‘Life is pretty cruel’: concerns in India about high-pressure corporate jobs

For the average Indian, the working week is now longer than ever – almost 47 hours in total.

According to recent labor data, India now has one of the most overworked workforces in the world, with longer working hours than in China, Singapore and even Japan, a country known for its brutal work culture. On average, Indians work 13 hours longer every week than a worker in Germany.

Nearly 90% of people working in India are employed in the informal sector, which is largely unregulated and exploitative. However, concerns are also beginning to arise about the working conditions of those in formal jobs, especially those in India’s corporate sector, where working practices have remained largely unchanged in recent decades and critics say the pursuit of profit still comes first.

In July, Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old chartered accountant at the Indian office of accounting giant Ernst and Young, died four months after joining. In a letter written in the aftermath, her mother said the “overwhelming” high-pressure work environment had taken a heavy toll on Perayil and ultimately led to her death.

“She worked late into the night, even on weekends, without a chance to catch her breath,” said her mother’s letter, which went viral across India. “The relentless demands and pressure to meet unrealistic expectations are not sustainable and cost us the life of a young woman with so much potential.” She also noted that no one from the company had attended her daughter’s funeral.

A former Ernst and Young employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his job, said the toxic culture alleged by Peyaril’s mother was standard practice at the company and came from the very top.

“Life is pretty brutal and everyone is overloaded,” he said, describing the norm as working 12- or 13-hour days, finishing around 10 p.m., and regularly working both days on weekends.

The belittling and demotion of staff was commonplace, he added, with employees being viewed as resources rather than human beings. “There is an extreme hierarchy,” he said. “Senior managers were known to terrorize junior staff to keep everyone on their toes at all times. They shouted and threw files around, and people were often moved to tears.”

One issue he highlighted was how competitive and sought-after positions were at these companies in India. A growing number of young Indians are now going to universities and gaining qualifications in accounting, yet the number of corporate jobs has not risen to meet demand and only 40% of graduates are employed. There are often tens of thousands of applicants for a single position, with global companies such as Ernst and Young seen as particularly ambitious.

“There are no incentives for big companies to change their practices because executives know that if one person doesn’t do it or gives up, there are thousands of other people who will take their place,” he said. “The only focus is on productivity and long working hours, without attention to the well-being of the employees. It’s hard to see that changing anytime soon.”

In the aftermath, Ernst & Young head Rajiv Memani released a statement saying the high-pressure allegations were “completely alien to our culture” and saying he “attached the utmost importance to the well-being of our people” .

In further comments to the Guardian, Ernst and Young said they were “deeply saddened” by Peyaril’s death. “We take the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We attach the utmost importance to the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve this,” they said in a statement.

However, many have pointed out that excessive demands were not just the preserve of India’s big accounting firms. Narayana Murthy, one of the founders of India’s largest IT company Infosys, suggested last year that Indians should be willing to work 70 hours a week to ensure the country’s growth.

Ravneet, who previously worked at an IT company, described a similarly toxic work environment in which employees were not allowed to talk or socialize in the workplace, all their breaks were closely monitored and their wages were arbitrarily fixed.

“Everything we did was so heavily controlled,” he said. “They knew they could exploit people because everyone is desperate and waiting years for these kinds of jobs. They can’t afford to lose them, so they don’t complain even when we know we’re being exploited or labor laws are being broken.”

Ravneet said working there had taken a major toll on his mental health before he was fired one day, without any reason given.

Workers in other industries, from media to entertainment, said the problem was endemic there too. Sara, who has worked in corporate events for more than a decade, said it had become completely normalized to work 16 hours a day and be assigned tasks at 11pm on Sunday evenings, and she had to get them done first thing on Monday morning.

“These companies actually encourage horrific office politics because they think it’s good for business if employees feel insecure and threatened in their jobs so they will work harder,” she said.

She eventually turned to freelancing to free herself from the toxic corporate culture of the office where she worked. “You barely have time to eat or sleep properly and you end up completely losing track of yourself,” she said. “Of course it takes a huge toll, but no one seems to care.”