If HR is one of the most soul-crushing industries to work in, how come we’re not talking about it more? I Hate it Here is the unflinching podcast where People professionals to talk honestly and openly about HR, sharing best-in-class resources to make the hardest job in the world that little bit easier. Hosted by Hebba Youssef, Chief People Officer at Workweek and creator of the I Hate it Here podcast and newsletter, this show is for HR People who want to get things done right - even if they do feel a bit empty inside from time to time. You’ll hear from industry insiders, not just the same old voices, sharing all the things you’re secretly thinking but never said out loud, digging into real-life examples, and delivering practical solutions and strategies for your people team.
The Leadership Divide (Episode 2): The Dark Side of Leadership
Featured Guest: Jocelyn Hays (Director of Hogan Applications, Hogan Assessments) --- You know that coworker who was perfectly lovely until they got promoted and suddenly became a completely different person? Yeahhhh….I think we’ve all been there. There’s a reason for that, though! I’m joined by Jocelyn Hays to unpack the dark side of leadership, the 11 derailers hiding inside basically all of us, why so many orgs get this wrong, and how the exact traits that help you succeed can become the ones ruining everyone’s day when you stop managing them. 00:00:00 — Intro 00:01:27 — What Does the “Dark Side” of Personality Actually Mean? 00:03:51 — The 11 Patterns That Can Derail a Leader 00:06:48 — How Do You React When You’re Under Pressure? 00:15:52 — Why Do Derailers Stay Hidden During Hiring? 00:22:05 — When Does a Strength Become a Derailer? 00:25:51 — Why Does Stress Bring Out Our Worst Leadership Behaviors? 00:34:08 — How Can HR Spot Derailers Before They Wreck the Culture? 00:44:14 — How Do You Tell a Leader They’re Ruining the Vibes? 00:49:22 — What Are Orgs Getting Wrong About Choosing Leaders? --- Hogan Assessments is the international leader in personality insights. With the world’s largest database of personality research and decades’ worth of experience in psychometrics, Hogan produces valid, reliable personality assessments that measure everyday strengths, potential shortcomings, and values and motivators. Hogan’s solutions empower organizations to hire the right people without bias, boost productivity, reduce turnover, promote diversity and inclusion, identify high-potential talent, develop leaders, and inspire employees to do their best. To learn more, check them out at http://hogan.to/ihateithere --- And if you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration.https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Jocelyn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynhays/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S13 E3: Proof That The AI Productivity Obsession Is Making Everyone Worse (with Aubrey Blanche)
I feel like every AI conversation somehow ends up in one of two places: either "AI is taking all our jobs!" or "Just use ChatGPT for everything!" Honestly... I hate both of those convos. So instead, I wanted to ask some much more interesting questions! Who's actually making the decisions about how AI gets used at work? Who decided AI should be ranking candidates, or helping determine headcount? And more importantly... should it be? I invited Aubrey Blanche to help me unpack all of it! We talked AI ethics, human-centered design, why productivity might be the worst goal for AI adoption, and somehow ended up on Harry Potter fanfiction and Google Maps conspiracy theories. It all connects, I promise!! 00:00:00 — Intro 00:04:08 — What's Changed Most About How You Work? 00:06:00 — Why Go Back to School for AI Ethics? 00:17:48 — Why Has Productivity Become AI's Main Goal? 00:23:29 — What Should HR Ask Before Chasing AI Efficiency? 00:25:17 — How Do You Actually Influence Executives? 00:29:01 — Is "Human in the Loop" Enough? 00:34:14 — Should AI Be Ranking Job Candidates? 00:37:54 — What's the AI Ethics Skill HR Is Missing? 00:43:41 — How Can HR Start Thinking Like an Ethicist? 00:47:14 — What's the First AI Change HR Leaders Should Make Tomorrow? --- With Shapes, people management looks completely different. Think AI agents handling the routine, a secure HR core, and the ability to build any people tool your org needs, just by describing it in plain english in their built in Shapes Vibe studio. If your systems feel stuck in 2015, go check out Shapes at https://shapes.co/ --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Aubrey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adblanche/ Read: Ethical By Design: Good Technology Principles for AI Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef Come join Hebba at Safe Space Summit 2026 in Huntington Beach, CA! To learn more, check out: https://www.safespacesummit.com/
