????有些人甚至發現兼職與本職工作形成了協同效應。貝絲?海納瑞?沃森是得克薩斯州礦井區商會（Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce）的執行董事。最近，她和丈夫在得克薩斯州威德福買下了一家All Star Clips發廊。她的本職工作是為小企業提供咨詢，包括如何解決問題和實現利潤增長。有了自己的第一家小企業后，她的建議具備了實踐經驗支持。比如：沃森知道All Star Clips的大部分客戶是男性。“顯然，這是我們應該努力擴大的客戶群。根據這第一手經驗，我告訴商會成員們，他們應該瞄準目標群體，婉拒一些客戶。”

????她說，“為企業提供咨詢的人如果有過自己辦企業的經驗，很有意義。”

????發展社交媒體技能來推廣副業的人們也能將這種經驗應用于本職工作。內容知識也很有用。馬丁?考迪與他的醫生客戶們談論很多葡萄酒；馬里蘭州安納波利斯一家小型律師事務所的經理杰尼弗?提特斯發現，業余撰寫個人理財文章，讓她在本職工作中討論養老金計劃時更加自信了，“我在提問和給出意見時更加自信了”。

????更廣泛的人脈網絡也能加分。“比如，如果你參與一個非營利組織或社區組織，你的出色表現可能會給你的雇主提供某種關系，”《多打幾份工》（One Person/Multiple Careers）的作者瑪西?艾爾伯赫表示，“如果兼職能幫你認識更多的人，同樣也能幫到你的本職工作。”

????即便沒有這樣顯著的協同效應，新書《100美元初創公司：重塑謀身之道，做你喜歡做的事情，創造新的未來》（The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love and Create a New Future）的作者克里斯?古里博表示，容忍或支持員工兼職也有一個好處。你能吸引到精力充沛的創業型人才。正因為出于這樣的考慮，有些公司會給出無限制休假時間，以便人們能在工作之余做任何想做的事情。“想想——大多數員工處于現職是因為他們不得不這樣，”古里博表示。有其他選擇的——比如兼職，如果他們想，他們就可以把兼職轉化為全職——人才往往不在被挑選之列。“你絕對想要這樣的員工，”他說。

????當然，也有底線。工作之余推出一款與現有公司競爭的產品是絕對不允許的，在博客上宣揚雇主的缺點也不是什么好事。而且如果有人希望創立一番大事業，最終總是需要將此變成一份全職工作。“不管怎樣，關鍵是要確保兼職不是很花費時間和精力，不會讓你忽視本職工作，不存在利益沖突，”艾爾伯赫表示。如果周末設計珠寶能讓一位員工開心（并且可能不再那么迫切地要求加薪），很難想象為什么公司要反對。

????譯者：老榆木

????"It makes a lot of sense for someone who works to help businesses to have owned one before," she says.

????People who develop social media skills to promote their side businesses can put that knowledge to use in their main gigs. Content knowledge is also useful. Martin Cody has a lot of conversations with his physician clients about wine; Jennifer Teates, a firm manager of a small Annapolis, Maryland law firm, finds that her freelance work as a personal finance writer has given her more confidence during 401k discussions at her main job. "I am more confident in asking questions and offering opinions," she says.

????A stronger social network may be a plus too. "For example, if you're involved in a nonprofit or community organization, your good works may provide some kind of benefit-by-association for your employer," says Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers. "A side business can work the same way if it helps you make new connections that can help your main employer."

????But even without these obvious synergies, tolerating or even supporting employees' side gigs has another upside, notes Chris Guillebeau, author of the recently published The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love and Create a New Future. You attract entrepreneurial people with lots of energy. This is one thought behind some organizations giving unlimited vacation time so people can pursue whatever projects they want outside of work. "Think about it -- most employees are [at their jobs] out of dependency," says Guillebeau. Those that have other options -- such as side gigs they could do full-time if they wanted -- are there out of choice. "Those are going to be the employees you absolutely want," he says.

????There are limits, to be sure. Working to launch a competing product on the side is a no-no, and blogging about your employer's flaws is not a good call. And if someone aims to start a really big business, eventually that needs to become the day job. "The key in all instances is to make sure that your side business isn't so consuming that you neglect your day job, and that it doesn't present any conflicts of interest," says Alboher. But if designing jewelry on weekends can make an employee happy (and potentially less pushy about asking for a raise) it's hard to see why an organization wouldn't get on board.