Death of an Ogilvy Philippines employee renews concerns about working too much

Working yourself to death? Deadlines are killing you? Please stop and give yourself a good rest.

A young publicist from Ogilvy & Mather Philippines reportedly died last weekend after working overtime while suffering from pneumonia.

A spokesperson for the global ad agency confirmed that Mark Dehesa, who spent less than a year with the PR division of Ogilvy’s Manila office passed away on Sun, Feb 19.

“Mark was a much loved and important member of our family in the Philippines, and our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family, and friends at this very difficult time,” said Ogilvy Philippines CEO Elly Puyat in a statement.

According to a report by Adweek.com, Dehesa “worked until 4 AM on Thurs night/Fri morning preparing for an early meeting.”

On Fri night, Dehesa reportedly stayed in the office until 9pm. He was visibly shaking as he asked to be driven to the hospital. He died two days later.

No direct connection between work and Dehesa’s death was made in the statement, but his colleagues shared the reality of the industry on their Facebook posts. They also posted thier heartbroken goodbyes.

In 2013, a member of Ogilvy’s technology team died in the company’s Beijing office.