The Leadership Divide (Episode 1): Leadership at an Inflection Point
Featured Guest: Allison Howell, CEO of Hogan Assessments --- This is The Leadership Divide, a special series with Hogan Assessments in partnership with I Hate It Here! Across four episodes, we're saying the thing out loud: leadership often fails because companies pick and develop leaders based solely on vibes and tenure, then act SHOCKED when everyone's miserable. Today, I Hate It Here's Hebba Youssef is joined by Allison Howell, CEO of Hogan Assessments, and they are not holding back! Hebba and Allison get into why trust in leadership is in the gutter, why your favorite "visionary" CEO might actually just be loud, why wanting a manager with basic communication skills is somehow considered a big ask, and more. 00:00:00 — Intro 00:04:56 – What's Shifted in Leadership Since 5 Years Ago? 00:07:27 – How the Erosion of Trust in Institutions Shows Up on a Regular Day at Work 00:11:39 – What Employees Are Asking for From a Leader, and Whether It's Reasonable 00:14:26 – Why People End Up in Management Because They Were Good at a Job, Not Because They're Good at Managing 00:18:21 – The "Dark Side": What It Costs to Misread This Leadership Moment 00:21:54 – How AI Is Reshaping Trust, Judgment, and Decision-Making at Work 00:24:08 – The Less Catastrophic (but Still Bad) Version of Getting This Moment Wrong 00:28:33 – What Orgs Consistently Get Wrong About Selecting and Developing Leaders 00:30:20 – What It Would Look Like to Get Leadership Selection Right --- Hogan Assessments is the international leader in personality insights. With the world’s largest database of personality research and decades’ worth of experience in psychometrics, Hogan produces valid, reliable personality assessments that measure everyday strengths, potential shortcomings, and values and motivators. Hogan’s solutions empower organizations to hire the right people without bias, boost productivity, reduce turnover, promote diversity and inclusion, identify high-potential talent, develop leaders, and inspire employees to do their best. To learn more, check them out at http://hogan.to/ihateithere --- And if you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Allison: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonhowell2/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S13 E2: What If HR Stopped Playing Therapist and Started Designing Better Workplaces Instead? (with Stephanie Lemek)
Apparently, we can’t simply leave our trauma at the door and transform into perfectly functioning corporate robots every morning. Who would’ve thought?! Stephanie Lemek joins me to unpack what a trauma-informed workplace actually looks like, why HR needs some damn boundaries, and how something as simple as giving people more choice can completely change the way we work. Here’s what we got into: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:21 - What Would've Surprised Stephanie About How She Works Now, Five Years Ago? 00:08:26 — Trauma-Aware vs. Trauma-Informed 00:13:30 — The 3 Types Of Safety Every Workplace Needs 00:19:36 — Which HR Processes Are Accidentally Re-Traumatizing People? 00:26:50 — "Don't Trust HR" and Unpacking Where That Distrust Actually Comes From 00:33:07 — Hebba's Story: Grief, Anniversaries, And "The Body Do Be Keeping Score" 00:40:18 — Secondary Trauma And Compassion Fatigue In HR 00:46:16 — The One Thing To Do Differently Starting Tomorrow --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Stephanie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanielemek/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef Come join Hebba at Safe Space Summit 2026 in Huntington Beach, CA! To learn more, check out: https://www.safespacesummit.com/
S13 E1: The Return of the Cackle Queens (with Jess Winder)
Guess what? The Cackle Queens are back! My unofficial co-host and forever hype woman Jess Winder joined me to kick off this season, and we did something new. We hit record and just let the convo happen with no notes, because who needs prep when you’ve been doing this job for way too long? We're diving into where HR has been, where it's headed, and why "defund HR" isn't as controversial a take as you'd think if you've worked in old-school HR. We also get into three totally different futures HR could have, and what to tell yourself when you're so burnt out you can't imagine one more evolution of this job. It’s a little bit unhinged, but what else would you expect?! 00:00:00 - Intro 00: 05:17 - The Biggest Shift in HR Since 2020 00:08:48 - Old HR Morals vs. New HR Morals 00:24:12 - Would You Outsource HR to a $50/Month "HR in a Box" Service? 00:26:49 - Jess's Wildest HR Era: Touring Actual Crime Scenes 00:30:44 - Hebba's 3 Possible Futures for HR: Performance, Full-Cycle, or Architect 00:40:15 - What to Do When Your Company Just Wants "Yes People" 00:42:53 - Advice for HR Folks Who Are Burnt Out and Ready to Quit If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Jess: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicadwinder/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef Come join Hebba at Safe Space Summit 2026 in Huntington Beach, CA! To learn more, check out: https://www.safespacesummit.com/
