‘Made to stand with hands up, clean fridges’: Bengaluru chef recalls stint with luxury hotel

The tragic death of a 26-year-old EY India employee, reportedly due to work-related stress, has sparked a nationwide debate among Indian workers about toxic workplace environments.

Professionals from different backgrounds have come out in the open to share their stories of excessive overtime, abusive company cultures and the glorification of burnout. Continuing the trend, a Bengaluru-based chef and nutrition coach, Nayantara Menon Bagla, has now recalled her experience of working at a luxury hotel.

Bagla has shared details about having 18-20 hour shifts, being denied time off for personal emergencies, “seniors exploiting younger staff, constant sexual innuendos” and an environment prevalent with abuse.

‘Welcome to hell’

“When I was being inducted into a luxury hotel, the programme director told us, ‘Welcome to hell’,” Bagla told The Nod magazine. Initially thought of as a joke, the phrase quickly turned into a reality for her and others working at the hotel

She admitted that kitchens and restaurants were “high-pressure environments”, but she said it went up to the point of “covering up suicides or mass bullying.” She revealed that mental health didn’t even figure in their discussion.

Bagla also disclosed how the hotel normalised overtime and reinforced outdated gender norms. “I was asked to lose weight,” she said, adding women were expected to be “subservient in the kitchen.” She also shared how they were punished for reporting late to work. Their punishments included having to stand outside with hands raised for hours and cleaning “every refrigerator in the hotel with bare hands”, she said.

Toxic work culture

Following Anna Sebastian's death at EY India, former and current employees of the global consulting firm have spoken out about the toxic culture at the company. The husband of a former EY employee disclosed that 18-hour workdays were not unusual and explained how his wife left her job due to its “toxic work culture."

Responding to the outrage, EY India Chairman Rajiv Memani expressed condolences to Anna's family and said that her death was “alien” to EY's work culture and that he “would not rest” until the issue was addressed. Memani also said that, as a father, he deeply empathised with the grief felt by her family, vowing to ensure a “harmonious work environment” at the firm.