[grey-area]

They’ll tell you that this is unchangeable, it’s the default, etc the first few times, but if you persist, they’ll usually just strike out a clause like this if they actually want to come to an agreement. They may not even bother telling legal (depends on company size).

Really it depends whether you’re negotiating from a position of strength and and can walk away, if you are changes like this become possible, if you are not changes are more difficult.

[nerdponx]

I've never had any HR person give up even a comma in a contract like this, even after a full week of back-and-forth negotiating and trying to get them to strike out an individual sentence or change a word. Their attitude is that even if they lose their first choice hire over it, they always have a pipeline, and they'd rather adhere strictly to legal protocol and go with their second-choice hire.

[grey-area]

Don't talk to HR, talk to the hiring manager.

[nerdponx]

They've always just kicked it over to HR. In hindsight I probably could have leaned on them harder.