The techie condemned the disparity in work expectations.
A Bengaluru-based techie has shared his wife's horrific experience working at Ernst & Young (EY). Aakash Venkatasubramanian explained how his partner quit her job at EY due to the company's "toxic work culture", often demanding 18-hour workdays. Mr Venkatasubramanian's LinkedIn post came days after the death of a 26-year-old EY employee allegedly due to “overwork”.
“My wife quit EY just because of the toxic work culture,” Mr Venkatasubramanian wrote, “and if she had not quit, I don't know what would have happened to her.” He went on to explain that the normalisation and glorification of 18-hour workdays by many multinational companies (MNCs) in India have created a harmful environment for workers.
The techie condemned the disparity in work expectations, saying the same MNCs would not do that outside India. “Indians are being seen as donkeys to offload work to, and India is seen as a huge factory willing to operate 24x7x365,” he wrote in his post.
He also criticised the government's lack of intervention, saying, “The Indian government is happy to take tax from us without ensuring the bare humane conditions to work.” They (the government) don't help taxpayers when they are laid off, but would “happily collect the taxes from us when they aren't even giving us the basic necessities,” he added.
“Let this be the last death,” he said.
Anna Sebastian, a consultant, died four months after joining EY. Her mother, Anita Augustine, wrote a letter to EY India's chairman, Rajiv Memani, accusing the company of fostering a culture that "glorifies overwork." Ms Augustine claimed that no one from EY attended her daughter's funeral, despite her death being linked to the company's demanding environment.
Anna, who passed her Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams in late 2023 and joined EY's Pune office in March 2024, had been struggling with anxiety, sleeplessness, and stress due to long work hours. Her mother described how Anna's enthusiasm for her first job quickly turned into an experience of exhaustion and pressure. Despite warnings from her family to quit, Anna pushed herself. However, the demands, including working nights and weekends, placed on her proved too overwhelming, leading to her death.
Amid growing concerns, the Union Labour Ministry has announced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 26-year-old's death. Minister of State for Labour Shobha Karandlaje confirmed that the ministry was looking into allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment at the company.
Issuing a statement on the alleged death of a 26-year-old employee because of 'overwork', EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani has said the fact that no one from the company attended the funeral is alien to their culture and that he "would not rest" until the objective of nurturing a harmonious workplace is accomplished.
Mr Memani also said that, as a father, he could understand the anguish of the woman's mother, who had written a heartbreaking letter to him, and added that he has conveyed his deepest condolences to the family.