A mother’s powerful letter to EY India on ‘work culture’ after daughter’s death

A 26-year-old employee of Ernst & Young in Pune died due to “excessive workload”, her mother said in a heartbreaking letter that she wrote to the accounting firm on work culture. Anna Sebastian Perayil, a chartered accountant from Kerala, joined Ernst & Young in March as her mother blamed “four months of EY’s callous attitude” for her death.
Anita Augustine addressed the letter to Ernst & Young Chairman Rajiv Memani, lamenting over the fact that nobody from the company even attended her daughter’s funeral.
EY was Anna’s first job, and she was “thrilled” to join the company. Describing her daughter as a “fighter”, Augustine said that she topped all her examinations in school as well as college, and worked “tirelessly” at EY, “giving her all to meet the demands placed on her”.
“However, the workload, new environment and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally and mentally,” Augustine said, adding that Anna soon began experiencing anxiety and sleepless nights, and stress.
“But, she kept pushing herself, believing that hard work and perseverance were the keys to success,” Augustine said in the letter.
Her health, however, started worsening at the time of her convocation in Pune.
“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 said.
“That night, she returned to her PG late again. On Sunday, July 7, the day of her convocation, she joined us in the morning, but she was working from home even that day until the afternoon, and we reached the convocation venue late,” she added.
It was Anna’s “great dream” to take her parents to her convocation with her “own hard-earned money”. She had booked their flight tickets as well but couldn’t make the most of the moment because of “work pressure.”
“When Anna joined this specific team, she was told that many employees had resigned due to the excessive workload, and the team manager told to her, ‘Anna, you must stick around and change everyone’s opinion about our team.’ My child didn’t realise she would pay for that with her life,” she said in the letter.
Anna, in fact, had received several warnings regarding her manager from colleagues: “Her manager would often reschedule meetings during cricket matches and assign her work at the end of the day, adding to her stress. At an office party, a senior leader even joked that she would have a tough time working under her manager, which, unfortunately, became a reality she could not escape.”
Anna confided in her parents about the “overwhelming workload, especially the additional tasks assigned verbally, beyond the official work.” Her mother added that Anna would often return home “utterly exhausted”, “sometimes collapsing on the bed without even changing her clothes.”
Her managers were “relentless,” and she worked late nights, and even on weekends. When she voiced her concerns, the response was “dismissive” as Augustine claimed her daughter was told: “You can work at night. That’s what we all do.”
Her parents, in fact, had asked her to quit “but she wanted to learn and gain new exposure. However, the overwhelming pressure proved too much even for her.”
Augustine stressed on the fact that her daughter was “too kind” to blame her managers. “But I cannot remain silent,” she said, adding: “Burdening newcomers with such backbreaking work, making them work day and night, even on Sundays, has no justification whatsoever.”
The management should show some consideration to new employees, but they took “full advantage of the fact that she was new and overwhelmed her with both assigned and unassigned work,” she said in her letter.
“I wish I had been able to protect her, to tell her that her health and well-being mattered more than anything else. But it is too late for my Anna,” she added.
Her death should “serve as a wake-up call for EY,” Augustine said, adding a stern message for the chairman: “I hope this letter reaches you with the gravity it deserves.”
Read the letter here:
Conclusively, she added a powerful note on maintaining a healthy work culture in her letter: “It is time to reflect on the work culture within your organisation and take meaningful steps to prioritise the health and wellness of your employees. This means creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, where they are supported in managing their workload, and where their mental and physical well-being is not sacrificed for the sake of productivity.”
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also reacted to the now-viral letter in a post on X, saying: “This just broke my heart, Anna deserved better.”
With the help of her letter, Anita Augustine also aimed to spread awareness, saying: “I hope my child’s experience leads to real change so that no other family has to endure the grief and trauma we are going through.”