Anna Sebastian Perayil: EY employee’s death sheds light on how big firms turn into ‘human-consuming’ factories

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Work stress has become the biggest debate in India with the death of a former employee of EY Anna Sebastian Perayil, and has left many wondering if landing a job in these firms is worth the fight

The sudden death of Ernst and Young’s (EY) 26-year-old employee Anna Sebastian Perayil has sparked a debate over the toxic work culture in some of the biggest firms in India and has raised some serious questions about work stress which can prove fatal.

The young generation is known to toil really hard in their initial years to land employment in the so-called Big 4 accounting firms – Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and KPMG – which can be called ‘dream job destinations’.

After signing on the dotted lines, these employees – full of excitement and vigour – take on social media platforms like LinkedIn to announce and celebrate their new jobs. 

Many of them come from the middle class and have their own financial liabilities to meet which eventually become their shackles when they find themselves compromising their health, and at times even live in these “dream jobs” with no way out. 

Many of them finally find a way out and try to restart from scratch but some meet a fate similar to that of Anna, whose mother Anita Augustine’s letter left the nation wondering if it’s really worth the trouble.

Employees share their struggles of working in big firms

WION reached out to the former employees of some of these firms and tried to understand what’s making it difficult for them to survive in these jobs. This is what they had to say:

Aditi (name changed)
On the first day at EY, I was made to work for 12 hours from 9 am to 9 pm. At work, we had to wait beyond our working hours to hold meetings with the offshore team because they would log in as per their working hours. At one point, I worked for 15 hours for three days on a stretch and had to work beforehand for all the public holidays, comp-offs or any other holidays. I suffered from anxiety attacks and faced issues in breathing because of work stress. 

Namrata (name changed)
I had to clock 65 hours a week during busy months at EY. We worked for a lot more hours on one client in comparison to the time we officially showed what we had spent on them. There was no recognition of work and we were made to feel we are easily replaceable. The work schedule was so hectic that at times I started my day at 7 am and came back by 12 pm or 1 pm.  I had put on more weight, faced gastroenteritis issues and started falling sick way more often.

Aastha (name changed)
The busy months were very hectic at EY, we were clocking 90 hours a week and were putting in some extra hours which remained hidden. It was usual for the onshore team to come at odd times and we were expected to wait for their call.

Harshita (name changed)
There were no fixed working hours during the pandemic and we worked almost all the time. The maximum I had charged was 16 hours in a day which was not real working hours because we had to keep them within the budget. The managers were not very helpful and no leaves were granted.

Anirudh (name changed)
In the Big4s, you are expected to work constantly and you have to work on weekends to show your seniors that you are actually putting in the work. It was so hectic at KPMG that at times I came back at 4 am and had to leave at 8 am. There are a lot of hidden work hours because you are not allowed to log in the actual work hours in the system. In these organisations, staying late in the office is appreciated. The conditions were pretty much similar at PwC.

Where did these big firms fail their employees?

The conversations with the former employees of the firms underlined some core issues prevalent across the industry which seemed to have been neglected or remained unheard for years. Some of these issues were: 

These experiences raise some hard questions for the Big4 firms. Should such reputed companies have working environments which can push employees to the edge? Were the top management aware of these activities or was it the opaqueness of the middle management which kept them uninformed? Why were employees blindly burdened with unachievable and over-ambitious targets? Why were they silent? 

Silence among employees: A generational trauma or a societal lesson?

How much do we question these firms? On the other side of it, one wonders why the employees decided to remain mum over such a serious issue till Anna lost her life.

Explaining how work stress can turn killer for people, she said, “Anything that happens psychologically will manifest into physical symptoms and can lead to severe diseases like chest pain, constipation, shortness of breath, stress-induced asthma, panic attacks and even heartache.”

So, how can the employees save themselves from the work stress and escape the burnout? “Working out, making food, finding hobbies, making realistic goals, setting up priorities and most importantly establishing boundaries”  can work magic for those battling work stress, Dhumak said.