I got into HR to help people, but is HR's purpose to protect the bosses and managers?

It's sad how HR sometimes attracts people who go there hoping to help workers and getting hit with the brutal reality in the face. At least it's better late than never to wake up to how the world works and how class war manifests itself in everyday life.

"I got into hog farming because I love pigs, but is HF's purpose to consume them utterly for maximum profit extraction?"

HR's main purpose is to keep lawsuits from happening. So to answer your question: yes.

Yes, the main purpose of HR is to protect the company and subsequently its assets. In some capacity “assets” includes the employees, but when it comes down to employee vs company, HR will gladly drive the bus if it means saving the company from bad optics.

HR was created specifically to avoid and discourage unionisation in the workplace. It's a "nice" (ie: corporate-friendly) way of dealing with grievances and making sure there are no lawsuits or bad publicity.

There's a very good reason why they prefer zoom and in-person meetings: no paper trail.

I had a friend that works in HR that got incredibly angry at me when I said "HR looks out for the company, not you"

It was totally what was in that post, where someone with good intentions, who probably should have gone into social work, if it actually paid a livable wage, but had to go into corporate work because that's the only way you can achieve the dream home and kids.

HR is about managing human resources at the company, to the benefit of company, because the company pays people to do tasks that benefit the company. I wish it wasn't such a widespread misunderstanding, but I mean of course they work for the company, that's how employment works in our dumb society. The misunderstanding should be cleared so people can understand that there already is a thing that can help them, a strong union.