Indian authorities are investigating the work environment at a global accounting firm after the death of a 26-year-old employee whose mother said she was overworked.
Anna Sebastian Perayil died in July, four months after joining the Pune office of Ernst & Young, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms. In a letter to the company’s chairman in India that has been widely shared on social media in recent days, her mother, Anita Augustine, said her daughter had died from “backbreaking work.”
Augustine said her daughter had “worked tirelessly” to meet the demands of her new job, but that the workload, new environment and long hours took a toll on her health.
“She began experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness, and stress soon after joining, but she kept pushing herself, believing that hard work and perseverance were the keys to success,” she wrote, adding that no one from Ernst & Young had attended Perayil’s funeral.
NBC News was unable to access the letter directly and could not independently verify its contents. Perayil’s cause of death is unclear.
In a LinkedIn post on Thursday, Ernst & Young India chairman Rajiv Memani acknowledged Augustine’s letter and said he was “deeply saddened” by what had happened.
“I truly regret the fact that we missed being present at Anna’s funeral. This is completely alien to our culture,” he said. “It has never happened before; it will never happen again.”
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He added, “It has always been very important to us to create a healthy workplace and we attach the highest importance to the well-being of our people.”
Memani had drawn fury on social media with earlier comments expressing doubt about the claims of overwork.
“There is no doubt each one has to work hard,” he said of his employees in an interview with the English-language newspaper The Indian Express.
“She was allotted work like any other employee,” he was quoted as saying. “We don’t believe that work pressure could have claimed her life.”
An Indian labor minister, Shobha Karandlaje, said Thursday in a post on X that “A thorough investigation into the allegations of an unsafe and exploitative work environment is underway.”
Augustine said Perayil had passed her chartered accountant exams in November and was “thrilled to be part of such a prestigious company.” But she was often called up by her managers at night, assigned work on the weekends and would arrive home “utterly exhausted.”
In the days leading up to her death, Augustine wrote, Perayil was complaining of tightness in her chest and doctors told the family she was not getting enough sleep.
“This is a systemic issue that goes beyond individual managers or teams,” Augustine wrote. “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.”
The company did not respond to a request for comment. Augustine could not be reached for comment.
The Big Four accounting firms, which also include Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, are known to have long working hours and frequent work on the weekends. So for many on social media, Perayil’s death was also an indictment of the broader work culture in India, where young job seekers face fierce competition.
India, the world’s most populous country, is struggling to provide jobs for its 1.4 billion people despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The jobless rate for people ages 15 to 24 was 17.9% in 2022, according to the World Bank, even as the overall unemployment rate is declining.
Indians work an average of 46.7 hours per week, compared with 38 hours for Americans, according to the International Labor Organization. They also beat other Asian countries, including Japan (36.6), South Korea (38.6) and China (46.1).
Last year, Indian tech billionaire and Infosys founder Narayana Murthy set off controversy after saying young Indians should be working 70 hours a week to help the country compete on the global stage.
As of Friday, Memani’s statement on LinkedIn had gained hundreds of comments.
“This incident reflects a broader issue across corporate India, where employees are overworked and expected to work long hours under extreme conditions,” one comment read. “These practices are harmful and unsustainable.”
Augustine said that as someone just starting her career, Perayil was trying to prove herself and pushed herself beyond her limits.
“Like many in her position, she did not have the experience or the agency to draw boundaries or push back against unreasonable demands,” Augustine wrote. “She did not know how to say no.”
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