I began working in the media industry at the age of 20, and vividly remember being encouraged to spend as much time at the office as possible. It was easy, of course, because everything is manageable for one at that age. What began as a promise of eight-hour shifts though, quickly grew to a new normal of 10 hours. I did it because everyone else around me was doing it too. By my third year in the business, I found it perfectly acceptable to walk into an office by 9 am, leave at 10 pm, then return the next morning to do it all over again. It was a cycle that didn’t stop. By my thirties, work had encroached into my weekends with impunity, and I thought nothing of powering up a laptop after breakfast on Sunday mornings to prepare for a presentation on Monday.

It took me years to acknowledge that corporate India is a merciless place that rarely treats employees as human beings. The role of Human Resources has been slowly transformed over time to act not as a filter to attract or retain talent, but as a gatekeeper to ensure targets are being met no matter what the cost to personal lives.