S12 E10: A Few of My Own First-time F*ckups + Some Jaw-Dropping HR Horror Stories
Okay, so as we wrap up this podcast season, we’re gonna make this final episode a little different…featuring Hebba and her thoughts, and apparently zero filter! This season of I Hate It Here was all about firsts and for the season finale, Hebba makes personal! Listen as she walks you through three of her own HR firsts, performance reviews, terminations, and picking the right system, followed by what she wishes she'd done, and what she would tell herself if she had a time machine. And then, because Hebba couldn't let the season end without a little chaos, she rounds this episode out with some HR horror stories that were sent in by members of the IHIH community. Whether you're deep in your HR career or just getting started, this one's a reminder that none of us really know what we're doing the first time, and that's kinda the whole point. 🫶 00:00 - Intro 02:45 - The First Time Hebba Ever Did Performance Reviews 09:08 - Navigating Your First Termination With Empathy 16:59 - Choosing the Right HR Tech Stack 20:30 - A collection of HR Horror Stories--- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef Come join Hebba at Safe Space Summit 2026 in Huntington Beach, CA! To learn more, check out: https://www.safespacesummit.com/
S12 E9: We Watched People Blow Up Their Lives on Summer House, and Our ATS Implementation Lowkey Feels Similar (with Madison Montgomery)
Madison Montgomery is back, and in this episode, we did what Paul Downs and Meg Stalter inspired us to do…turned our 1:1 into a podcast episode. The result is a session of unfiltered chaos covering our first ATS implementation together (which is going exactly as well as you'd imagine when two non-detail-oriented people configure a system while actively recruiting on it), Summer House drama through an HR lens, my newly discovered cowboy era, and why neither of us will ever truly get to enjoy the company retreats we plan. If you've ever been the person behind the process who never gets to just experience the process, you’ll probably relate to this discussion! 00:00 - Intro 04:55 - Implementing an ATS For the First Time 14:48 - What to Expect in Austin in August 21:23 - Hebba's Favorite Recent Story About Her Mom 28:14 - Other Firsts for Madison This Year 42:04 - Supporting Employees When They're Dealing With Grief 44:35 - Who Would Play Hebba and Madison in a Movie? --- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Madison LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-montgomery14/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
AI Readiness Gap: Your Two-Year HR Preparedness Countdown Starts NOW (with DeAnn Alcantar & Kelly Pacatte)
55% of orgs expect AI tool experience to be their most in-demand skill within two years! Honestly, most of us are still figuring out what to have for lunch, so the timeline feels…a little aggressive. In this final episode of the four-part AI Readiness Gap series, presented in partnership with TriNet, DeAnn Alcantar, Learning and Development Manager at TriNet, and Kelly Pacatte, Lead HR Compliance Consultant at TriNet, give us a north star for AI readiness so that we know what to focus on in that timeframe! We're getting into what it takes to close the gap: the technical stuff, the deeply human skills that matter more than ever, and the mindset shift that's going to define which HR leaders are ready for what's coming and which ones are not. 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:12 - The Urgency of AI Proficiency 00:05:07 - Is Two Years Enough to Be Efficient With AI as an Org? 00:10:32 - The Human Skills That Are Going to Matter More Than Ever 00:14:44 - The Evolution of How HR Will Function at Orgs 00:22:58 - The One Mindset Shift HR Leaders Need 00:26:31 - What Every HR Leader Feeling Behind on AI Right Now Needs to Know --- Running a small business is hard, and HR should not get in the way. TriNet helps small businesses by outsourcing HR to professionals. This lets business owners get back to the real work: building a company, and leaving a legacy. Learn more about TriNet. --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Our Guests DeAnn Alcantar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannealcantar Kelly Pacatte: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellypacatte Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E8: Why You Can't Build a World-Class Company With a Zip Code Mentality with Sagar Khatri
