In response to a social media uproar following the tragic death of a young employee at EY, reportedly linked to work pressure, one of the big 4, Deloitte has established a three-member external committee to review its employee practices, policies, and processes. The committee includes former revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj, as announced by Deloitte's South Asia CEO, Romal Shetty, on Friday.
Shetty stressed that to address work pressure and foster an open work culture, Deloitte has appointed a chief happiness officer and enforces strict measures against any inappropriate behaviour within the organisation. Deloitte is one of the four leading global tax consultancy firms, alongside EY, PwC, and KPMG.
"... Very unfortunate, very tragic, young child losing her life. We are in the client service business and in the client service business there will always be deadlines... having all of those pressures," Shetty told PTI.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, who passed her CA exam in 2023 and worked at EY's Pune office for four months, tragically passed away in July. In a letter to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani, her mother described her daughter's experience as being overwhelmed by a "backbreaking" workload, which took a toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Shetty refuted claims of a bullying culture in organisations with long-standing histories of 100 to 150 years but acknowledged that individual transgressions could occur.
"... Bullying culture is not normally the way professional organisations are. But are there individuals who do certain things? Yes, absolutely... So first, I think, as an organisation, you need to have an open culture that nobody should be scared to bring up those issues,” he said.
Shetty also announced that Deloitte has made a panel of three distinguished independent members in response to the tragic loss of 26-year-old Anna Sebastian Perayil at EY.
"We have instituted a panel post this.. Tarun Bajaj who used to be the Revenue Secretary, Manoj Kohli who used to be the CEO of Airtel, Subodh Jaiswal who used to be the CBI Director to relook at all our people practices, our policies, processes. How are ethics cases... We have an ethics helpline. How do they get actually managed? What are our mechanisms in place to do it?," Shetty added.
He emphasised that in today’s diverse workforce, it’s essential to reassess the work environment to better manage stress. Mental health is a significant concern, and addressing it is challenging, he noted.
Shetty pointed out that many young professionals entering the workforce today come from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, often leaving their families behind. They may be facing personal stress in addition to the pressures of working in a client service business with strict deadlines. "The younger generation is far smarter than I ever was, far more intelligent, far more smarter. Sometimes, I think a little bit more resilience will be useful," Shetty said.
As CEO, Shetty visits every office and holds open forums where employees can ask any questions they may have.
"The concept is, if you can ask your CEO any question, including, little bit embarrassing one as well, then you can actually walk up to a senior person and say, I don't enjoy this... Can we also have an environment to ensure that people are comfortable with what they do, because sometimes you spend 14 hours in the workplace," Shetty said.