Employee dies due to work pressure on her first job, mother's heartbreaking letter goes viral

Her mother claims that Anna Sebastian Perayil was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted after being overburdened with excess workload.

Due to the alleged toxic work culture at EY India, various Industry professionals have raised their voices against Anna Sebastian's death.

Many people have also reshared a letter from Anna Sebastian's mother, Anita Augustine, to Rajiv Memani, EY India Chairman.

Anita Augustine, Perayil's mother, wrote about her daughter's experience at EY India in the letter. She wrote that her daughter excelled academically and always stood top in exams for both school and college. She had also cleared the CA exam with distinction. But she started experiencing, anxiety, sleeplessness, and stress soon after joining the company, the letter read.

Augustine also described how she saw her daughter struggle with the heavy workload and how she made a real effort to live up to the unattainable standards set by her seniors. The letter also stated that Anna began experiencing chest pain, which doctors determined was caused by her busy schedule.

The letter read, "To excel at work, Annie tried her best to manage her work by sleeping late at night and working tirelessly for hours. She even managed to work on her convocation day and could not even spend the day with her parents."

Anita wrote in the letter, “On Saturday, July 6, my husband and I reached Pune to attend Anna's CA Convocation. Since she had been complaining of chest constriction upon reaching her PG late at night (around 1 am) for the past week, we took her to the hospital in Pune. Her ECG was normal, and the cardiologist came to allay our fears, telling us she wasn't getting enough sleep and was eating very late. He prescribed antacids, which reassured us that it wasn't anything serious. Though we had come all the way from Kochi, she insisted on going to work after seeing the doctor, saying there was a lot of work to be done and she wouldn't get leave.”

She further wrote that no one from EY had attended her daughter's funeral and didn't even bother to talk to her about the tragedy. She wrote that the company officials had not responded when she tried to connect with her daughter's senior.

The mother further said, "Burdening newcomers with such backbreaking work, making them work day and night even on Sundays has no justification whatsoever...the management took full advantage of the fact that she was new and overwhelmed her with both assigned and unassigned work."

"This is a systematic 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 added.

The audit firm gave a response after the mother of Anna Sebastian wrote to EY India Chairman and Regional Managing Partner Rajiv Memani, pointing out the burden that might have contributed to her untimely death.

EY said it is "deeply saddened" by the death of its employee Anna Sebastian and "will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace."

While the letter claimed that nobody answered the family's calls nor did they attend the funeral, the company said that it has "provided all the assistance as we always do in such times of distress and will continue to do so".

Anna joined S R Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, on March 18, 2024, and worked in the audit department for a brief four months. "That her promising career was cut short in this tragic manner is an irreparable loss for all of us," the company said.

"We are taking the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We place the highest importance on the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 1,00,000 people across EY member firms in India."