HR is designed and there to protect the company from employees, they are not really your friend any more than the corporation is your friend. They can be friendly, yes, in the same way you can work for a place that “takes care of it’s workers”, but they serve the business NOT you. I mean the name really breaks it down, Human Resources. They are there to manage the humans for the business just like any other commodity. They are also sometimes called Human Capital Management (HCM), and have a focus on training/education and extracting the most value from each employee.
I’m sure the investors weren’t selling him on the idea that if they got a bigger return he would as well, surely.