Young CA’s Death Exposes Toxic Work Culture

It is a dream for many people in India to work for the Big4. Students put years of effort into completing their CA and landing an articleship in these companies for better work opportunities.

However, the recent death of an employee has shattered these glorified ideas about these firms and instead, put the company’s toxic work culture under notice.

Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26 year old employee at Ernst and Young (EY) Pune, lost her life due to an “overwhelming workload,” as claimed by her mother. In a letter to EY India’s Chairman, she claimed her daughter was asked to work after office hours, into late nights, even on Sundays which led to her death four months prior.

Sadly, this is not a unique case as many people are victims of such a destructive work environment where they are pressured by their superiors to work for long hours. Many employees have complained of the office politics and unethical practices in Big4s adding to the fears of aspiring CAs.

People already sacrifice so much to crack one of the toughest exams in the country in hopes of a better life. But, it seems the reality is far too depressing.

Echoing what Anna’s mother wrote in her letter, these big companies should cultivate an enivronement for employees to speak up against overwork, and facilitate them to manage their workload instead of delegating them more work after hours. The work should be able to provide for our life, not become the end of it.