Timeline changes for night Ernst & Young worker took her own life, mystery four hours emerge
New details have emerged about the final hours of an Ernst & Young employee who died in a suspected suicide at the firm’s Sydney office.
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It’s been revealed that an Ernst & Young employee who died in a suspected suicide at the firm’s Sydney office only returned to the building 20 minutes before her tragic death.
Initial reports suggested the woman attended an EY social function at The Ivy bar and nightclub from 5.30pm on Friday, before returning to the offices at 7.30pm.
Now, initial investigations has revealed she left the EY George St offices at around 7.30pm and returned to the office after midnight, the financial services firm has confirmed to news.com.au.
It’s understood security guards raised the alarm just after midnight, with police called to the office about 12.20am following a concern for welfare report.
The new timeline has raised questions about what happened in the mystery four hours after she was reportedly escorted out of The Ivy for being intoxicated.
The woman’s identity and position have not been revealed, however, police are not investigating the incident as suspicious and believe her death was related to self harm, The Australian reports
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Earlier it emerged that the husband of the EY worker was on a plane when she passed away.
The 33-year-old woman’s partner was on a flight from Singapore to Sydney and only found out about her death after touching down in Australia.
In a statement shared with news.com.au, the CEO of EY and the Regional Managing Partner David Larocca said the firm is “deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic events of the weekend”.
“We are assisting the police with their ongoing investigation, which has confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances,” said Mr Larocca.
“Our hearts go out the family and we have been in contact to offer our support and condolences.”
A “comprehensive and wide-ranging internal review encompassing health and safety, security, social events” has also been initiated, and counselling has been offered to all staff and team members.
In the aftermath of the death, posts on online forums have highlighted the “high pressure and workaholic culture” at Big 4 financial services firms. In addition to EY, they include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and KPMG.
“Had a lot of late nights and weekends so can definitely see what she may be experiencing. Took six months leave to mentally reset myself. Ultimately quit after that,” wrote one Reddit user, who claimed to be a former employee at a Big 4 firm.
“Working for B4 (Big 4) can often feel like working in a sweat shop. They don’t care about your wellbeing. They just care about output, output, output,” another comment read.
News.com.au is not suggesting the work culture at EY contributed to the employee’s death.
Originally published as Timeline changes for night Ernst & Young worker took her own life, mystery four hours emerge