When Anna Sebastian shared the happy news of her appointment as audit and assurance executive on social media in March 2024, she would not have imagined that in a few months her LinkedIn profile would be memorialised. Barely six months into her job at Ernst & Young (EY), Pune, Anna Sebastian Perayil, a chartered accountant from Kerala, died from work stress. What irked Anna’s mother was the fact that despite her child having put in hours of work and effort for the company, nobody from her office had felt the need to attend her funeral. The pained mother, Anita Augustine, wrote to Rajiv Memani, chairman, EY, highlighting how her daughter had toiled day and night, hoping to succeed and fulfil the expectations of her superiors, and how it had taken a toll on her health.
Anna’s ECG was normal and there was no heart-related issues, which makes it clear that it was emotional and physical stress from work pressure that had killed her.
Augustine accuses EY of deifying workaholism to such an extent that it was accepted as a norm and expected of everyone. She goes ahead and alleges that EY’s stand on and commitment to human rights only existed on paper and that in reality, her daughter had been exposed to just the opposite. According to Augustine, it was her daughter’s inability to say ‘no’ that had led to her being overwhelmed by the unreasonable workload.
Anna’s parents were aware of the anxiety she experienced ever since she had joined EY and had witnessed her answering work calls late at night and often working without sleeping. Her manager expected her to work through the night to meet a deadline for the following morning saying that it was a normal practice.
The worried parents who had seen their exhausted daughter collapsing on her bed had advised her to leave the job, but the youngster was eager to learn and prove her mettle. Unfortunately, it took her life and brought no appreciation her way either. Even her managers did not respond to the parents when they tried contacting them post their daughter’s funeral.
Augustine has requested EY to learn from this incident and act immediately so that the employees of the company do not suffer from physical and mental health issues.
