain house price report.

A person's hands on a laptop keyboard on a table. There is an open diary beside them

More Australians than ever are working multiple jobs. Credit: Pexels / Peter Olexa

“I just don’t see any other way, other than working harder and earning more,” he said.

“It’s kind of just a reaction to being able to stay middle class.”
Software industry worker Ash has now dropped from seven jobs to two. She said her family wouldn’t be able to survive if she and her partner each worked a single job — with one salary only enough to cover rent.
“That’s weird that I feel grateful that I can have multiple jobs, even though that’s like American style, working three jobs to make ends meet,” she said.
When she worked for one employer, there were times Ash was made redundant and couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill.

“I’ve been let go twice just before Christmas … and I can’t ever, ever put my family through that again.”

The health impacts of working long hours

The so-called ‘overemployed’ community is bucking a long-term work trend, amid growing calls for Australia to adopt a four-day work week.
Economist Mark Wooden said there’s been a gradual decline in the proportion of employed people working very long weeks over the last quarter of a century.
He said in June 2025, just over 10 per cent of employed people reported usually working 50 or more hours per week. In 2001, it was more than 18 per cent.
Associate professor Nicole Black, a health economist at Monash University, has analysed research on the health impacts of cost-of-living pressures.
“We think about work and productivity being important, and it is important to make ends meet, but there’s often a negative consequence in terms of our health if we overspend time working,” she said.

“There’s a lot of literature linking longer work hours to poorer health outcomes.

A woman with shoulder-length straight dark hair and a black top faces the camera

Nicole Black said more people are taking on longer hours at work or multiple jobs due to the cost-of-living crisis. Source: Supplied

“Things like exercise, that takes time, cooking healthy meals, we know that takes time, so it’s going to impact other aspects of your life. Just the very fact that you’ve got 24 hours a day, if you’re spending more of that time working, you’ve got less time to spend being healthy.”

Although Ash said she still enjoys her work, she’s starting to feel symptoms of burnout — and she’s not the only one affected.
“One thing that really impacted me was one of my kids telling me: ‘All you do is work’,” she said.
“When I had the seven jobs … I would just push them off to the side until the end of the month or something. I don’t do this as much because it has impacted the kids.”
Jess the engineer said after spending a year juggling up to four jobs at a time, they’re now taking a break from working.
“There was a lot of knock-on effects in personal life. I guess the added stress wasn’t ideal, and I realised that I put that on myself,” they said.

“It kind of burnt me out pretty badly and I’m not super keen to go back to it.”

Wooden said the effects of overemployment on mental health can be just as serious as the effects of underemployment.
“The difference comes down to whether you do or you don’t want to do it,” Wooden explained.
“The people who say, ‘I’m working 75 hours a week and I love it’ … you might think they’re mad, but they don’t report their job satisfaction as bad, they don’t report their mental health as bad.

“But if they say, ‘I’m working 75 hours a week and I wish I was only working 50’ … those people are much less happy with their jobs, more likely to report anxiety and symptoms of depression.”

Is it lawful to have multiple full-time jobs?

Whether or not you’re allowed to have multiple full-time jobs depends on your individual employment contract, according to employment lawyer Danny King.
“You’ve got to be careful that it doesn’t have obligations of exclusivity. And in a lot of contract templates, you’ll see that you can’t have any other engagement, paid or otherwise,” King said.
Employees must also meet their obligations by avoiding underperforming in their role.

“If you get caught, but you can demonstrate that you didn’t lie and you have otherwise satisfied your obligations in the contract to deliver the work that you paid to do, it might be that you’ve got a case,” King said.

A woman smiles in a blue-and-white striped dress and glasses that are half tortoiseshell, half pink.

Employment lawyer Danny King says a lot of companies’ employment contracts stipulate that employees can only work for that company. Source: Supplied

Breaches of an employment contract could be considered misconduct, which could lead to a warning, discussion or termination of employment.

While it’s technically possible for an employer to take legal action against a worker over loss of profit, King said realistically, a case would usually be too expensive and difficult for a business to pursue.
Both Ash and Jess claim they have never breached their employment contracts, nor simultaneously worked for a company’s competitors.
“I didn’t want my employers to feel was that there was time theft … so I did insane hours,” Ash said.
Jess said: “If you can get a company where they are just like: ‘We don’t care what you do in your own time, as long as you deliver what we expect’, then that’s basically a green light to do it.

“I don’t think there’s anything ethically wrong with that. I just think people get all up in arms and clutch their pearls about this sort of thing, but I think employers have had their day.”