HYDERABAD: Working for an MNC in the IT sector may be the aspiration for lakhs of youth looking for financial stability and good standards of living -- often associated with IT jobs. However, with at least 18 cases of suicides reported in the last one year -- the most recent one being that of a 25-year-old IT employee from Accenture -- there seems to a dark underbelly to the glorious IT-dream.

Of the 18 suicides of IT employees reported from January 2018 to date, 11 victims were women while remaining 7 were men. Also, a majority of them took the extreme step due to personal reasons like marital disputes or depression.

For women workers, who seem to be more susceptible to taking their lives, the reasons were mainly found to be personal and related to health or marital situations. For instance, a case from Chandanagar in May last year, was of a 28-year-old techie from a reputed MNC who hung herself from a fan following repeated quarrels with her husband, who was also her colleague. A month later, in June another woman jumped to death off of a building after a prolonged fight with depression. In the same month, another lady chose death over her failing marital relationship.

“One commonality we have observed is that women are still unable to choose their life partners when it comes to marriage. Such situations add the additional pressure of conforming to traditional roles apart from their mounting work stress,” noted Vishnupriya Saksena, leader of the Women’s Forum at Cyberabad Security Council and vice president at an MNC. Experts also note that the young professionals are unable to cope with their new-found financial independence. “Women are increasingly becoming financially independent however our society isn’t moving at the same pace,” said Saksena while adding that IT professionals are now lonelier than ever before.

Meanwhile, counsellors working with MNCs, agree. “The erratic work timings, especially night shifts, take a toll on their personal lives, leaving them with no time for a conversation with their family or even spouses. This directly leads to ever increasing misunderstandings,” noted Dr Kalpana G Sringar, clinical psychologist and sex therapist.

She also noted that an increasing number of couples are facing infertility issues. In one of the suicide cases from previous year, the victim was merely 32 years of age when she took her life after failing to conceive after six years of marriage.

Finding creative solutions to ward off stress

Infertility is another major issue that is troubling thousands of married couples working in the IT sector. “Not all of them have medical issues but are just too stressed while in the competitive set up. For them we have started using art-based music therapy, counselling sessions to prepare and equip them for their personal lives,” noted Dr Kalpana G Sringar, clinical psychologist and sex therapist.