Overemployed workers share the dark side of double dipping

• Overemployment is growing as workers seek financial independence and early retirement.
• Three double-dippers are sacrificing their social lives, health, and sleep to work long hours.
• Strategies include job juggling and secrecy, but risks like burnout and job loss persist.

The pay and benefits of a full-time job aren’t always enough to sustain an employee’s lifestyle and monetary goals. As a result, some people are choosing overemployment as an avenue for maximizing profit.

Business Insider spoke with three people who worked up to a total of 80 hours a week at multiple jobs to achieve their goals — including financial independence, early retirement, and property ownership. But, their social lives, sleep, and hobbies took a hit in the process.

Here’s everything they sacrificed to secure their futures.

A Canadian woman sacrificed friends, hobbies, and sleep to retire early

In June, 25-year-old Jane, who withheld her last name for privacy reasons, told BI that she started working two full-time jobs during her last year of college, hoping to retire in her 30s. From 9-to-5, she worked a remote marketing job, and from 5 to 10, she worked a low-lift customer service job.

The flexibility of her remote role allowed her to squeeze in time for homework, while the passivity of her service job gave her a respite from the mental demands of her 9-to-5.

After graduating, keeping two jobs was a no-brainer. She landed a 9-to-5 as a marketing specialist and kept her service job. In the first half of 2024, she earned $43,000 in Canadian dollars and saved up 70% of her salary. All the while, she was living at home and renting out her college property.

Though she was getting closer to her goal of early retirement, she struggled to find the time or energy to maintain her hobbies, social life, or sleep schedule.

“When the sun goes down at 6 p.m. in winter, I’ve had days where I look out of the window and realize I’ve had no sun or exercise all day,” Jane told BI.

She reduced her customer service job by 10 hours a week to alleviate exhaustion but still felt burned out.

“I know it’s not good for my physical and mental health or my sleep, but I’m so focused on my goal that I’m willing to sacrifice that for a few more years.”

This project manager took jobs on each coast to work 12-hour days

After her project management job went remote during the pandemic, 30-year-old Kendall McGill told BI she used the time at home to start a contract job with Apple.

But, when her manager found out about the job and confronted her with concerns, McGill said she knew she had to be more secretive if she wanted to keep double-dipping.

In September 2022, she left her full-time job and created a job-juggling system to avoid legal and professional consequences. However, it required major upkeep.

McGill told BI that she steered clear of jobs with mandatory hours, in-person meetings, and micromanagement. She even took jobs on opposite coasts to work 12-hour days without crossover. The most extreme tactic was her interview technique.

“I have multiple résumés highlighting different skills and jobs rather than listing all my jobs simultaneously. If it ever does come up, I make it seem like the dates overlap less than they did,” McGill told BI.

The one time that an interviewer asked about overlap, she didn’t get the job.

Despite the risky overlaps and long hours, McGill said she was happy with her choice. She was able to buy a house using four months of savings and felt motivated to keep working multiple jobs.

“We’ve been sold this American dream, but how can you achieve it with inflation, a pandemic, layoffs, and all these other things? The only way is to beat the system, find a loophole, and get around it.”

An over-employed man sacrificed his social life, but lost both jobs in one month

Davrick Hayes got his first quality assurance job in 2014 after he stumbled across an ad that said, “Get paid to play video games.” He knew he found a hidden gem because the relatively easy job required no previous experience and had room for growth.

When he moved from LA to North Dakota during the height of the pandemic and found himself with more time than ever, he decided to get another full-time QA job.

He said that he managed both jobs by multi-tasking. He kept a watchful eye on automated tests for one company while running manual tests for the other. During five months of double-dipping, he made $110 per hour.

The only downside was that he had to sacrifice his social life, which he said was manageable until the pandemic lockdowns ended. Though it was tough, Hayes planned to continue both jobs until he lost them both within one month in early 2023.

“I was super stressed about my finances because I had just closed on a house and didn’t expect to lose both jobs within a month,” Hayes told BI.

Luckily, the money he made from double-dipping gave him the financial security to take on just one job and enjoy more work-life balance.

If you are overemployed and would like to share your story, please email Tess Martinelli at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com