Toxic Corporate Jobs in India: The Human Cost of High Pressure

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Burnout, attrition and mental health crises rise across Big Four firms as India Inc. grapples with “glorified overwork”

By Pradeep Kumar Panda

Bhubaneswar, April 24, 2026 — Corporate jobs in India are facing a mental health crisis, characterized by intense, long working hours and high-pressure environments. With nearly 90% of Indian employees experiencing work-related stress and over 40% feeling consistently sad, the corporate culture is increasingly recognized as toxic.

India’s professional services sector, dominated by the “Big Four” accounting and consulting firms—Ernst & Young (EY), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, and Deloitte—has experienced rapid growth amid the country’s economic expansion. However, this growth has been accompanied by reports of intense work pressures, high attrition, burnout, mental health challenges, and, in tragic cases, suicides or stress-related deaths. The 2024 death of 26-year-old EY employee Anna Sebastian Perayil in Pune, just four months into her role, brought national attention to these issues, with her mother attributing it to overwhelming workloads, long hours, and a culture that “glorifies overwork.”

While overall corporate attrition in India has moderated (declining to around 16.4–17.4% in 2024–2025), professional services often exceed this, driven by voluntary exits linked to unsustainable demands.

The Big Four firms employ tens of thousands in India, serving as gateways for chartered accountants (CAs), consultants, and auditors. They offer prestigious credentials, competitive entry-level pay, and global exposure. Yet, entry often leads to a “grind” characterized by billable-hour targets, client deadlines, unpredictable workloads, and hierarchical management styles where juniors are treated as “resources” rather than individuals.

Critics describe a culture of 12–18-hour days (especially during audit or busy seasons), weekend work, and limited work-life balance. Former employees report being available 24/7, facing bullying from managers, and receiving minimal onboarding or support for new joiners. These conditions exacerbate physical and mental strain in a country where long working hours are already normalized—India ranks among the highest globally for extended work time.

Attrition Rates: A Symptom of Unsustainability

Attrition data for India Inc. shows a gradual decline: from 21.2% in 2022 to 18.3% in 2023, 17.5% in 2024, and 16.4% in 2025, with over 80% voluntary. Professional services recorded 21.3% attrition in recent EY reports, higher than the national average but lower than financial services (24%).

Specific Big Four figures are less publicly granular, but sector trends and campus hiring data indicate challenges:

Deloitte India reported campus attrition (1–2 years) at 21–28% for top-tier institutions, higher for MBAs, signaling early disillusionment.
Broader surveys (e.g., Deloitte Talent Outlook) place average India Inc. attrition at 17.4% in 2024, with IT/ITeS and professional services seeing notable churn despite some moderation.

High voluntary attrition reflects opportunity-seeking in a competitive talent market, but underlying drivers include burnout and poor culture. Low attrition in some periods has paradoxically led to “right-sizing” layoffs (e.g., KPMG globally citing low turnover creating oversupply). In India, GCCs in certain hubs report 30–40% attrition, highlighting mobility pressures.

Junior and mid-level staff, particularly fresh CAs and analysts, exit after 1–3 years for better balance or higher pay elsewhere, incurring high recruitment and training costs for firms.

Trauma, Burnout, and Mental Health Crisis

Employees frequently describe chronic stress from unrealistic deadlines, “backbreaking” workloads for newcomers, and a lack of empathy. Reports include:

14–20-hour shifts, with some ex-Deloitte staff claiming work until 5 AM and minimal rest.
Managers ignoring health issues or injuries while piling on tasks.
A “bullying” or “iron man” culture where vulnerability is stigmatized, and staff are reduced to employee IDs.

Surveys indicate high burnout: 71% of Big Four auditors worry about mental health due to work pressures, with many considering resignation. Broader Indian workforce data shows 4 in 10 experiencing high burnout, anxiety, or depression, with professional services particularly affected.

