When Maria (name changed) read the letter penned by the mother of EY India employee Anna Sebastian Perayil, who allegedly died due to 'overwhelming work pressure' in July, it felt hauntingly familiar.
Maria is 25, a year younger than Anna. She works as an executive at one of the Big 4 companies – just like Anna. She's finding it difficult to cope with extreme work-related stress – something which contributed to Anna's demise.
"If anything happens to me, you know who to blame," is what Maria told her friends soon after she came across the news of Anna's death.
"My body is giving up physically and mentally," she added.
As Anna's death sparks discussions over exploitative work culture in India and a debate over 'hustle culture', young professionals across industries say companies need to start treating "employees as human beings – and not as mere resources".
Long Work Hours, Zero Work-Life Balance the Norm
Twelve-hour workdays, late-night meetings, toxic managers, and a complete lack of work-life balance – these are some of the issues highlighted by current and former employees at the Big 4 accounting and consulting firms.
Maria told The Quint that she had been pulling 10-hour shifts on an average since January 2024. Officially, though, her shifts should last no longer than 8 hours.
"Our busiest months are between January and March, but it isn't any better right now. I have to be in office twice a week. So, I wake up at around 6 am, reach office by 9 am, and then work till late. Even when I return by 7 in the evening, my manager asks me to log in again, so I invariably work till 10 pm every day."Maria, audit and assurance executive at one of the Big 4 companies
The work gets so hectic on some days that Maria, who is also preparing for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exam, does not have enough time for "any recreational activities or have coffee in between work".
Samar (name changed), a 32-year-old former employee of an auditing firm, who worked as an associate consultant in risk advisory at the company, alleged that employees would often be called 'resources'.
"I thought it was inhuman, the manner in which people were discussed as 'resources'. 'I need four resources for this project.' 'Do you have a resource?' That is how managers talk about human beings," he said.
Recollecting his time at the firm, Samar, who left his job nearly seven years back, said,
"I was part of a team that had to travel to client locations, and usually alone... There were also members from EY’s statutory audit team (Anna was a part of a similar team) who I had to work with. The hours were quite brutal for them. They came in at around 10 am on most days and worked till 9-10 pm. We had lunch together – and they took out 15-20 minutes for evening snacks. That’s about it. They also worked most Saturdays, and even on Sundays when necessary. One evening when my colleague and I had left around 6.30 pm, I remember him saying, 'It’s the first time I’ve left during sunlight in months!'"32-year-old former employee at an auditing firm
According to International Labour Organisation's (ILO's) January 2024 report, Indian employees are among the most overworked in countries around the globe.
On an average, an Indian employee works 46.7 hours per week, and nearly 51 percent of the workforce exceeds 49 hours each week. India ranks second for the highest rate of prolonged working hours.
The ILO data also shows that Indian women workers in information and communication jobs, which includes IT professionals and journalists, worked 56.5 hours every week in 2023, the most for any job type in India.
The Hindu reported that women in professional, scientific and technical activities in India, a category Perayil belonged to, put in 53.2 hours a week.
‘They Throw Around the Word ‘Urgent’ and Make Our Lives Miserable'
The Quint spoke to current and former employees at three of the Big 4 companies, all of whom said they were often "forced to work on weekends".
"They would give us an assignment on Saturday and expect us to complete it by Monday morning, which essentially forces us to spend our entire weekend working. They throw around the word 'urgent' and make our lives miserable," Samar said.
But working overtime is not restricted only to the Big 4 companies.
Keerthi (name changed), a Mumbai-based social media and content writer, told The Quint, "My job didn't start out toxic. It never does..."
"We asked for a few work-from-home days when our office shifted to South Mumbai because we couldn't afford to live near office on our salaries, but those days became toxic. Our managers would text us at 5 or 6 am – and they would just assume we would work for more hours because we weren’t travelling to work. And we would be logged in till 9-10 in the night."Keerthi
Keerthi added that she reached a breaking point when she couldn't even have a 'simple meal with her family' when she was not on shift because she was 'bombarded with calls' from her boss.
Samar alleged to The Quint that employees were often 'mocked' for leaving on time and 'shamed' for enjoying weekends.
In a LinkedIn post last week, EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani said the company is committed to "creating a healthy workplace".
"I would like to affirm that the well-being of our people is my top-most priority, and I will personally champion this objective. I am absolutely committed to nurturing a harmonious workplace, and I will not rest until that objective is accomplished."
Meanwhile, Deloitte constituted a three-member external committee to look into the practices, policies, and processes concerning employees, South Asia CEO Romal Shetty said on 20 September.
Lack of Guidance & Pressure to Excel Leads to Added Stress
Most of the people The Quint interviewed said that the toxic work culture in any company depended on the 'team and manager you're working with'.
