Akhilesh after the death of a 26-year-old from Pune, California, due to “work stress”

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav reacted to the death of a 26-year-old chartered accountant working at Ernst & Young, saying the death was allegedly due to work pressure in his office. He said every employee, from top to bottom, was under pressure and the main reason for this pressure and tension was the “failure of economic policy”.

Anna Sebastian passed the Chartered Accountant (CA) exam on November 23 last year and joined EY Pune on March 19.

“It is more necessary to improve economic conditions than to enforce laws and regulations. The truth is that due to the wrong policies of the government and excessive taxes, there is unemployment and inactivity and the businesses have fallen victim to recession and falling demand. There is tremendous pressure on the loss-making businesses to do maximum work with minimum number of employees,” the SP leader wrote in Hindi on X.

Describing work-life balance as a measure of a country's development, he said the incident had shaken the country's youth. “This is not just the case with one company or one government department, but everywhere the adverse conditions are almost the same, in some places a little more, in others a little less,” he added.

“Work-life balance” is the best solution for you. मानक होता है। पुणे में एक अंतरराष्ट्रीय कंपनी में काम. करनेव ाली एक युवती की काम के तनाव से हुई मृत्यु और उस संदर्भ में उसकी माँ का लिखा हुआ भावुक पत्र देश. भर के युवक-युवतियों को झकझोर गया है। More than anything…

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) 19 September 2024

Akhilesh said progress is possible only when the mental health of the country is good. “In this context, the government must first change its thinking and the way it works. The basis should not be the superficial measure of working the maximum number of hours but the result achieved at the end,” he said.

CA's boss told her to stay and change everyone's mind about the team

The incident came to light after a woman's letter went viral online, claiming that her daughter died of “overwork” just four months after joining the consulting firm. The woman's mother, Anita Augustine, wrote an email to EY India head Rajiv Memani. The mother claimed that the consulting firm's assistant manager once called her at night and told her a task that needed to be completed by the next morning, leaving her little time to rest or recover. “When she raised her concerns, she received a dismissive response: 'You can work nights, we all do that,'” the mother claimed.

She revealed that the head of the CA told her to “stay and change everyone's mind about the team” because many employees had quit because of the “excessive workload.”

The answer from Ernst & Young

Following strong reactions to the incident, Ernst & Young issued a statement saying: “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.” The company will provide all possible support to the family and look for ways to improve the workplace and provide a healthy workplace for its employees, it said.

“While no measure can compensate for the loss the family has suffered, as always in such times of need, we have provided and will continue to provide all possible assistance.”

“We receive the family's correspondence with utmost sincerity and humility. The wellbeing of all employees is of paramount importance to us and we will continue to look for ways to provide and improve a healthy workplace for our 100,000 employees in EY member firms in India,” the company said.