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BBC staff should be encouraged to hold down second jobs while working full time for the corporation, the director general has announced. In a controversial response to recent scandals over multi-tasking executives, Tony Hall said employees should moonlight for other organisations to ‘find out about life outside’. But as it emerged Lord Hall has 11 outside positions on top of his ￡450,000 BBC role, critics accused him of failing to crack down on managers who earn lucrative second salaries. Quizzing him before the culture, media and sport committee, Tory MP John Whittingdale said it was ‘extraordinary’ that senior managers were allowed to top up their salaries by working extra hours. Others accused him of failing to exert the ‘firm hand of governance’ by cracking down on the problem. Earlier this year it emerged the BBC’s former technology chief John Linwood held down a ￡28,000 outside role while he was presiding over the failed ￡100million Digital Media Initiative, prompting accusations he had failed to concentrate on his day job. And last month, business controller Lisa Opie was found to be supplementing her ￡207,000 BBC income with a second job running her own café business. She kept a regular blog about the stresses of fitting calls around ‘proper job meetings’ and left work at 4.40pm to get back to the café in time. Lord Hall agreed her blog was ‘daft’, but refused to condemn her for juggling multiple roles. He said: ‘My position on this is I think it is good for people in the BBC to get involved in things outside the BBC, especially if it is for charity. | 
