Mother Slams EY’s Toxic Work Culture Over Daughter’s Death By Overwork: Internet Demand ‘Right To Disconnect’ In India

A 26-year-old employee at one of the Big Four’s Ernest & Young’s India’s Pune offices succumbed to stress from overwork.

‘The pressure became too much for her’: Mother blames ‘work stress’ for 26-year-old EY employee’s death#workpressure #WorkLifeBalance #EY https://t.co/KCt2vBQz7S

By @ShDivyanshi pic.twitter.com/iihrq8EgvP
— Business Insider India🇮🇳 (@BiIndia) September 18, 2024

The diseased employee’s mother wrote to the EY India boss, Rajiv Memani, a heart wrenching letter urging to take reformative measures to ensure the company follows its ethos and principles as stated in its human rights statement. Anita Augustine remarked in her emotional mail that her young daughter Anna Sebastian was a class topper, a college topper, a CA with distinction, and EY her first gig, and a dream job. After clearing CA in November 2023, the young gun joined EY on March 19, 2024, at the Pune campus. However, on July 20, 2024, the promising young woman passed away. Her mother writes, “Anna was a fighter, from childhood through her academic years, where she excelled in everything she did.” She added that Anna worked tirelessly at EY, however, the toxic work culture took a physical and mental toll on her, which led to sleeplessness, anxiety and stress,

“BUT she kept pushing herself.”

She would often collapse on her bed without changing her attire and would wake up working even on weekends.

A 26-year-old employee of the multinational consulting firm Ernst & Young (#EY) in #Pune died due to “overwhelming workload,” her mother has claimed.

Read here: https://t.co/sQWSmXCltV #WorkCulture #India #Jobs #WorkLoad pic.twitter.com/tHe6vqz1VT
— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) September 18, 2024

Anita mentions that on July 7, Anna had her CA convocation for which she had called both the parents via flight from Kerala, spending her own hard-earned bucks. However, even on the d’day the EY employee was working and the two days with her parents were mostly spent getting the tasks done beyond the office hours. A day before the convocation, Anna was taken to a hospital in town as she kept complaining of chest constriction for the past week, although the ECG came normal. She was overworking and eating at odd hours. Despite all the stress, she never raised a flag of concern about her superiors; rather, she did the work on war footing to gain more knowledge and experience BUT her mother painfully remarks

“She did not know how to say no…It was too late for my Anna!”

Anita Sebsastian further implores that her daughter’s untimely demise “should serve as a wake up call for EY.” The grieving mother quipped

“No one from EY attended Anna’s funeral!”

Heartbreaking news from EY Pune – a young CA succumbed to the work pressure and nobody from EY even attended her funeral – this is so appalling and nasty!!! pic.twitter.com/pt8ThUKiNR
— Malavika Rao (@kaay_rao) September 17, 2024

Herewith reproducing the mother’s letter as is:

1/2

See Also: 25-Year-old IIT IIM Graduate Employee Dies By Suicide Due To ‘Work Pressure’

See Also: Man Dies Of Organ Failure After Working Non-Stop For 104 Days; Internet Wants Narayana Murthy To Take Note

See Also: Employee Found Dead At Desk After Four Days; Internet Asks ‘Why Did No One At Least Said Hello Or Goodbye?

2/2

Here’s how the netizens across social media are reacting to the toxic work culture at EY.

“No one from EY attended Anna’s funeral”.

This particular line stuck out from the email Anna’s mother has written to @rajivmemani (Chairman of EY, India) after Anna’s death.

I would urge all of you to read the complete letter. https://t.co/JwmVpm9xg9
— Ravi Handa (@ravihanda) September 17, 2024