How do I handle being caught between employees and leadership in HR?

You are asked to advise the powerful and enforce the rules, and sometimes those rules land hardest on the people you most want to protect. Living inside that contradiction is exhausting, and the exhaustion is honest. You are not confused. You see the tension clearly. You will not resolve it completely, because the role itself is built on it. But you can decide how you act within it. Where you have room, use it for the people with less power. A quiet word, a fairer reading of a policy, a push back on the worst calls. Small acts of decency inside a hard job still count. Be clear with yourself about where your real limits are, the lines you will not cross. Knowing that in advance keeps the job from slowly reshaping you. You can serve the company and still keep your conscience. Just decide the terms before the hard moment arrives, not during it.