I think this is a good summary, and gets to the point that what employees ascribe to HR is often a systemic/structural thing in the company.

I've often seen the reverse though (this is in the UK, so YMMV): that employees think that HR is 'in your corner', which isn't true. The good HR practitioners want to help you but that's because happy workers are more productive, less likely to leave etc.: it's a means to an end. But HR isn't on the side of the employee: so "They protect the company… not the employees" is pretty accurate. It's just that, when things are going well, those two things coincide.

Just to repeat though: I like the analysis, I just wonder whether you're maybe a bit slanted towards your view as a senior manager. (NB. I've just gone back from being in a leadership role to being an IC as part of a career change, so it's been interesting to see things from a different perspective over the last year.)

Thanks for the blog, it's one of the few that I have piped straight to Pinboard!

Kind regards
Hamed