The death of a 26-year-old Ernst & Young (EY) employee, Anna Sebastian Perayil, in Pune has cast a harsh light on the state of the working environment in India.
The toxic and highly competitive nature of it, along with a lack of respect for employees, excessive workloads, and more are said to be something normal for any working professional in the country.
But the tragic death of Anna who had joined the prestigious Big 4 company Ernst & Young (EY) just four months ago on 20th July has started a fierce debate on what is being done to make the workplace transparent and healthy so that such things don’t happen.
The story came forward after Anita Augustine, the victim’s mother wrote a scorching letter to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani, and blamed the “overwhelming” work pressure at the consulting firm for her daughter’s death.
In her letter Anita wrote “She worked tirelessly at EY, giving her all to meet the demands placed on her. However, the workload, new environment and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally and mentally.
She began experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness and stress soon after joining, but she kept pushing herself, believing that hard work and perseverance were the keys to success.”
She further wrote, “Even during those two days (the parents had reached Pune to attend Anna’s CA Convocation) which were the last we would spend with our child, she couldn’t enjoy them because of the work pressure.”
As per the letter, the company had told her that many employees had resigned due to excessive workload. However, her team manager told Anna “You must stick around and change everyone’s opinion about our team.”
The letter also revealed that her manager would reschedule meetings during cricket matches, assign work at the end of the day, and how the “managers were relentless”.
Once her assistant manager gave her a task at night with a deadline for the next morning and when Anna voiced her concerns dismissively said, “You can work at night; that’s what we all do.”
The letter also revealed a grim and concerning picture of how much work and stress Anna was under, where often she would collapse on her bed without changing, work Sundays, and not have any time to rest and recover.
It also addressed how this is just taking disturbing advantage of young professionals, who cannot instantly say no or set boundaries since they need the working experience. The mother also wrote how “No one from EY attended Anna’s funeral” and that this was “deeply hurtful”, even her attempts to reach out to Anna’s managers got her no reply.
What Did Anna’s Colleague Say?
One user in a Reddit thread under the subreddit r/CharteredAccountants “EY employee died of Work pressure” post, commented how they were Anna’s colleague and made a lot of serious allegations against the company.
The comment written around two days ago stated
“I work in the same office as Anna, EY Pune and in the same cluster.
The death of Anna was informed via a centralised mail in which they attached her linkedin picture with some standard short message like RIP. News was put in the grapevine that she was already suffering from a health condition which got worse.
Though I haven’t worked directly with her, I’ve worked with her manager, who is worse than how it’s portrayed in the letter. He actually prioritises his convenience (like cricket) and he doesn’t really care for anyone’s time or effort. He proudly bought IPL final tickets in deadline at exorbitant prices and showed off on insta. He takes all the credit himself, and blames the team for any shortfalls (classic manager behaviour). Boasts all day everyday. When he reviews your work, his focus is not on the correctness of work, he points out as many mistakes as he could, depicting how smart he is, and in other words how dumb you are.
Her assistant manager, she’s atrocious. Basically what the asst manager does is distribute work to the team and follow up from each one. Ensure no one is stress free, no one is taking time off. Basically they highlight their potential by getting work done from lesser people (like work of 5/6 resources from 2 resources) in order to get promoted. It is said in common language that you can trust and deal with a drunken man out of his mind, but not an AM. Every AM is the embodiment of this statement.
I have been working in EY for quite some time now, and I have seen people come and go. People who come here (generally) are very hardworking people who have thirst for learning and they are ready to work day and night. Australian timings, European timings, US timings, you name it.
Seasoned people exploit these newcomers like anything. And these senior people have power. Good deal of power. They can make your life a living hell if you don’t co-operate with them. Try reporting to HR, then you’ll get to know he’s part of this structure too.
They have the audacity to use profane language in reviews. Newly qualified CAs and articles come all the way from their states like Kashmir, Punjab, TN, sacrificing everything just to learn and get good exposure. But it’s a bloodbath. All these people are school toppers of their time. It seems apparent that years of mind numbing toil wasn’t enough.
They’re humiliated to an extent where they lose their respect in their own eyes. Humiliation in the team calls is quite normal here. And these newcomers are from small families who teach them to respect elders and not react to any unreasonable behaviour, not to say NO to any work, give your heart and soul to the work you do.
Everyone of us went through this thinking maybe something is wrong with me, if everyone is able to handle this pressure I should handle it too. Female employees may get some leniency but for our male colleagues it’s absolutely brutal. Everyone is tortured to hell.