Geography shouldn't be the reason you can't hire your next best person. And yet, that’s the reality for hundreds of orgs at the moment! I sat down with Sagar Khatri, co-founder and CEO of Multiplier, who literally built a company because opening a bank account in Japan took him 12 months. We got into all of it: why compliance is a zero-or-one problem (and why so many companies are getting it very wrong), what actually happens to your business when your team spans 50 countries and 70+ nationalities, and why the future of talent is all about finally being able to find them wherever they are instead of hoping they come to you. 00:01:45 - Something Sagar Had to Unlearn Early in His Career 00:03:48 - Why Sagar Started a Company 00:10:43 - How the Pain of Global Hiring is Happening on a Massive Scale 00:20:03 - What the International Structure at Multiply Looks Like 00:31:09 - The Biggest Mistake Companies Make When They Hire Globally for the First Time 00:37:33 - The Relationship Between Diverse and Distributed Teams and Business Performance 00:43:07 - AI’s Impact on International Talent Acquisition --- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Sagar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sagar-khatri-53529359/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E7: Your First Time Joining a Startup With No HR or Systems…What Could Go Wrong?! (with Christine Song)
There is a lot to say about joining a startup, and I’m saying that as somebody who has been a part of four of them. Nothing prepares you for the first time, because you truly have no idea what you’re walking into! Not even the offer letter or the job description paints the full picture, so Christine Song, founder of the 5 to 9 Society and former CPO at Knix, is here to give you her expertise. We're talking about walking into a company with no HR infrastructure, a CEO whose behavior made her want to run back to corporate, working 100 hours a week until her hair (literally) started falling out, and somehow still coming out the other side with more love for startups than ever. 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:01 - Something Christine Believed About Work That She Had to Unlearn 00:08:26 - What Stepping Into a Startup Role Felt like Vs The Expectation of It 00:21:01 - The Important Role of HR in Startups 00:35:18 - Picking Up on Signs of Burnout 00:40:40 - Startup Culture and Its Demands 00:49:10 - Creating a Life and Identity Outside of Work 00:55:11 - Christine’s Advice For Someone New to The Startup World --- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Christine LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/songchristine1/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
AI Readiness Gap: The AI Competency You're Hiring for Today Might Not Even Exist Tomorrow with Kristin Russum
37% of HR leaders are already saying that evaluating AI skills in candidates is going to be a real challenge. Hiring has always required us to assess things that are hard to measure, but AI is moving so fast that what you're looking for this week might be completely different next month! In this episode, I sat down with Kristin Russum, Director of Organizational Development at TriNet, to get into the real question: how do you actually hire for AI competency when the skill set is still being defined in real time? We talked behavioral interview strategies, the bias risks that not enough people are talking about, why curiosity might be the most important thing you can hire for right now, and what you can actually do immediately to update your process! 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:03 - Why is Evaluating AI Skills and Candidates So Much Harder than Assessing Other Technical Skills? 00:07:25 - What Does Hiring an AI Competent Candidate Look Like Right Now? 00:19:47 - How to Deal With the Built-in Bias of AI Usage in Hiring 00:25:27 - Practical Changes You Can Make to Your Hiring Proess Immediately 00:33:06 - One Thing Every HR Leader Who Feels Behind on AI Should Know --- Running a small business is hard, and HR should not get in the way. TriNet helps small businesses by outsourcing HR to professionals. This lets business owners get back to the real work: building a company, and leaving a legacy. Learn more about TriNet. --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Kristin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinrussum/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E6: We Regret to Inform You That This Episode Is About Firing People (with Jennifer Laurie)
