Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old Chartered Accountant (CA) from Kerala, died due to chest constriction. Extreme work-related stress while working at EY, one of the Big Four accounting firms, in Pune, is believed to have caused the cardiac issue. Her mother's letter addressed to the company’s India boss Rajiv Memani has gone viral on social media. The letter speaks of how Anna was overwhelmed with non-stop work and odd demand for midnight reports for weeks on end. She barely had weekly offs, time to eat and relax.
The young woman's demise has brought into focus the unhealthy work culture in India. "An Indian employee never switches off even after official work hours and that is made the acceptable norm. Those who don't work after office are made to feel they are without work and are enjoying life. Regular calls after office, no respite on weekends have seamlessly integrated our work culture," commented Parag Mandpe, lamenting the sad state of affairs.
"India’s work culture needs a major overhaul; too often, managers treat employees like slaves, and fear of retaliation forces workers to endure it. There should be strict labor laws and accountability for private companies. People work to live, not live to work," commented Sid, taking a Leftist position.
The issue could be cultural and systemic. "There are deep-rooted culture issues with Big 4, especially in India. They unstaff and overload people; they dont paywell; they go to any extent for cost-cutting, even if means rejecting reimbursement of bills; to achieve the target, they go for L1 bid, under-deliver, letting the client suffer," opied Mechani Manickam.
