From another of my responses: “I just don’t hear friends/acquaintances mention HR except in the scenarios I described (running seminars - sometimes politically tinged - that aren’t to force anything down someone’s throat so much as to show the company did its due diligence in protecting employees). If there is any doubt, look at how meticulous they are in documenting attendance; it is given far more focus than examining whether anyone actually learned anything.”
Who goes to work expecting to have their political/social views shaped? It is the worst conveyor, because of the employer/employee relationship.
I think a bigger bridge is crossed when a company goes from Private to Public. I think a publicly traded company, especially with an independent board generally looses sight of what made the company great in the first place. For the most part in my career I was with Privately owned companies, although some were quite large.
I work for a company which is extremely progressive in their HR policies. What we did was break out HR from diversity initiatives so there is no conflict of interest. Yes, there does exist a conflict of interest, but it is not as extensive as I would have concluded and our code of conduct, which is practiced by everyone from the CEO down prevents many issues which a woke HR department might gravitate towards.
Funny thing for me is as I complete my MBA, which my company happily pays for, is centered around the HR function and my role within the company is such that I get to use that experience in my papers.