In the recent episode of glorified hustle culture with reputed firms, we witnessed a worthy employee lose against the former. Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old CA, lost her life just four months into working at her dream firm, Ernst & Young (EY). A letter from her mother, Anita Sebastian, to EY’s chairman, Rajiv Memani, confirms how “the workload, new environment, and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally, and mentally.” EY employee Anna Sebastian’s death case proves to be a wake-up call for other big corporations.

Do you remember the third year of your college or the last year of your master’s as a commerce student? “Ek baar Big 4 mein placement lag gayyi toh life set hai” has always been a preachy statement, right? But little do we know about the big scam hidden in the Big 4 firms. So, we plumbed the depths of Reddit and found out how many, like Anna Sebastian, have faced toxic work culture in the name of hard work and growth. Here are some personal experiences of Redditors with the brutal Big 4 companies.

1. Underpaid-overworked

PuzzleHeaded-Ad-7849 joined Deloitte right out of college as an auditor, which soon turned into a full-time position where they were overworked with no pay for overtime. They add, “When I log off at 11 p.m. every night after a full day of work and I still haven’t accomplished everything I needed to for the day, I feel so frustrated and angry.”

2. Rules on paper

Redditor PreviousAd7699, working at Deloitte Southeast Asia, shared how the firm’s global policy encourages everyone to have a work-from-home policy. However, it is barely practised, as one of their partners mentioned, “Visibility in the office means more bonuses for you,” reflecting the irony of the firm.

3. Devil in disguise

The Redditor Impossible_Tiger_318 shares how the PwC firm lies about its greatness. The user reveals the termination strategy of the company as they write, “PwC doesn’t do layoffs; they do performance-based terminations.” This keeps the firm’s reputation intact so the managers can deceive future candidates by saying, “PwC hasn’t done layoffs since 2008.”

4. Worried family

A caring wife who goes by the Reddit username Wonderful_Trip3372 has shared her worries for her stressed-out husband working at KPMG. She tells how he faces constant anxiety due to work deadlines and the environment. She further says, “There are days he is required to work on weekends also!! After all the work he puts in, he still gets negative and demotivating feedback!!”

5. A year of burnout

Meekrobb, who worked as an associate at PwC Orlando, recounts his terrible experience, as he had to work for more than 55 hours in the busy season, which didn’t seem to end. They were working all night, which affected their physical health. Their manager rejected the vacation plea even when they were “in excruciating pain and potentially needed to go to the ER or urgent care.”

6. More like puppets

Visible_Scientist810 shared that they were assigned work that was opposite to their profile. The Redditor says, “People are travelling 10-12 hours every week to the office for no reason.” They further reveal that “they’ve built the office in such a part of the city that most of them have to travel 4-5 hours to reach.” This makes the employees utterly exhausted to work for the day.

7. Resigned for good

Redditor According-Sea6960 shared that they resigned from EY before their promotion to the managerial position. They said, “We were sitting at 6:30 in the evening, leaving me no choice but to work without sleeping till 7:00 the next morning.” Their manager wouldn’t increase the workforce and burden them with tasks even on sick leave days.

8. Fired for nothing

Nomad_Henry shared that they got fired after working for two years at Deloitte. The firm didn’t support them even when they worked hard to meet the team’s expectations. Furthermore, they stated how the toxicity shifted to “the PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) meetings; Deloitte tried everything to make me quit, not assign me work, etc.” and ultimately fired them.

EY employee Anna Sebastian’s death case and these narratives reveal the horrors of joining reputed companies. They sell an experience that is worse than potholes in reality.

Featured Image Source

Related: Why Do People Quit Jobs? Redditors Share Their Stories