Work may be worship but it should not entail martyring oneself at the altar of corporate culture. The death of a young employee from Ernst & Young in Pune due to complications arising from extreme work exhaustion has brought to light the ugly underbelly of India Inc. The tragedy at EY is not inconceivable. Reports have long underlined just how overworked, underpaid and poorly-rested workers are in India. With an average of 48-50 working hours every week, India is seventh on the list of countries that work the most globally, according to the International Labour Organization. Women, as usual, bear a heavier burden for having to go the extra mile to try to prove themselves. Young Indian women professionals slog for more than 55 hours a week at work and 40.6 hours at home and are left with only about 7-10 hours a day to rest, states a recent study. Yet, those at the top of the corporate hierarchy remain unmoved. EY gave a poor, unempathetic account of itself during and after the events that led to the employee’s demise. The Infosys co-founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy, had stoked controversy last year by advocating for 70-hour work weeks. That such harsh labour conditions foster an environment ripe for burnout, eroding not only employees’ mental health but also company productivity, is borne out by data: a joint report by the Confederation of Indian Industries and MediBuddy found that a remarkable 62% of Indian employees experience work-related stress and burnout, which is triple the global average of 20%.

The shockingly high unemployment in India — the State of Working India 2023 revealed that over 40% of graduates under the age of 25 in India are unemployed — creates an atmosphere of intense competition for a limited number of employment opportunities. The resultant anxiety and stress are bound to increase with the automation of the workforce. Even though laws exist to ensure employee welfare, these are either openly flouted or rarely implemented. The EY office in Pune, for instance, was allegedly functioning since 2007 without a license under the Shops Act, which stipulates employees’ working hours. But the challenges to a healthy work environment are not merely institutional or macroeconomic. They lie equally in the glorification of a ‘hustle culture’ in which relentless work, long hours, and the lack of work-life balance are seen as markers of success. The current debate on the collective emphasis on overwork is a warning bell corporate India must heed.