A 26-year-old employee named Anna Sebastian Perayil passed away after allegedly facing immense work stress and working within a toxic work culture at Ernst & Young Pune. Anna was a chartered accountant who started working for EY on March 19, 2024, as an executive. On July 20, Anna passed away.
Her mother, Anita Augustine, has written a 3-page letter to Rajiv Memani, the Chairman of EY, wherein she recounts seeing her daughter working late hours, coming back from the office exhausted, working from home, with barely any time for rest and food. Because of being overloaded with work by her manager, she suffered from chest pain, for which she was once taken to the hospital as well.
Anna allegedly faced anxiety, sleeplessness and stress, but she was willing to work through it all because she was new in the corporate world. She wanted to make a lasting impression, impress her seniors and get the job done. She didn’t complain about her seniors because, as her mother says, she was too kind, but the pressure soon got to her.
“Her manager would often reschedule meetings during cricket matches and assign her work at the end of the day, adding to her stress. At an office party, a senior leader even joked that she would have a tough time working under her manager, which, unfortunately, became a reality she could not escape,” her mother wrote in the letter.
Anna was made to work on weekends, late into the night, and was assigned tasks by word of mouth, which were unofficially assigned.
“Anna told us about the overwhelming workload, especially the extra tasks given verbally, beyond her official duties. I advised her not to take on so much, but the managers kept pushing. She had no time to rest, working late and on weekends. Her assistant manager once called her at night with a task that needed to be completed by the next morning, leaving her with barely any time to rest or recover. When she voiced her concerns, she was met with the dismissive response: ‘You can work at night; that’s what we all do’,” Anita revealed in the letter.
“Anna would come back to her room completely exhausted, sometimes collapsing on the bed without even changing, only to receive more messages asking for reports. She was giving her best, working hard to meet deadlines. She was a fighter and never gave up easily. We advised her to quit, but she wanted to learn and gain experience. Unfortunately, the pressure became too much for her,” the letter further read.
Anita Augustine wanted EY to take action to improve the working conditions of the company. She wanted her daughter’s passing to be an example which inspires change in the company to draw boundaries and prioritise the health and overall well-being of employees.
“It’s time to rethink your work culture and take real steps to prioritize the health and well-being of your employees,” she wrote.
You may read the full letter down below:
Responding to the incident, several people slammed the company for taking zero accountability when it comes to ensuring the well-being of employees and maintaining a healthy work environment. Here’s what they had to say:
This is deeprooted culture issues with big4 especially in India
– they unstaff and overload people
– they dont paywell
– they go to any extent for cost cutting even if its rejecting reimbursement if bills
– to achieve target, they go for L1 bid & under deliver and client suffers— Mechanic Manickam (@Kundalakesi_1) September 18, 2024
No one attended…is that a dictat pronounced by the @EY_India …they must clarify and also put on an internal enquiry into the work ethics of this so called manager…@theicai
— Parakh (@ca_parakh) September 17, 2024
Work pressure they think. As if there was no work pressure before 2021. Some companies do have that kind of culture and it maybe difficult for a young person. What led to chest constriction is what everyone should ask. Stress alone or the jab factor?
— Dee (@DeeEternalOpt) September 18, 2024
Shameless company with shameless bosses !
These people are the rot in the corporate world who keep young Indians enslaved with “this is how we work & this is how you get ahead” nonsense!
It’s worse for women! Many of these old schools jokers believe women are dispensable …
— Good Governance Jokes 🇮🇳🇦🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@HeyParth2) September 18, 2024
I have two young relatives working there. both confirm the same.
Young lady says that their manager conducts performance reviews at 1 am.
The guy was informed during interview stage that he is expected to work crazy hours, plus give advance notice if he wants weekends off.
— Prakash Pantham 🐦🐥 (@PrakashPantham) September 18, 2024
One of my nephew working for EY is suffering like hell. Shoulders ache, back ache, eyes ache, weight increase. Work is pressure is never ending in EY.
aching
— SKA (@bullbear99) September 18, 2024
Seems there is no protection net for these overworked individuals. No one cares for them. It’s all about extracting as much as they can from a human to get their profit.
— Ronak (@ronak_dey) September 18, 2024
The fact is that 90% plus corporates are like this only where such managers are neither identified nor punished. HR is a mere function to ensure annual appraisal rather than real employee engagement.
— Ashsingh (@Ashsing71818291) September 18, 2024
A young talent lost to work pressure!