New Delhi: After a 26-year-old employee allegedly died from "overwork" at Ernst & Young (EY), a Bengaluru-based techie has recounted his wife's distressing experience at the company, NDTV reported.
Reacting to Anna Sebastian’s death four months into joining EY, Aakash Venkatasubramanian in a LinkedIn post said his partner quit her job at EY because of the company’s ‘toxic work culture’ that at times demanded 18-hour workdays.
Venkatasubramanian wondered what would have happened to his partner if she had not quit the job at EY.
He said that multinational companies (MNCs) in India created a harmful work environment by normalising and glorifying 18-hour workdays.
The techie added that these MNCs would not practice this work culture outside India, adding that Indian are being treated as ‘donkeys to offload work to’ and ‘India is seen as a huge factory willing to operate 24x7x365.’
He alleged the government ‘is happy to take tax from us without ensuring the bare humane conditions to work’, adding that the government never steps in to help taxpayers when they are laid off.
Venkatasubramanian hoped Anna Sebastian would be the last die from work pressure.
Anna Sebastian’s mother Anita Augustine wrote an impassioned letter to EY India's chairman, Rajiv Memani, accusing the company of creating a culture that ‘glorifies overwork’. Anita said that no one from the company attended Anna’s funeral.
After clearing Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams, Anna joined EY's Pune office in March 2024.
According to the letter the long work hour landed her in anxiety, sleeplessness and stress.
Anna continued to push herself despite family asked her to quit and working through nights and weekends proved too much for her, eventually leading to her death.
Minister of State for Labour Shobha Karandlaje confirmed that the Union Labour Ministry was looking into the allegations.