my office was directly beside HR's at one of my workplaces. it was inside a temporary outdoor trailer (they were upgrading the main building and we couldnt be inside of it), so i could often hear things they did in there.

a lot of it was following up on applications, doing interviews, etc. but a good amount was also theory crafting with other HR persons for how to hire the right people. in this case: avoiding a certain minority group that was 'undesirable'.

that conversation was a conference call with at least 2 other people and one said that they "knew a guy that can make it easier to hire the exact people you want."

this HR person also dealt with complaints from various employees, and of course certain legal things on site (i overheard if someone was injured and refused to wait for an ambulance that left an actual hospital/emergency dispatch then they wouldnt be able to file for workman's compensation since the other option involved taking an on-site ambulance with 'non-emt' people. the site was a few hours from the nearest hospital and heavily industrial.)

im glad im no longer there for several reasons, but it was very sickening to hear some of the goings on in HR.