HR Is the Greatest Fraud Ever.

I say this knowing full well that some of the people who’ve shaped my life the most are HR leaders. I have a love-hate relationship with HR. Most, I hate. Because they tried to exploit me when I was down and out. But a few, I love. Because they saw me before I saw myself.

This contradiction is the whole problem.

HR sells empathy. But it’s engineered for risk management. It speaks the language of people. But it’s designed to protect power. The modern HR department is a contradiction in motion. It calls itself human. But functions as an institutional firewall.

Historically, it was never meant to care.

HR was born during the industrial revolution when strikes and unions were rising. It was a corporate response to rebellion and not a human solution to pain. In 1901, National Cash Register created the first HR function after facing a wave of employee unrest. But the goal wasn’t support. It was control.

Over time, HR adopted softer language. “People ops.” “Employee experience.” “Culture design.” But the wiring stayed the same. Guard the company. Minimize liability. Keep morale high enough to prevent lawsuits.

I’ve seen this firsthand.

One HR rep told me that to take a mental health break employees have to sign a letter waiving future claims. Another hosted “POSH” training at work while ghosting a man who reported harassment. They knew how to smile. They didn’t know how to show up when it counted.

And yet some of my deepest mentors are HR veterans.

They taught me how to lead with grace. How to hold space during crisis. How to navigate boardroom politics without selling my soul. They understood that HR could be more than compliance. That it could be care. But those were individuals. Not the system.

That’s the crux.

You can have brilliant, ethical, emotionally intelligent people in HR and still have a system that breaks people. Because the logic is broken. HR cannot serve both the employee and the employer at the same time. When the two collide, it must choose. And it always chooses power.

Logic explains why.

HR reports to the CEO. Its KPIs are aligned with retention, risk, and cost. Truth, dignity, or healing don’t matter to them. So when you walk into that room hoping for justice, you’re already a file. A case. A liability.

This doesn’t mean HR is useless.

It means HR needs a rebirth. One that starts with removing the conflict of interest. One that treats workers as stakeholders, not risks. One that doesn’t need to hide behind wellness webinars while denying raises to people with hospital bills.

Until then, HR remains a paradox.

It preaches humanity. But it runs on silence.