I agree with your perspective that HR policies and practices are standing in our way. I've been writing quite a bit about that myself, being an HR professional who sees how effective the profession should be, but is not. The challenge, at least in the US, is that regulatory activity weighs down HR and keeps them so busy that they can't answer the real question - are people doing what they need to be doing effectively.

As an example, wage hour laws prescribe hourly pay for a large majority of jobs. The laws are complicated, managers rarely are as knowledgeable as they should be, and HR becomes the problem solver for a business issue that truly has no value back to the organization.

That said, an effective leader can engage hourly folks in critically looking at process and work, innovating and navigating ambiguity. But it takes an effective leader, and a system that supports the leader. I wish I could say there were a lot of those, but I really can't.