21/09/2024
Anna Sebastian Perayil, a young chartered accountant from Kerala, tragically passed away just four months into her employment at an MNC. Her grieving family attributes her untimely death to overwhelming work stress and a lack of support from management and senior colleagues.
As a practising consultant org. psychologist, It’s disheartening to see so many opinions flooding in social media, often without a clear understanding of the complexity of the incident. There are three distinct dimensions to consider here.
First, in high-paying jobs, work pressure is inevitable. There is an individual angle to it !!!! The question is whether, as individuals, we are prepared to handle it, or if we feel, we cannot handle it, it's time to take a break for our own well-being. That's an individual decision. Taking a break is a powerful tool of resilience which we should realize which Anna did not do !!!!
Second, if a colleague is visibly struggling, the dilemma is whether we should step in and offer support. That’s a decision that rests on us as peers. The need of psychological first aid by colleagues. I am not sure whether anyone played this role of timely intervention !!!
Third, it’s the management’s responsibility to establish confidential platforms "HR Safe Zones" where employees can safely express their struggles without fear of stigma. Every employee can confidentially express their concerns without worrying about the toxic boss, heavy work load, demanding client along with other nagging surroundings. Company says, they have such platforms but the effectiveness of the same is a big cause of concern !!!
If none of these avenues function effectively, incidents like this one are tragically inevitable.
Anna’s life should not have been the price we paid for this wake-up call. Mental health cannot be treated as a fleeting concern, celebrated for a week in social media and then forgotten. As Anna’s father poignantly stated, "The letter was leaked from her employer office, which means there are many others suffering similarly in the company who wanted this letter to be seen by the public."
The first step toward real prevention of these types of incidents is raising awareness and creating sustained efforts for mental health support—both at individual and organizational levels. Lets hope it will be done !!!!