Yes going to HR to complain is pointless, it’s not what they are for.

They are there to deal with hiring and payroll/ benefits, keeping records of employees, keeping track of your sick days and vacations and you go to them to request vacation, dealing with FMLA, keeping record of qualifications (remind staff when something is due for certificate renewal for example) and some other functions. Yes one of their functions is employee relations but I think it’s more like if you are being seriously discriminated. Even then I think it’s better to go to higher level management.

The thing is that HR isn’t above management so I’d never go to them to complain about management.