Nobody talks about their first termination the way they should, which is with a little bit of trauma, because we never forget the people we have to let go of. In this latest episode of I Hate It Here, I sat down with Jennifer Laurie, fractional CPO and founder of Equitable HR Guild, to do exactly that! We went all the way back to her very first termination…the nerves, the Googling "how to fire someone," the manager who was just as lost as she was, and then kept going. We got into where managers go horribly wrong before they even get to the termination convo, how bias creeps into these decisions in ways that are really easy to miss, and why the debrief after is the part everyone skips but absolutely shouldn't. Take a deep breath, and prepare yourself for this discussion! --- 00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:51 - Something Jennifer Believed Early in Her Career That She Had to Unlearn 00:07:15 - What it Feels Like to Fire Somebody for the First Time 00:13:04 - Something Nobody Teaches You About Terminations 00:19:19 - Where Most Managers go Wrong in the Build-up to a Termination 00:24:17 - Addressing Bias in Termination Decisions 00:30:20 - Reflecting and Learning Done After a Termination 00:36:54 - Can Some Terminations Make Work Better for Everyone? 00:44:24 Advice for First-Time Termination Managers The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Jennifer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferlauriehr/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
Better Decisions: It Turns Out, Ignoring Women's Health at Work is Extremely Expensive For Everybody (with Kembre Roberts and Kevin Fyock)
Women make up nearly half the workforce, and somehow, their health is still being treated like a line item someone might cut. Make it make sense! I've been wanting to do this episode for a while, and I'm not going to pretend I made it through without getting in my feelings at least once. I sat down with Kembre Roberts and Kevin Fyock from Aon to get into why women's health keeps getting deprioritized, what it's costing orgs as a result, and what it looks like when employers finally get this right. Just having a fertility benefit and calling it a day isn’t gonna cut it anymore! --- 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:30 - Why Employers Should Care About Women's Health 00:12:45 - How Women's Health Directly Influences Financial Security 00:19:55 - The Data You Need to Help Execs Understand Women's Health Data 00:27:44 - Being Proactive About Women's Health and Financial Wellness Before a Crisis Happens 00:35:26 - What Orgs Keep Getting Wrong About Women's Health, and What a Better Decision Looks Like Aon’s Human Capital capabilities help organizations make confident workforce decisions by connecting advisory, insights and data across health benefits, talent and retirement. By aligning people strategies to business outcomes, we enable leaders to drive engagement, manage program sustainability, and build a resilient workforce ready for what’s next. Learn more at Aon.com --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out I Hate It Here on YouTube for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Kembre on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kembre-roberts-phd-4a227625/ Follow Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinfyock/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E5: Certified System Girlie Meets Another Certified System Girlie with Liz Clarke
You know that feeling where you've been sprinting all day and somehow your actual to-do list hasn't moved an inch? Your inbox is feral and new work just keeps showing up like it was never not invited! Yeaaaah, that feeling has a name, and it's called not having a system. I say that with full love and zero judgment because I have absolutely been there! Today I'm sitting down with Liz Clarke, strategic HR leader and founder of Liz Clarke Coaching and Consulting, who learned the hard way early in her career that working harder is not the answer when the system itself doesn't make sense. This one is for every HR person who has been busy every single minute of the day and still somehow felt like they got nothing done. 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:18 - Something Liz Had to Unlearn About Work 00:05:04 - The Moment Liz Realized She Needed a System to Get Work Done 00:09:44 - What Building a System Looks Like, in Practice 00:14:49 - How to Build a System That Accounts for Unpredictability 00:17:40 - What Does a Flow State Feel Like in HR? 00:21:07 - Is Burnout a Workload Problem, or is it More Than That? 00:27:50 - How Did We End up With Everything Being “Urgent?” 00:33:48 - What Building a System Helps You Understand About Leaders --- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! --- Follow Liz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-walker-msim/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
AI Readiness Gap: There's No True Playbook for AI Development, So Here's the Next Best Thing with Lauren Gregor
