I think this proves that HR should be fundamentally separate from a company. The incentives are setup for a company's HR division to try and maximize success for the company.
Just like the NFL and NBA have player's associations, HR should be managed by external companies, or at least separated by function (supporting employees vs management). Companies would still be paying the HR teams, so incentives wouldn't be optimal, but seems like it would be a step in the right direction.
By ensuring unethical/illegal behavior doesn't go unaddressed, HR is working to maximize success for the company.
With that in mind, it's in the company's best interest to have HR be a core department with proper training, funding and oversight.
The arguments frequently rehashed on HN about "HR is not there to help" only make sense in dysfunctional companies (which there's a lot of, unfortunately). Moving HR to a separate organization, outside the company, won't help with that.
Just like the NFL and NBA have player's associations, HR should be managed by external companies, or at least separated by function (supporting employees vs management). Companies would still be paying the HR teams, so incentives wouldn't be optimal, but seems like it would be a step in the right direction.