The recent tragic demise of Anna Sebastian Perayil at the age of 26 while working as a chartered accountant at the Ernst & Young also known as EY India has received comments and posts on social media about the insane working of top consulting companies. After barely four months of joining EY in March, Perayil died, and, in the wake of her tragedy, her mother wrote a letter to the head of EY India, in which she accused the company of workload-related killing of her daughter.

A trend is seen where professionals of India especially the corporate world has come forward and shared their incidents and show sympathy for the family of Perayil. There has been a trending conversation using the #BigFourCulture where people have posted issues of extremely increased working hours, unattainable demands, and toll on one’s health given the current working conditions.

Many commenters have observed in their remarks that this is not an isolated case but a reflection of a system gone wrong within this industry. Dozens of current and sacked employees of several consulting companies described having to dedicate up to 100 hours a week to their job, being under constant pressure to deliver the work on time, and having to meet their clients’ needs at the cost of their health.

The debate has also brought issues to do with balance between work and other aspects of life and aspects of mental well-being of people in a competitive corporate world. There are even advisory opinions from human resources specialists as well as the medical profession circles on the need for generating a positive corporate organizational culture that will respect and care for employees as much as it demands its bottom-line output of products and/or services.

In that regard, to counter abhorrent comments, EY India has released an official message of condolence to Perayil’s family and noted that the company is investigating the circumstances of the death internally. The company has equally pledged its willingness to act on employee well-being and engage in a policy-and-practice audit.

Interest in the event has been shared by labor rights advocates and governmental authorities, who argue about the necessity of increasing the strictness of working hours’ legislation, obligatory provision of mental healthcare in the course of business. Several leaders of some big businesses have also chimed in and plenty of them have stated that there is a need for change in the working environment of the industry and have also agreed promising to reevaluate their corporations.

In the subsequent plot of the play, social networks continue to posts comments and topics about work-life balance, corporate greed, and the life consequences of the never-ending chase after career success. Some people expect that after this tragedy, radical changes in corporate practices for humanizing and making work more sustainable will happen.

The people came forward to support Perayil’s family and the spread various experiences to prove that social networking sites can mobilize people and address social problems. It has enabled a platform for people to express how they feel and what they have gone through, and even make large corporations and public opinion change.

As the conversation progresses even further, a very critical aspect is realized where this great ordeal is not just an internal EY India affair. It has raised concern on the global professional realm stimulating the demand for reflection and change among the self employed and organizations. It is possible that the memory of Anna Sebastian Perayil would lead to changes in the ideas of the welfare of the employees and what is success in the business world.