" Internal HR people exist to help the company fire people they want to fire, maintain regulatory compliance, and that's about it."
Sadly this is true. I had a startup that was acquired and we went from being a 50 person company to being a 250 person company, and later nearly a 1500 person company. And our original HR person who was more of the morale/culture/lets stay balanced kind of person, quit after the 'real' HR people explained to her what her job in HR was. I was helpless to change her fate and that really bothered me for a long time. After that and later Sarbanes Oxley and "Regulation FD" stuff were on everyone's mind, the people that called themselves 'HR' became compliance officers. Their job is/was to protect the company. That was sad for me.
Sadly this is true. I had a startup that was acquired and we went from being a 50 person company to being a 250 person company, and later nearly a 1500 person company. And our original HR person who was more of the morale/culture/lets stay balanced kind of person, quit after the 'real' HR people explained to her what her job in HR was. I was helpless to change her fate and that really bothered me for a long time. After that and later Sarbanes Oxley and "Regulation FD" stuff were on everyone's mind, the people that called themselves 'HR' became compliance officers. Their job is/was to protect the company. That was sad for me.