Young professionals in urban India are losing sleep over work. Their lives revolve around meeting 'targets' and 'deadlines'. Recently, a 26-year-old chartered accountant working at Ernst & Young died due to an overwhelming workload. In 2022, 11,486 employees working in private companies had committed suicide due to excessive work-related stress.

These days, ambitious and hardworking young individuals enter the workforce hoping to achieve success. However, what they may not anticipate is the demanding nature of their jobs. Expected to thrive in high-pressure environments, employees are unaware that dedication and hard work can, at times, cause tragic outcomes.

Moreover, young professionals are often juggling multiple responsibilities, from demanding workloads to maintaining personal relationships, all the while striving to achieve financial stability. Constant exposure to social media and societal expectations amplify this pressure, leading to feelings of inadequacy, burnout as well as chronic stress. The lack of work-life balance further exacerbates these feelings.

Employees working in private companies, especially those in competitive industries, are perceived to be dispensable. This perception often forces employees to work relentlessly, often beyond fixed working hours. In many private companies, there is intense competition for promotions, bonuses, and job security. Employees are made to feel that they must go beyond their capacity so as not to be replaced by someone else.

The rise of digital connectivity and remote work has also blurred the boundaries between personal and professional lives. Many employees in corporate firms are expected to be available even after stipulated work hours. Driven by profit and performance, companies have also been known to force employees to take on increasing workloads. The fear of lay-offs, downsizing, or restructuring makes employees work harder, often sacrificing their personal time, health, and well-being to maintain their professional positions.

Such unrelenting stress has severe consequences for mental health. Anxiety and depression are becoming alarmingly common among urban youth. Worse, many young people are reluctant to seek help, either due to the stigma surrounding mental health or because they feel that they must maintain a facade of success. The isolation and the exhaustion that come with such stress often lead to individuals feeling trapped in a vicious cycle, further deepening their emotional distress. Tragically, in some cases, the culmination of this stress is suicide.

This culture that glorifies overwork must be called out. There is an urgent need to create an employee-friendly work environment in which workers feel comfortable speaking up about their mental health issues. Private companies, including MNCs, should make their employees feel valued and ensure that their hard work is recognised. Given the competitive environment, it is crucial to make employees feel that they matter in the broader scheme of things and dispel the perception that they are a mere cog in the company’s wheels. India must begin a serious discussion on the pitfalls of overwork so as to save young, promising lives.