- Saturday, December 21, 2024
A 26-year-old employee of Ernst & Young in Pune died just four months after joining. Her mother has blamed the toxic work culture at the company for her death
By: Shajil Kumar
THE DEATH of a 26-year-old employee of Ernst & Young in Pune and her mother’s heart-wrenching letter blaming the company for its ‘excessive workload’ and ‘callous attitude’ has sparked outrage on social media.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, a chartered accountant from Kerala, had joined the consulting major in March.
In a letter addressed to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani, her mother Anita Augustine wrote, “Nobody from EY even attended her funeral.”
She said that this was Anna’s first job and she was excited about it. Anna was a school topper and passed CA with distinction.
Anita described her daughter as a “fighter”, and pointed out that she worked “tirelessly” at EY, “giving her all to meet the demands placed on her”.
However, within just four months of joining the company, she succumbed to “excessive workload,” Anita claimed.
“Long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally and mentally,” Anita said.
But despite anxiety, sleepless nights, and stress, she kept pushing herself, Anita added.
It took a toll on her health, and it worsened at the time of her convocation in Pune.
Anna was excited about the convocation and she wanted her parents to be present and had booked their flight tickets with her “own hard-earned money”.
However, when her parents arrived on July 6, she told them that for the past one week she has been experiencing chest constriction.
They took her to a hospital in Pune and doctors found her ECG was normal. They suspected it was due to lack of enough sleep, and late dinners.
“Though we had come all the way from Kochi, she insisted on going to work after seeing the doctor, saying there was a lot of work to be done and she wouldn’t get leave,” she said.
She continued working late into the night and early morning, and the family was late for the convocation next day.
Anna died on July 20, exactly four months after she joined (March 19).
Anita wrote that Anna had joined a team where several employees had already resigned due to excessive workload. “The team manager told her, ‘Anna, you must stick around and change everyone’s opinion about our team.’ My child didn’t realize she would pay for that with her life,” her mother said.
She said the company and her manager showed no consideration that Anna had recently moved away from her hometown and was struggling to adjust in a new city where she did not know the people or the language.
Anna’s manager would often assign her work during the end of her shift, forcing her to work overtime. She used to work late into the nights and even on Sundays.
Meetings were frequently rescheduled by her manager and she received additional tasks above and beyond her job description. These tasks were assigned verbally, Anita wrote in the letter.
She said Anna was constantly bombarded with messages asking about various reports. “We told her to quit, but she wanted to learn and gain new exposure. However, the overwhelming pressure proved too much even for her,” Anita said.
Anita wrote that her daughter’s death should serve as a wake-up call for EY to examine its work culture that glorifies slogging at the cost of health.
“I am writing to you now, Rajiv, because I believe EY has a profound responsibility to ensure the well-being of its employees. Anna’s experience sheds light on a work culture that seems to glorify overwork while neglecting the very human beings behind the roles.”
“Years of my child’s hard work have been snuffed out by just four months of EY’s callous attitude,” she added.
The letter went viral on social media and drew angry reactions. Some former employees of Ernst & Young wrote how they were forced to quit the company because excessive workload was affecting their health and work-life balance.
