‘EY being targeted’: Long working hours a broader issue, says official amid outrage over Anna Sebastian’s death

A senior EY official said on Friday that the issue of “long working hours” is not just related to the company, but it’s a problem that’s prevalent everywhere right now. She said the matter “needs to be resolved at a larger scale”. Her comments came amid an uproar over the death of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian, who worked at EY’s Pune office.

Anna Sebastian’s death

Anna Sebastian Perayil died in July. In a “leaked” letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memami, Sebastian’s mother claimed that “workload, new environment, and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally and mentally “. The letter went viral on social media on September 18. Mint could not independently verify the claim.

Anna was a part of the Audit team at S Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a brief period of four months. She had joining the firm on 18 March 2024.

Sebastian’s death sparked outrage over social media. Rajiv Memami reacted to the “tragic demise of Anna Sebastian” in a LinkedIn post. He said he conveyed his deepest condolences to her family, “although nothing can fill the void in their lives”. He said it has always been “very important to us to create a healthy workplace…”

However, comments on Memami’s LinkedIn post saw relatives of former EY employees complaining about the work culture at the “rotten organisation”.

One such comment read, “My son went through this nonsense years back. I was more fortunate. He left after 2 years but was completely burnt out. As parents we were worried if he would get back to work. It took him 6 months, but the memories don’t go. I remember how upset I used to be but never spoke up as he wouldn’t let me. You owe an apology to one and all who worked with this rotten organisation.”

Many users also critisised Memami for “lacking empathy and emotion”.

EY issues clarification: ‘Anna’s flat-mate had called…’

Pushpanjali Singh, the Associate Director of Brand, Marketing and Communication at EY, issued a statement on Friday, explaining what had “actually” happened at the time of the incident.

Singh told Mint that on the night of July 20 this year, “the team got a call from Anna’s flat-mate saying that she is no more because of the cardiac arrest.”

“Since then, the team, the HR and the admin have been in touch with the family to provide them all the required support,” Singh said. But, “the family said that we are taking care of things and that they don’t need any support,” she added.

Singh claimed, “Nowhere could the team tell that the family was upset or they were being impolite or something…it’s only now that after three months, the mother wrote this mail, and it got leaked on social media and created the ruckus.”

‘EY is being targeted’

Pushpanjali Singh said EY is being targeted. When asked about people sharing and complaining about their experience at EY, Singh said, “I cannot validate [those claims]…on social media, people are free to write anything.”

Speaking about the culture of “long working hours”, Singh said, “It’s not something to do with EY; it’s everywhere…the working culture is a problem which is prevalent right now, and we all know that. It runs across the sectors…”

“These things need to be resolved at a larger scale. It’s not limited to one company…unfortunately, this incident happened, and the EY’s being targeted,” the senior EY official said.

‘Terrible’ experience, long work hours

Gurjyot Singh, a former EY employee, said on LinkedIn, “Having worked with EY India, I don’t think toxic culture will ever change. Don’t want to name the EY Partner (now gone to PwC) I was working with on a project. After being forced to work full nights, weekends, even while being sick and also working while travelling to client office, that partner didn’t even think twice before using abusive language and shaming.”

“The culture is even worse in KPMG India, where I worked only for few months, that had some terrible people who made my life worse than hell,” Singh said.

Another former employee Luv Solanki said, “I am a former employee of EY. During my time there, my Director asked me to work 17-18 hours a day. When I reported this to HR, she suggested it might be due to client demands. Even when trying to voice my concerns, my colleagues often mocked me during team meetings.”

In an official statement, EY had said it “will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 100,000 people across EY member firms in India.” The company expressed grief over Anna Sebastian’s death and said, ”While no measure can compensate for the loss experienced by the family, we have provided all the assistance as we always do in such times of distress and will continue to do so.”