For Noida-based Mahesh (name changed), a 28-year-old aspiring ACCA professional, it was a dream come true when he got his first job at a well-known financial audit firm in 2020. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mahesh was forced to work remotely.
"I had a toxic manager who kept telling us that we were a 'high performing' team. She used to boast about us having maximum utilisation... When I joined, we were a team of 20-25 people. But within six months, nearly 10-12 people quit. It was a red flag I ignored."Mahesh
"There have been times where I've worked 48 hours straight with only essential breaks. I did it because I was trying to live up to my boss' expectations. I could never make her happy," Mahesh added.
Quitting wasn't an option for Mahesh back then since the company sponsored his ACCA sponsorship programme. "If I left, I would've had to pay them nearly Rs 2.5 lakh, which I just could not afford."
But, despite the sponsorship, Mahesh was unable to focus on his studies because of the excessive work pressure.
Sharing her experience, Mumbai-based brand strategist Mahika (name changed) told The Quint,
"If we didn’t do certain unimportant things like not sending a status report every single day at a certain time, they would cut 18 percent of our salary. Your manager would sit and track this stuff for you."Mahika to The Quint
Keerthi added that she was always "on edge" as she wasn't sure what feedback would be given to her. "I would sometimes wake up to 20 messages from my boss about some document I sent the previous day. And he would ask me to make the changes by 8 am if I was working from home which was before my work hours even started."
Meanwhile, Maria told The Quint that she would often be made to feel guilty if she asked for leaves.
"I would be made to feel guilty for asking for sick leaves or an off on my birthday. I was recently asked to work on a weekend. I refused because I had already pulled in long hours the previous day. My body needed rest. But my manager still asked me to work so that 'it could motivate my juniors'," Maria said.
In most cases, if employees tried to bring the work conditions to management's notice, they would allegedly be told, "Hamare zamaane mein hum bahut kaam karte the (Back in our day, we used to work more than this)."
Instead of changing a system that fosters unhealthy working conditions, employers expect their employees to stick to the status quo, they alleged.
Panic Attacks, Sleeplessness & Health Issues
On 20 July, Anna suddenly collapsed at her paying guest facility in Pune after having returned from a long day of work. She died of cardiac arrest.
In her letter, Anna's mother Anita Augustine wrote,
"The workload, new environment, and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally. She began experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness, and stress soon after joining, but she kept pushing herself...”
Everyone who spoke to The Quint unequivocally agreed that the toxicity at their workplaces affected their physical and mental health.
While Keerthi had to go back on medication for chronic PCOS, Vayu ((name changed), a content writer, experienced frequent panic attacks, and Mahika had 'nightmares' about work.
"It got to a point where I would get nightmares about work, and I wasn’t getting enough sleep... I wasn’t eating well either. Because it was my first job, I always felt the need to prove myself so that I'm taken seriously. Add to that the fact that I was the only woman in an all-male team – and it was difficult to put my point across."*Mahika told The Quint
"It turns you into a shell of a person; it’s not a nice way to live. Every single day, I would have a panic attack on the way to work and I had significantly increased smoking to cope with the stress. It was an agency, I was not saving lives…. the deck can wait," Vayu told The Quint.
In the four years that he worked at his company, Mahesh said he 'put on almost 10 kg of weight' – and he was told to exercise, but didn't have the time.
While Mahesh, Vayu, and a few others were able to quit their jobs to prioritise their health, others like Maria are unable to do so.
According to LiveMint, attrition at the junior level in India’s consulting industry was estimated at 20-2 percent in 2023.
"I felt numb for a second when I read the news. I suddenly felt, 'This could've been me.' I was also under severe pressure and though I quit my job, I was diagnosed with anxiety, and I was put on medication. I'm still battling this... but thankfully I was able to bring myself out of that situation. I just wish Anna too could have done the same," Mansi (Name changed), a Gurgaon-based employee at a marketing firm, told The Quint.
Meanwhile, Samar added that toxicity at workplaces is a 'culture' issue.
"When everyone is replaceable, with 100s waiting to slog and do whatever it takes, there is the temptation to squeeze out as much work as you can from every person without any limits, checks or balances. The attitude is – if you can’t take it, you’re free to quit. Except that many come from smaller towns to work in the cities, they are paying rent, managing life, and have to send money back home as well. Quitting is not an option for them."Samar, ex-employee at an audit firm
At least four people The Quint spoke to said that "empathy" at the management level is the need of the hour.
"Just like work is a key-performance-indicator (KPI) for employees, maybe employee health should be a KPI for managers or partners. If employees spend 8-10 hours a day, around 55-60 hours a week, working for you, there should be a way in which you are invested in their well-being," Samar added.
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