HR works closely with and is sometimes positioned organizationally with the Legal department for obvious reasons. Their main purpose is to protect the company (

HR works closely with and is sometimes positioned organizationally with the Legal department for obvious reasons. Their main purpose is to protect the company (first) and employees (via laws they have to follow). Laws that protect employees are there not because companies were thinking of employees and they advocated for them. HR people can be some of the chattiest, rumor spreading types, so expect whatever you tell one of them, all of them will know and maybe some of their office buddies. They also have some hilarious stories.