Mother’s heartwrenching speech at EY employee’s funeral: ‘All your friends are here’ | Trending

Anna Sebastian Perayil, the young Ernst & Young employee who died two months ago and whose mother’s letter to the Big Four accounting firm’s India boss has sparked a conversation on overwork and toxicity at the workplace, believed in the power of affirmation as she prepared to be a chartered accountant (CA). Anna Sebastian Perayil, cleared her CA exams in 2023 and worked at EY Pune office for four months. While preparing for the tough exams, Anna had envisioned her CA graduation day, imagining her standing with her proud parents her side and wearing the graduation cap. Her mother, Anita Augustine, said Anna had drawn this very picture and looked at it every day. “When she was studying, she had drawn a picture of Appa, Amma and herself with her wearing a graduation cap. She looked at that photo every single day before she sat down to study,” Anita Augustine had said in a heartbreaking speech at her daughter’s funeral service in July. ‘My child, you don’t have to wander anymore’The grieving mother, standing Anna’s casket, broke down as she bid a final goode during the funeral service in Kochi, where the family lives. “I have two things to tell you. My child, you have been wandering for so many days. I promise you, all your friends are here today, right from LKG, all your friends who love you are here. Your dear cousins, uncles and aunts are here,” said Ann Augustine, who was surrounded her son, husband and a large number of grieving relatives and friends. “My child, you don’t have to wander anymore. You’ve achieved all your dreams. You got a job at a top company. There, you did auditing well. You did every single task so beautifully. Your friends told me not to cry and that I should be proud to get a daughter like you. They said they all wanted to be like Anna,” the mother said, looking at Anna. No one from Ernst & Young attended her funeral, Anna’s mother said in her heartbreaking letter to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani. According to the letter that started circulating online this week, she was overworked with a “backbreaking” load as a new employee that affected her “physically, emotionally, and mentally”. Anna Sebastian Perayil, who cleared her CA exams in 2023 and worked at Ernst & Young in Pune office for four months, was also a school and college topper, her mother said. (Also Read: EY Pune employee, 26, died due to work stress. No one from company attended her funeral) ‘As a father…’: EY India chairman on employee’s deathAmid the nationwide grief and anger over Anna’s death, Memani took to LinkedIn on Thursday to express regret at not attending the employee’s funeral. Memani said he was “deeply saddened” the death and as a father, can only imagine the grief of the family. “I have conveyed my deepest condolences to the family, although nothing can fill the void in their lives,” he wrote. “I truly regret the fact that we missed being present at Anna’s funeral. This is completely alien to our culture. It has never happened before; it will never happen again.” Centre steps inThe government has stepped in to say that it will investigate the work environment at EY following the outrage over Anna Sebastian’s death. (Also Read: Ex-EY employee shares workplace horror stories: ‘Asked to work 18 hours a day, got calls at midnight’)