Death of Anna Sebastian EY Deloitte establishes new committee on workplace culture

In response to the social media uproar following the tragic death of a young employee at EY, allegedly linked to work pressure, Deloitte, one of the Big 4, has set up a three-member external committee to review its employees' practices, policies and processes. The committee also includes former finance minister Tarun Bajaj, Romal Shetty, CEO of Deloitte for South Asia, announced on Friday.

Shetty highlighted that to combat work pressure and promote an open work culture, Deloitte has appointed a Chief Happiness Officer and takes strict measures against inappropriate behavior within the organization. Deloitte is one of the top four global tax consulting firms along with EY, PwC and KPMG.

“…Very unfortunate, very tragic, a small child has lost his life. We are in customer service and in customer service there are always deadlines… we are under all this pressure,” Shetty told PTI.

Anna Sebastian Perayil, who passed her CA exam in 2023 and worked at EY's Pune office for four months, tragically passed away in July. In a letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani, her mother described her daughter's experience as being overwhelmed by a “bone-crushing” workload that took a toll on her physically, emotionally and mentally.

Shetty rejected claims that a culture of bullying exists in organisations with a history of 100 to 150 years, but acknowledged that isolated transgressions can occur.

“… A bullying culture is not usually prevalent in professional associations. But are there individuals who do certain things? Yes, absolutely… I think as an organization, first of all, you have to have an open culture where no one should be afraid to raise these issues,” he said.

Shetty also announced that Deloitte has assembled a panel of three distinguished independent members in response to the tragic loss of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian Perayil at EY.

“We have set up a panel comprising Tarun Bajaj, former finance minister, Manoj Kohli, former CEO of Airtel and Subodh Jaiswal, former CBI director, to review all our HR practices, policies and processes. How are ethics cases handled? We have an ethics hotline. How are they actually handled? What mechanisms have we put in place for that?” Shetty added.

He stressed that with today's diverse workforce, it is imperative to reassess the work environment to better manage stress. Mental health is a major issue and it is challenging to address, he noted.

Shetty pointed out that many young professionals entering the workforce today come from tier 2 and 3 cities, often leaving their families behind. They may also be facing personal stress in addition to the pressure of working in a customer service business with tight deadlines. “The younger generation is much smarter than I ever was, much more intelligent, much more clever. Sometimes I think a little more resilience would be useful,” Shetty said.

As CEO, Shetty visits every office and hosts open forums where employees can ask any questions they have.

“The concept is that if you can ask your CEO any question, even a slightly embarrassing one, then you can actually go to an executive and say, 'I'm not enjoying this…' We can also create an environment where people feel comfortable with their work, because sometimes you spend 14 hours at work,” Shetty said.

Also read: Anna Sebastian's death: Shashi Tharoor says he will raise the issue in Parliament after meeting EY employee's father