No social life, no personal time, no time to attend even phone calls. Most of the newcomers including articles quit, some endure the trouble for some years and then quit, remaining become managers and become trouble for others.
We average 16 hours a day in the busy season, and 12 hours a day in non busy seasons. No weekends or public holidays are off. Annually EY voluntarily announces a day off to rejuvenate their employees. And yes you guessed it right! Even that is not off. We work on that day as well – from Office!
Overwork is the only way to get promoted, do and make others do it. Top level people (Partners) don’t care about sh*t. You don’t even get to interact with partners until you’re at least an asst manager. They don’t give a f**k about any employee, they just care about getting work done.
Even if you go through boiling hell and get the work done, you won’t get any acknowledgement from anyone forget about appreciation. One of my colleagues was hospitalized suffering from Dengue, and these people made him make workpapers from his hospital bed.
Good for him he quit then and there. When I say these people are inhuman, they literally are. People leaving EY are usually very happy, and their colleagues congratulate them like they are being released from prison.
It’s my request to all my colleagues reading this message – please reevaluate your priorities, see what you’re really doing to yourself. And to CAs and articles who dream to work in such an organisation – be very careful of what you wish for.
Anna’s death has impacted us all. And such letter from Augustine is a conclusive evidence that “already suffering from health issues” was an deliberately created rumour. Hope the effort behind this letter doesn’t go in vain.
Support from all suffering employees of EY.”
Read More: Four Of Every 10 Employees In India Show High Levels Of Burnout, Stress Due To Toxic Workplace Culture
Ernst & Young India Chairman’s Response
In the latest development, an email by Rajiv Memani, Ernst & Young India’s chairman, has been leaked online where he is addressing employees about the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil.
The email had “News in media” as the subject line and was sent a day after Anna’s mother posted a scathing letter to Memani about EY’s toxic work culture and even had a “do not forward” directive. In his email, Memani wrote,
“As you all would be aware, since yesterday, several messages regarding our firm have been circulating on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
These pertain to the tragic passing away of Anna Sebastian on 20 July 2024, who joined us in our Assurance team in Pune on 18 March 2024, The fact that her journey with the firm was so short-lived – only four months – makes this tragedy even more poignant for all of us. Anna hailed from Kochi and worked at our Pune office.
During the difficult period following her passing, the firm was in regular contact with members of her family. While we acknowledge that no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, we have provided all the assistance as we always do in such times of distress white respecting the family’s privacy and preferences.
Though no words can comfort a grieving family, I have personally expressed my condolences and have shared my deepest regret for their irreparable loss.
I received an anguished e-mail from Anna’s mother and have taken note of her message with utmost seriousness and humility.
I would like to reaffirm to all of you that our firm places the highest importance on the health and well-being of our people, and we will recommit ourselves to providing a supportive, heathy, and balanced work environment to you all. I would like to make this an on-going dialogue with you to ensure we are continually building a healthy workplace for everyone.
We have several well-being programs and open channels of communication available in the firm to ensure that you always have a safe space to voice your concerns anonymously, including through our existing Speak Up forum and Ethics Hotline.
We will also create more avenues for you to share transparent and honest feedback on our workplace practices.
If you ever face challenges or need guidance, I will strongly encourage you to please reach out to your team leaders, members of the talent team and your support network across the firm.
I would like to personally assure you that when you speak up, you will be heard with empathy and understanding. If there are any suggestions that you have, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
In the meantime, I urge you to handle this information with the utmost compassion and sensitivity.”
Government Probe
As per reports, the government has also launched a probe into the death of the EY employee.
Minister of State for Ministry of Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje in a tweet wrote, “Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Anna Sebastian Perayil. A thorough investigation into the allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment is underway. We are committed to ensuring justice & @LabourMinistry has officially taken up the complaint.”
This was in response to a post made by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the former minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India who wrote on his X/Twitter page “This is very sad but also disturbing at many levels. I request Govt of India @mansukhmandviya @ShobhaBJP to investigate these allegations made by the mother of unsafe and exploitative work environment that claimed the life of young, full of future Anna Sebastian Perayil.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, India Today
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Ernst & Young, anxiety, corporate sector, depression, Distress, mental health, Mental Health illness, mental health matters, mental wellbeing, stress, toxic workplace, work culture, workplace, toxic work culture, work culture, ernst & young, ernst & young employee death, ernst & young employee, ey death, ey employee, ey employee death, anna sebastian
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