Ernst & Young said that overwork was not the reason for Perayil’s death – Photo: Getty
Anna Sebastian Perayil, 26 years old, passed away after four months of working at the auditing company Ernst & Young (EY), one of the Big 4 in this industry. Her mother blamed “workload, new environment and long working hours” for pushing her daughter toward tragedy, according to the newspaper. The Independent.
Huge work pressure in Big4
Perayil’s death, blamed on an excessive workload, has sparked debate about the harsh work culture in India’s biggest companies.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, 26, works as an auditor at SR Batliboi, an EY Global member firm in Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Four months after joining the job, Perayil died. According to what her father told the newspaper The News Minute, The cause was “many problems including acid reflux, stress and work pressure”.
According to a letter from her mother, Anita Augustine, to the head of EY India, Perayil started working at EY Pune in March, but “the workload, new environment and long working hours took a toll on her.” “severe physical, mental and emotional impact” on her.
Augustine said that in July, she took her daughter to the doctor after she said she felt “tightness in her chest” for about a week. The doctor prescribed medication and noted that Perayil did not get enough sleep and ate very late.
Despite this, Ms. Augustine wrote, her daughter continued to work late into the night, even on weekends, without a chance to rest.
“Anna’s experience reveals a work culture that seems to glorify overwork while ignoring the real people behind those roles. This isn’t just about my daughter, it’s about all Young people enter EY with hopes and dreams, only to be crushed under the weight of unrealistic expectations,” Ms. Augustine wrote. “Anna’s death should be a wake-up call for EY.”
Ms Augustine said no one from EY attended Anna’s funeral. She contacted management later but received no response.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, 26 years old, passed away after four months working at the auditing company Ernst & Young – Photo: NBC News
What does the company say?
EY said that “work pressure” was not the cause of Perayil’s death.
“We have about 100,000 employees. Everyone has to work hard. Anna has been with us for just four months. She is given work like any other employee,” said Mr. Rajiv Memani, director director, EY India, told the newspaper The Indian Express.
“We do not believe that work pressure could have caused her death.”
In a statement shared with The IndependentEY India said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic and sudden passing of Anna Sebastian in July 2024, and extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved family.
“Anna was a member of the audit team at SR Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a short period of four months. She started working at the firm on March 18, 2024.
Her promising career ending in this tragic way is an irreparable loss to all of us. While no measure can compensate for the loss the family has experienced, we have provided every support as we always do in difficult times and will continue to do so.
We are taking the family’s correspondence seriously. We place the utmost importance on the wellbeing of all our employees and will continue to seek ways to improve and provide healthy working environments for our 100,000 employees across EY member firms in India. Degree,” the company said.
Mr. Memani’s response to Perayil’s death was criticized online. Many recalled previous attitudes and statements by industry leaders as having contributed to a lax attitude towards employee welfare.
Indian Labor Minister Shobha Karandlaje said in a post on safe and exploitative”.
Many people share the same experience when working at Big4
Perayil’s death and her mother’s letter led to a wave of grief and outrage online, with industry experts, including some from EY, sharing their experiences of the working environment toxic and overloaded with work.
A colleague stated on trabg Reddit that they were informed of Perayil’s death via a “centralized email that included her LinkedIn image with a brief message”, and that “rumors spread that she had been suffering from a medical condition”. healthy before and it got worse.”
The employee also echoed Ms. Augustine’s letter, writing: “We average 16 hours per day during peak season, and 12 hours per day during off-season. There are no weekends or holidays.” Every year EY voluntarily announces a day off to regenerate labor for employees. And even that day we still have to work, overworking is the only way to advance, do and force others to do the same”.
Another expert, who said he worked at KPMG for four years, described having to work while infected with COVID-19 “until I couldn’t sit up straight because of the fever and weakness.” This person said the manager “reminded the managers that I did not complete the tasks on that project, even though I submitted a positive COVID-19 test result.”
Many other employees of “Big 4″ auditing firms including Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY also posted similar stories on social networks, describing 14 to 18 hour work days, called ” resources” instead of names, and received little to no support from managers on how to handle the workload and stress.