Death Of A Young CA: Mr Murthy, Few Words On Toxic Work Culture Please!

Anna Sebastian Perayil, 26, was only four months into her job when she succumbed from stress related to work overload. In her letter to the chairman of the company, her mother Anita Augustine, mentions, among other things, the organisation’s ‘relentless demands and the pressure to meet unrealistic expectations’. One hopes one NR Narayana Murthy gets to read the full letter.

The venerable Mr Murthy, co-founder of tech giant Infosys, has been suggesting a 70-hour-a-week work schedule for youngsters for the rapid growth of the Indian economy. Some other worthies have lent their voice to it. In an article on the topic earlier, Perspective Bytes had mentioned that there’s more to life than work, and it’s possible that Mr Murthy is far too removed from the everyday reality of our corporate work culture.

The reality is, to put it bluntly, organisations treat their employees as slaves. In most, they are made to work well beyond 10 hours a day. They have created an obnoxious work environment that reeks of exploitation, unfairness and mental cruelty. It revolves around ‘the boss’ culture that makes harassment routine. Young people are thrown into a situation of intense in-house rivalry and competition to be in the boss’s good books. Before we go further, here’s an excerpt from the heart-wrenching letter of the grieving mother.

‘…Anna confided in us about the overwhelming workload, especially the additional tasks assigned verbally, beyond the official work. I would tell her not to take on such tasks, but the managers were relentless. She worked late into the night, even on weekends, with no opportunity to catch her breath. Her assistant manager once called her at night with a task that needed to be completed by the next morning, leaving her with barely any time to rest or recover. When she voiced her concerns, she was met with the dismissive response, “You can work at night; that’s what we all do.”

Anna would return to her room utterly exhausted, sometimes collapsing on the bed without even changing her clothes, only to be bombarded with messages asking for more reports. She was putting in her best efforts, working very hard to meet the deadlines. She was a fighter to the core, not someone to give up easily. We told her to quit, but she wanted to learn and gain new exposure. However, the overwhelming pressure proved too much even for her. 

Anna would never have blamed her managers. She was too kind for that. But I cannot remain silent. Burdening newcomers with such backbreaking work, making them work day and night, even on Sundays, has no justification whatsoever. She had just left her hometown and loved ones. Everything was new to her—the organization, the place, the language—and she was trying very hard to adjust. You should show some consideration to new employees. Instead, the management took full advantage of the fact that she was new and overwhelmed her with both assigned and unassigned work.

This is a systemic issue that goes beyond individual managers or teams. The relentless demands and the pressure to meet unrealistic expectations are not sustainable, and they cost us the life of a young woman with so much potential…’

The letter should say it all. It is a cautionary note to the parents of children in the slave market or getting ready to enter it, and friends and colleagues in a similar environment. A good salary package could be throwing their loved ones into a pernicious situation. They might emerge from it mentally and physically wrecked. Also, it is a message to the corporates.

No one from the company, adds the letter, attended Anna’s funeral. Anita reached out to the managers but no one responded. This is a shocking reflection of the sheer dehumanisation of the corporate culture.

What was the company’s HR doing? Aren’t they supposed to take care of the employees and look after their well-being? Truth be told, HR is the biggest hoax invented by the corporate sector. Its sole aim, besides sending happy birthday messages, conducting silly in-house competitions and performing clerical work, is to be the management’s subtle instrument for coercion of employees and put them in the obedient mode. They are there to protect the bosses and cover up their misdeeds.

It’s obvious from the letter that everyone knew about the work ethics of this particular manager. It was known that a lot of employees resigned because of the excessive workload under him. What was the HR doing about it? Did they even think about informing anybody who matters in the organisation about it? What about no one attending the girl’s funeral?

This is a subject with many dimensions. We shall come to the workings of the modern form of slavery in subsequent articles. Meanwhile, will the venerable Mr Narayana Murthy utter a few words about our toxic corporate work culture? Employees are also required for nation-building.

(By Arrangements With Perspective Bytes)