EY India responds to letter from Anna’s mother – The Week

Amid widespread criticism of the work-related stress that led to the death of one of its employees, Big4 firm Ernst & Young today issued a statement expressing its “deepest condolences” and saying the company “has provided and will continue to provide all possible support to the family.”

Anita Augustine, the mother of Anna Sebastian Perayil, wrote a letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani describing the harmful work culture her 26-year-old daughter was exposed to, which led to her death on July 20.

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“We are deeply saddened by Anna Sebastian’s tragic and untimely death in July 2024 and our deepest condolences go out to the grieving family,” EY said in a statement.

“Anna was part of the audit team at SR Batliboi, a member firm of EY Global, in Pune for a short period of four months and joined the firm on March 18, 2024. That her promising career has ended in this tragic way is an irreparable loss for all of us.”

While the company acknowledges that “no action can compensate for the loss the family has suffered,” it stated that it has provided and will continue to provide the family with its usual support in such situations.

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“The wellbeing of all employees is of paramount importance to us and we will continue to look for ways to improve the workplace and provide a healthy workplace for our 100,000 employees across all EY member firms in India.”

In the letter, Anita claimed that no one from EY Pune attended her funeral.

She mentioned that Anna was very excited to join a prestigious company like EY.

“She was full of life, dreams and excitement for the future. EY was her first job and she was excited to be part of such a prestigious company.”

The letter spread like wildfire on social media and several internet users criticized EY for its unhealthy work culture.