'Anna’s death should serve as wake-up call for EY': Late CA’s mother, accountants flag toxic work culture

NEW DELHI: Several chartered accountants expressed grief over the death of 26-year-old CA working in Ernst & Young allegedly due to extreme workload, a news that took the internet by storm recently, and called out the firm for its “toxic” work environment. CA Anna Sebastian Perayil who worked at the Pune branch of EY passed away in July this year.

While the Big4 firm termed her death an “irreparable loss” and claimed to be providing all kinds of assistance to the family, the young CA’s mother wrote a letter to the EY chairman Rajiv Memani flagging the “glorification” of overwork at the multinational companies (MNCs) such as EY.

In her letter, Anita Augustine narrated how Anna was subjected to the extremity of work pressure and was exploited for being a newcomer. The workload, new environment, and long hours took a toll on her mental, physical, and emotional health, said the grieving mother. The CA was suffering from anxiety, insomnia, and stress after joining her first company, Anita claimed.

The mother complained that the deceased CA was working even on her convocation day. She blamed the team manager for assigning tasks late at night and on weekends. While the young girl was “too kind” for making a complaint, her mother condemned the management for “burdening newcomers with backbreaking work” and overwhelming them with both assigned and unassigned work.

Corporate work culture

“This is a systemic issue that goes beyond individual managers or teams. The relentless demands and the pressure to meet unrealistic expectations are not sustainable, and they cost us the life of a young woman with so much potential,” she stated.

Like many young professionals, Anna didn’t have the agency to draw boundaries and say no to the “unreasonable” demands of the company, Anita said and added that in an attempt to prove herself, the CA pushed herself beyond the limits and lost her life.

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What hurt her mother the most was the lack of empathy, that no one from EY attended the funeral of an employee who gave her all to the organization till her last breath.

Calling out EY for its “callous attitude”, Anita Augustine sent out a social message, “Anna's death should serve as a wake-up call for EY. It is time to reflect on the work culture within your organization and take meaningful steps to prioritize the health and wellness of your employees. This means creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, where they are supported in managing their workload, and where their mental and physical well-being is not sacrificed for the sake of productivity.”

‘Toxic’ work environment

Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the CAs spoke on work-related stress and the toxic work culture in the corporate world.

CA Anupam Sharma extended condolences and said in a post, “We have lost a young female CA due to the excessive working environment in EY. Her mother wrote everything in detail. Very sad affairs that were not expected by anyone. Let's pray for the peace of the departed soul.”

An LLB graduate and CA in practice wished her case to be last of its kind. “Spoken to someone from EY Pune, where Anna’s worked. She was & many others are working in a toxic and inhumane work culture. This letter from her mother (Anita Ji) is not just a cry of pain, it’s a whistleblow against a corporate work culture. Anna may never come back, but her tragic story must ignite change. I wish - her story be the last of its kind,” their X post read.

An X user wrote, “Heartbreaking news from EY Pune - a young CA succumbed to the work pressure and nobody from EY even attended her funeral - this is so appalling and nasty!”

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Another practising CA asked about the experience of others in the Big4 companies. “The saddest, heartbreaking from EY Pune: Anna Sebastian, a young Chartered Accountant, passed away due to work pressure, and nobody from EY even attended her funeral! Big4 is too professional, & most people who work there are heartless & workaholics. What's your experience?”

Expressing their take on the workload, another twitter user said, “It's sad that people only realise mistakes at the cost of someone's life! No person or family deserves this difficult phase. Not only EY, all professional firms shall not burden employees for due dates. If you can't meet the deadlines, don't take extra work, that's it.”

“A young female CA losing life to a toxic work culture. What a shame EY. And no one from the office attended her funeral. Even on convocation day she was working!! What will happen to this country?! ICAI is there anything you can do to protect your members/children?,” asked another X user.