EY staffer's death puts focus on work stress
Bengaluru, Sep 19, 2024
Amid the furore over the tragic demise of Anna Sebastian Perayil, an employee at consulting firm EY in Pune, allegedly because of work pressure, HR leaders emphasised the need for India Inc to relook at employee well-being.
The uproar was triggered by a lengthy letter written by Anna's mother Anita Augustine to Memani that went viral on social media on Wednesday.
Augustine voiced her concerns regarding the excessive workload placed on her daughter, a newcomer to the company, and indicated that Anna ultimately succumbed to work-related stress. Anna had joined the company in March, after completing CA, and passed away on July 20.
On social media, a number of employees narrated experiences of work-related stress in previous jobs that led them to leave those jobs. One of them, Shashikiran Devadiga, said on X: "No amount of money could compensate for a toxic workplace culture. India should learn a thing or two from the American or European work cultures." Shweta Saboo, a CA and consultant at a startup, said what happened to Anna could have happened to her at a previous job if she hadn't quit. "It's high time to stop glorifying slogging at the workplace. At the same time, we have to take charge of our well being as really nobody cares about it," she said.
A manager at food-delivery platform Zomato said on LinkedIn that his manager pressured him to complete pending tasks even while he was on leave attending to his wife, who was suffering from dengue. The employee wondered whether this behaviour stemmed from the manager or higher management. A Zomato spokesperson, in response to TOI's queries, said that the company has relaxed policies around leaves, including infinite sick leaves. "We are a large organisation, and there might be cases where some team leaders lack empathy, and force their employees to work during moments of health crises in their families. It is impossible to avoid such cases, but we make sure that we coach, or weed out such team leaders from the organisation when any such issue comes to light," he added.
Some noted that Anna's death marks the second such case in six months, pointing to the death from suicide of Saurabh Laddha, a 25-year-old employee at another high-profile global consulting company, reportedly due to overwhelming work pressure. Work pressures are seen to be rising across India Inc, with many trying to do more with fewer resources. Amogh Deshmukh, head of the leadership practice at SHRM, says change must originate from the top management. "The top management should have a human element in them. Only then will it trickle down and employees will have a real work-life balance," he says.
Amit Jain, CEO of HR solutions firm TeamLease HCM, says not all companies have a hustle culture, but in no case should employee well-being be overlooked. Aditya Mishra, MD of HR services firm CIEL HR, says burnout is more a result of the pressure to perform rather than the number of work hours. "Unrealistic expectations and the pressure to keep up with peers drive employees to work long hours," he says.
This trend is not unique to India. Contrary to what Shashikiran Devadiga says, significant parts of the US corporate world suffer from similar problems. In May, Leo Lukenas, a 35-year-old employee at Bank of America, died after suffering a blood clot, but the media noted that he had been trying to quit the job because of the extreme hours he had been working - sometimes over 100 hours per week - and indicated that this may have caused his health problem.
Following this, JPMorgan has reportedly started limiting junior banker hours to 80 per week, a first for it. And Bank of America, where these hours are already capped at 80, is launching an internal platform that closely monitors individual workloads, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Will recommit to providing supportive work environment: EY India chairman
EY India chairman Rajiv Memani, in a message to the company's employees, said he had received an anguished email from Anna Sebastian Perayil's mother and had taken note of her message "with utmost seriousness and humility." Memani said the firm places the highest importance on the health and well-being of its people, and will recommit itself to providing a supportive, healthy, and balanced work environment to all. "I would like to make this an ongoing dialogue with you to ensure we are continually building a healthy workplace for everyone. We have several well-being programmes and open channels of communication available in the firm to ensure that you always have a safe space to voice your concerns anonymously...," he said.
[The Times of India]
