The tragic demise of a 26-year-old chartered accountant, Anna Sebastian Perail, has kickstarted a whole new debate on the internet around India's toxic work culture. Many people are accusing motivational coaches promoting hustle culture and 70-hour work week mantras on social media in favour. Not only this, people also shared how the pay is dismal, but the exploitation of employees is at its peak in India's corporate sector. As soon as the news of Anna Sebastian's unfortunate demise made its way on social media, people speculated the main factor behind this tragedy.
As per multiple netizens on the internet, the lack of jobs in the market is the prime reason why people are forced to stick to their toxic jobs and get damaged mentally and physically. Time and again, we have seen people sharing the level of pressure they're working in due to the lack of jobs. For the uninitiated, a 26-year-old girl named Anna Sebastian Perail joined one of the biggest accounting companies in the world, Ernst & Young Global Limited, around March 2024. She was employed at S R Batliboi, a member of EY Global Limited.
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The young chartered accountant was on cloud nine after joining the Indian branch of the esteemed organisation in Pune. It was her first job, and she wanted to make an impression. Anna Sebastian Perail worked hard and accepted all the workload, even if it was not hers. However, as months passed, the work pressure increased rapidly, and the toxicity in the organisation started taking a toll on her mental health.
Anna Sebastian Perail went through a traumatic experience during her time at Ernst & Young India. After dealing with the company's toxic work culture, she couldn't bear it anymore and succumbed to death on July 20, 2024. The tragic incident remained in the shadows for more than a month, but kudos to her mother, Anita Augustine, who penned a letter to EY India's chairman, Rajiv Memani that went viral on social media. In the heartbreaking letter, Anita revealed that her daughter faced excessive workload, lack of weekends, long hours in the office, and late returns to the accommodation.
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The doting mother, Anita Augustine, had lost her daughter, Anna Sebastian Perail, but she stated that the reason why she wrote the letter was because of the fear that someone else would meet the same fate as her daughter. Thus, in order to safeguard employees in the corporate jungle, she penned this letter to EY India's chairman, Rajiv Memani. It's fair to say that the letter has served its purpose because the Labour Ministry of India will investigate the matter. Only time will tell whether there are going to be any regulations on India's toxic work culture or people are going to die just like this.
Soon after Anita Augustine's letter went viral on the internet, EY India's chairman, Rajiv Memani came forward and shared a response to it, but it went completely downhill. The chairman expressed his condolences and promised that his company was there for the family, but it was his statement about Anna's death that caused the ultimate damage. He wrote:
"Anna worked with us for four months and was assigned work like every other employee. We don't believe that work pressure could have claimed her life."
The internet went berserk on his statement, and EY India started trending even more on social media. From people lashing out at EY India's management to bringing Infosys co-founder, Narayana Murthy's 70-hour week remark, netizens speared no one as the issue of India's toxic work culture is finally in the spotlight.
As of now, EY India is right at the centre of the spotlight and is getting trolled and bashed on social media for their toxic work culture. Although the company's chairman, Rajiv Memani has promised that he would make changes in the company but, many people doubt him after his response
What are your thoughts on Anna Sebastian Peril's painful death due to the toxic work culture in her company, EY India? Let us know.
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