Lucknow woman working for HDFC dies after falling off office chair; colleagues allege work stress

Around 62% of Indian employees experience burnout, triple the global average of 20 per cent, due to work-related stress and poor work-life balance, as per a July report by digital healthcare platform MediBuddy and CII.

Lucknow: Close on the heels of the death of a 26-year-old EY employee allegedly owing to work pressure in Pune, a senior lady official of HDFC Bank died at her work place here on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances.

While the police said that the cause of death could be clear only after the post-mortem examination, her colleagues blamed ‘’work pressure’’ for her death.

According to the sources, the employee, identified as 45-year old Sadaf Fatima, who worked as assistant vice-president at the HDFC Bank, fell off her chair at the cafeteria on the second floor of the building where she had gone with her other colleagues for lunch.

Sadaf was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival by the doctors.

Sources quoting one of her relatives said that Sadaf had joined her duties after three days of sick leave.

Sources said that she suffered from hypertension and that she had been taken for treatment at a hospital when she had fallen sick three days back. She was discharged after a check-up.

Police officials said that the cause of death could only be ascertained after the autopsy. Some reports quoting her colleagues claimed that Sadaf was under ‘’work stress’’.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Ydaav expressed serious concern over what he termed ‘’rising work pressure’’ on the employees and said that all the companies and the government would have to think seriously on it.

‘’Such reports are indicative of the pressure of the present economy,’’ he added.