Big Four initiatives (e.g., mandatory mental health leaves at Deloitte, counseling helplines, wellness dashboards tracking time off) emerged or intensified post-2024 scrutiny, but skeptics view them as reactive rather than transformative.

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Suicide and Stress-Related Deaths: Tragic Extremes

The most alarming manifestations are suicides and sudden deaths linked to stress:

Anna Sebastian Perayil (EY, 2024): Died at 26 in Pune after four months. Her mother cited exhaustion from long hours, new environment, and overwhelming assignments (including unassigned work). The case prompted a Union Labour Ministry probe into EY’s Pune office, which reportedly lacked proper work-hour permits since 2007. EY denied excessive pressure but faced backlash for its initial response. No EY representative attended the funeral, per family accounts.
Other reported incidents include deaths or suicides at Big Four firms (or affiliates) in India and abroad, with employees or families citing overwork. Examples span years, including cases at Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG, though details are often anecdotal or under-reported due to stigma and privacy.
Broader patterns: Social media and forums reveal accounts of anxiety, PTSD-like symptoms, collapses at work, and suicides where notes mentioned pending tasks or manager pressure. International Big Four cases (e.g., Australia) echo similar overwork cultures.

These are not isolated; they reflect systemic issues where “utilization” metrics prioritize billing over well-being. India’s Labour Ministry investigations and firm-level reviews (e.g., Deloitte forming an external panel) highlight the need for accountability.

Structural Causes: Why the Toxicity Persists

Business Model: Partner-driven, with heavy reliance on junior staff for high-volume audit/consulting. Billable hours and utilization targets create perverse incentives.
Hierarchical Culture: Top-down pressure cascades; juniors fear speaking up due to promotion dependencies.
Indian Context: Intense competition for jobs, familial expectations for “prestigious” roles, and weak enforcement of labour laws on hours/rest exacerbate vulnerabilities. Many young professionals relocate (e.g., to Pune or metros), facing isolation.
Post-Pandemic Shifts: Remote/hybrid blurred boundaries, while economic pressures sustained high demands.

Global comparisons show Big Four challenges elsewhere, but India’s scale and cultural normalization of overwork amplify them.

Firm Responses and Reforms

Post-Anna’s death, all Big Four reportedly enhanced policies:

Mandatory time off, burnout tracking, and manager training.
Expanded counselling and peer support.
Reviews of people practices.

However, critics argue these are insufficient without reducing core workloads, rethinking utilization metrics, or enforcing stricter limits on hours. Some firms emphasize “well-being as a goal,” but sustained cultural change requires leadership accountability and transparent metrics.

Broader Implications and Recommendations

Toxic jobs in the Big Four symbolize wider issues in India’s corporate sector: glorification of hustle at the expense of health, contributing to talent loss, reduced productivity, and societal costs (e.g., mental health burden estimated in billions). High attrition undermines knowledge continuity, while trauma affects families and communities.

Recommendations:

Regulatory: Strengthen enforcement of working-hour laws, mandatory wellness audits, and protections for whistleblowers.
Firm-Level: Cap utilization targets, invest in robust onboarding/mentoring, tie promotions to people-management metrics (not just revenue), and conduct independent culture audits.
Individual/Policy: Promote mental health literacy, encourage union-like advocacy in white-collar spaces, and diversify career narratives beyond “Big Four prestige.”
Research: More longitudinal studies on long-term health impacts and comparative attrition drivers.

Corporate Jobs in India offer unparalleled professional opportunities but often at a steep human cost. Cases like Anna Sebastian Perayil’s underscore that productivity cannot be sustainably extracted through exhaustion and trauma. Attrition data reveals employee agency in exiting toxic environments, yet persistent high churn and tragic incidents demand urgent reform. True success for these firms—and corporate India—lies not in billable hours or growth metrics alone, but in fostering environments where employees thrive without sacrificing their health or lives. As voluntary exits remain dominant, the market may eventually force change; ethical and regulatory pressure can accelerate it. Sustainable corporate performance requires humane workplaces.

(This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author’s own.)