The 42-year-old Tarun Saxena, area manager of Bajaj Finance commits suicide in Jhansi, UP. According to reports, the employee was under severe workplace pressure before his alleged suicidal death. He left behind a five-page suicide note to his wife, Megha, describing the grind and overwhelm.
The note stated how the management imposed on the staff impossible targets, further increasing his stress level. Saxena mentioned loss of salary and risk of losing the job as one of the major stressors. His primary work was collecting EMIs on Bajaj Finance loans in his locality. Though it was his full-time job, he could not achieve the required targets because of several operational issues.
The piling up pressure of failed targets began to take a toll on his mental and physical health. According to his note, Tarun had not been sleeping properly for 45 days. He lost his appetite and was always anxious. He distinctly remembered a 6 AM video conference on the day of his death. In that meeting, his superiors reportedly threatened him with termination.
Saxena and his colleagues reportedly had to compensate for uncollected EMIs. Despite raising concerns with senior management, no relief was provided. As the manager of Bajaj Finance commits suicide, it is clear that the toll from the work pressure was both mental and physical۔
The domestic help found the body of Tarun, after he had locked his family in a different room. He asked them to make sure they get his insurance money. He also told them to file a police complaint against his senior managers. Tarun blamed his superiors for driving him to this decision, as mentioned in his note. This is part of a larger issue of poisonous workplace atmospheres as the case manager of Bajaj Finance commits suicide limelights۔
Manager of Bajaj Finance commits suicide is not the only case of its kind
The latest episode comes in the wake of the recent suicide of 26-year-old chartered accountant Anna Sebastian Perayil. Anna’s death also triggered a debate on workplace stress across the nation and well-being of the employee. Anna Perayil worked with Ernst & Young India. Anna passed away after four months of working with the company.
Anna’s mother, Anita Augustine, wrote an open letter to Rajiv Memani, the chairman of Ernst & Young India. Anita attacked the firm’s culture of glorifying overwork: “The reason for Anna’s fatal illness was working till late nights without adequate rest,” she said. There was not one moment when Anna got time for rest, reportedly. Both these cases reflect the urgent need to address poisonous work cultures.
The case of Saxena clearly highlights the psychological pressures inherent in working environments. Employees are pushed to meet unrealistic corporate targets without support, and it’s a devastating situations۔ The death of Saxena has called for better employee protections and mental health support in workplaces across India.