Have you heard about Singapore blogger May Leong? I received an email this morning that gave me chills and goosebumps as I read about her story. Friends and family believed that the 29 year old passed away in April due to a demanding workload at HP - her former employer. According to her mother, May had been working on her laptop for 8 hours straight, the day she died.

Who is May Leong? She is an only child in a single-parent family and had a simple dream to take her mom abroad for holidays. Hence, she didn’t mind working extremely hard at HP for a mere S$2,600 a month, even if it meant getting up at unearthly hours and sacrificing her weekends.

The title of May Leong’s last blog entry “Worked Up, Stressed Up, Crashed Down”, posted just 2 days before she died, pretty much sums up her worklife. Here are some excerpts:

“I was thrilled to finally have the chance to “fly high” in a Fortune 500 MNC. It’s ok for me to wake at 3.30am to start work @ 4.30am everyday in the morning. But never did I realise what kind of stuff were coming towards me.”

“Had diarrhea last Thu, hurt my knee and was limping badly since last Sunday, had breathlessness since Wed & fainted after work on that day at my office lift lobby, knocked my head against the wall when I fainted, collapsed again last night at home. Now my chest feels really tight & breathing is really tough. Doc just said I’m really stressed out. sigh….. what should I do? Quit? or continue this ultra-super stressful job?”

“I’ve got a contract of 6 mths to fulfill… 3 months to commit. If I quit now, I’ve got to pay back 1 mth’s salary. Not worth it. If i quit after May, it won’t be so bad. But I don’t know if my health can tolerate til then.”

“Just yesterday, I received an email from my job agency saying that a contract staff who’s working in HP as well, passed away from heart attack, leaving his wife & kids… deja vu? coincidental? a warning sign? I dunno. I don’t wanna end up dead for the sake of dough.”

I feel angry for her just from reading those paragraphs and I’m not alone. Her last blog post has been receiving loads of comments ranging from sympathy to outrage with HP’s work culture and criticism towards Singapore’s increasingly difficult environment.

Life is certainly getting tougher these days - even home loans are stretched over 30 years and in some countries, over two generations. So if you bought a flat at 30 years old, expect to bear the burden until you’re 60! Don’t even get me started on the rising costs of living and having a child, and the job insecurity as you get older.

I, myself, left a corporate job in 2000 because I wasn’t comfortable with the work/life balance. It was a risky move at that time but I’m glad I did it. Today, my daily routine include going for a jog with my wife in the mornings, taking naps in the afternoon and having tea with my parents in the evenings.

May Leong was taken to the A&E department of the National University Hospital at 8pm on April 23rd, where she passed away from what is believed to be Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) - an affliction caused by being in a fixed position for long periods of time. It’s a very unfortunate story and I feel sorry for her mom.

So if you think you’re working too hard, take some time off to smell the roses whenever possible. I know it’s not an option sometimes but remember that life is more than just about work and money - May Leong found out too little too late.