Involved in everything from the hiring process to the navigation of formal employee complaints, HR has a crucial role in every company of such a size and structure that the department is present. There is nothing about being an HR representative that means someone is irrational in any form, such as by making assumptions about the nature of business, taking the side of an exploitative employer (who would be their own employer as well), or trivializing legitimate employee concerns. Many people are irrational nonetheless, and human resources staff members are not exempt from this likelihood. Their organizational power just makes them more equipped to wreak devastation with whatever stupidity they have.
Measures can be taken to minimize the ramifications of such a person's errors, yes. One can be guarded about what information one provides to HR so that they have less to misinterpret through the lens of assumptions or quiet hostility. Indeed, it is always the fault of the person doing the misinterpreting, so it is not as if it is an employee's doing that they misunderstand whatever information one submits to them, but if it makes one more comfortable, more information than is absolutely necessary can be withheld in the event that one does need to go to HR with a concern about, say, abusive employee behaviors. After all, they are usually not devoted to reason and morality as opposed to helping the company as a whole/the top of the company hierarchy or trying to ensure mere legal adherence.
For virtual communication, you can always blind courtesy copy (Bcc) your personal, non-work email address on any vital emails sent to HR, especially in the case of any email you would need access to if a baseless or retaliatory firing seems to be on the horizon. Here--and this same tactic can be used against managers or anyone else as applicable--you can ensure to the greatest extent possible that you can produce written evidence of a certain corporate practice, as well as times problems were brought to the attention of leadership. Plenty of people lie whenever it benefits them, but in this way, you can trap a malicious or suddenly "forgetful" company figure. Similarly, whether the email goes to HR, a manager, or someone else, you can ask for clarification about irrational or immoral requests/charges, giving them the chance to either double down on their bullshit or deny they ever said it altogether, freeing you from the expectation to act on the prior instructions. This leaves an email trail you can Bcc yourself on or come back to later.
Of course, another strategy to protect oneself with HR is to just sidestep the department completely and consult an attorney if truly needed. Precautions like these allow you to trap or manipulate HR or other corporate personnel so that, without engaging in irrationality oneself, one's own needs can be met. HR is not your default deliverer from unjust treatment, not is it by necessity a servant of the employee. Human resources is often there to engage in damage control for the employer; it is most likely that a random HR department will serve the employee's needs when they overlap with the whims of the employer. While it is irrational to trust anyone at all, because other minds cannot be known and past actions or words do not prove how someone will act in the future, trusting others in the workplace can be particularly catastrophic. Human resources does not have to be this way, but it can and many times is reported to be aimed at merely minimizing legal costs to employers in the event of a brewing lawsuit.
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