When Culture went to the grave!

I am upset, puzzled, and annoyed over the passing of Anna, allegedly due to overwork!

I have never understood this concept of overworking employees. Someone rightly said in a post that this is probably due to abundant availability of talent, and there is a fear of losing their job to someone else, and therefore they would go with the flow. In my mind, that is exactly why no one should be over worked as there is availability of resources, and the company could pay a little less but hire 4 people in place of 3. Will this impact the bottom line, sure it will. So, what!? Is the job of The Board, the Investors, VCs, ?Promoters only to make more profit? I am all for Capitalism, but my question is how much is enough and for whom? EY posted an estimated revenue of c$50B in FY 2023. It is ranked as amongst the best employers by Great Place To Work (I would humbly question how these rankings are obtained, although I have been a part of the committee where the GPTW survey was conducted in a company that I used to be a part of – story for some other time!).

I don’t want to belittle EY (or any of the other Big 4’s but here is a fact – The number of consultants, senior consultants I know personally who quit these companies voluntarily only due to burnout is astonishingly high – to a point where these folks hit a point where their bodies give up – not the mind, their bodies!

EY has a beautiful corporate website where they have put up a modern slavery statement. https://www.ey.com/en_uk/legal-and-privacy/ey-modern-slavery-statement I am sure they practice much of it, but the question remains how does a company this large identify where the gaps are despite having innumerable channels listed on their website for internal employees to use.

In my view, the answer lies in being honest, brutally or kindly honest, however you wish to represent it – Just Honest! I think lot of companies will fail this honesty test, miserably. Here is why.?

The Culture of a Company is defined by the Worst Behaviour the Leader of the Organization is Willing to Tolerate – read it again! Culture is not a convenient veiled portrayal of hidden layers of discomfort. It is not how a company wishes to behave, it is how they interact and behave with each other every day. Here a company could refer to a small business unit, a startup or a large company. Culture percolates undistllled! Unfortunately, this distilled truth is what the world sees or is shown.

Why am I puzzled? If the reports in media are true, how did this young girl’s manager get away with this behaviour for how’ever’ long? Was he/she in it alone or was his/her coterie with him/her in this? Was the HR not aware – Why not? Was this person’s manager not aware – Why not? Was the Senior Management unaware of the pressure on the employees – Why not? Was the Leadership happy just sitting in the reviews and seeing the numbers presented to them – Why? Even tougher question - Why did No One from EY attend her funeral? If this is not admission of guilt, nothing else is. It is unlikely that she had no friends in the time she was there, who may wanted to attend her funeral. Why didn't they - We know the answer. Easy questions to ask, I know, and I am sure the answers lie somewhere in the spectrum of someone’s truth vs the real truth.

In my consulting work, I always request that I be allowed to be a silent observer in the leadership team’s weekly meetings – just once. I observe behaviours and interactions of the leaders before I decide whether it is worthwhile taking up the assignment. The truth is this – If a company doesn’t have leaders who can be respectful, know their facts, speak the truth, and be accepting of each other, then they will collectively fail sooner or later. There is no point trying to turnaround a business that does not have the culture to accept change. Ask any of the top tier consulting firms, and they will squeamishly admit how their recommended Strategy (for which they were paid $millions!) folded and failed – primarily due to lack of leadership’s ability to execute – Not a reflection on their capability but solely based on the inability of the company to absorb the change – Culture!

When I started my firm, the first document I wrote was on how I wanted to shape the culture of the company. The rest followed and will continue to. Nothing tops culture!

I stand firm in my views on how this young life should have had a better work environment, regardless of anything else that followed. RIP Anna Sebastian Perayil May you find your peace!

And yes, those great veterans of the corporate world, (there is no need to name them as we all know who they are!), please think before you talk about how the young need to put in long hours, etc., etc. You are partly responsible for this situation for spewing such a mindless narratives that have no place in the modern world. Would you have allowed your daughter to be subjected to the work conditions that Anna was? Hold your answer and deal with it!

PS: I have a lot of good friends who have been with EY - lovely folks - no disrespect meant to any of you, but this is one of those DJ moments when the truth shall be spoken!