Fun fact: 56% of HR leaders expect AI to change how we develop and train employees. So most of us can see it coming which is cool, but the problem is that seeing the freight train and knowing how to get off the tracks are two very different things! I sat down with Lauren Gregor, who has built and operated businesses across industries and learned most of what she knows the same way the rest of us did, which is by being the person in the room who had to figure it out. We got into what a realistic AI development strategy actually looks like (hint: it's not a one-size-fits-all e-learning module and a prayer), how to stop making the same mistakes everyone's making when trying to build an AI learning culture, and what to do if you're feeling behind right now, which currently sounds like a lot of folks! 00:00:00 - Intro 00:03:24 - The Shift in Mindset Towards AI 00:10:09 - Teaching Yourself in an Unstructured Learning Environment 00:19:58 - Common Mistakes Companies Make Trying to Build an AI Learning Culture 00:28:05 - Keeping the Human Part of L&D Front and Center 00:32:36 - What Does a Realistic, Well-executed Employee Development Strategy for AI Look Like? 00:38:22 - Lauren’s Advice if You’re Feeling Behind on AI Right Now --- Running a small business is hard, and HR should not get in the way. TriNet helps small businesses by outsourcing HR to professionals. This lets business owners get back to the real work: building a company, and leaving a legacy. Learn more about TriNet. --- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Lauren LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurengregor/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E4: The Emotional Tax of Doing HR Correctly with Stacey Nordwall
HR has this fun little quirk where almost nothing is black and white, and the concept of "right" and "wrong" is rarely as simple as it sounds in a policy doc! This season, we've talking about firsts, and the moments that fundamentally change how you see this work. Today, I sat down with Stacey Norville, VP of People Strategy at Pyn and host of one of my favorite podcasts, Toot or Boot, to talk about the first time she had to step into an HRBP role before that role even existed at her company, then navigate a serious performance situation where doing everything right still didn't guarantee a good outcome. We get into the emotional toll and gray areas you have to deal with to survive this job, and the part no one puts in the job description, which is that sometimes you carry the weight of your decisions home with you! 00:03:29 - Something Stacey Had to Unlearn About Work 00:05:23 - When Stacey Had to Step into an HRBP Role Before it Even Existed 00:11:21 - Expecting the Unexpected in HR 00:19:09 - The Difficult Nature of Feedback Convos 00:25:39 - The Duality of Regulating Your Emotional Reactions During Procedural Moments 00:34:59 - The Complexity of What’s Right and What’s Wrong in HR 00:38:36 - How Past Experiences Have Shaped Stacey’s Approach to Performance Management 00:49:47 - Getting in Touch With Stacey --- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- And if you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out I Hate It Here on YouTube for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Stacey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceynordwall/ Toot or Boot Podcast: https://www.tootorboot.com/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
AI Readiness Gap (Part 1): We're Not Ready (And That's Okay) with Parijat Sarkar
This episode kicks off a four-part mini-series called the AI Readiness Gap, produced in partnership with TriNet, where we're cutting through the noise and getting into the actual numbers behind AI readiness in the workplace. --- 81% of orgs are out here figuring out AI in real time. Not planning or preparing for it. Figuring. It. Out. In. Real. Time. Which…same, honestly. But that stat hit me because it confirms what so many of us have been feeling, which is that we're all behind, and no one really wants to say it out loud. No "AI is the future!" hot air without anything tactical to back it up, I promise! HR leaders deserve more than vibes and vague LinkedIn posts to navigate this shift. My guest is Parijat Sarkar, who has seen the HR tech world from the inside, from scaling people systems at Zenefits to building AI-powered tools for finance teams at Numos, and he has thoughts. Good ones. The kind that will make you feel less like you're screaming into the void and more like you might actually know where to start. 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:45 - How Parijat is Experiencing AI at WorkRight Now 00:02:59 - Parijat’s Reaction to Orgs Being Unprepared for AI Talent Acquisition 00:05:05 - Why So Many Orgs Are Stuck at the Starting Line For AI Readiness 00:08:01 - What IS it That Makes AI Feel so Overwhelming? 00:13:19 - Actively Sabotaging AI to Avoid Being Replaced 00:19:19 - What Being Prepared to Implement AI Actually Looks Like 00:24:34 - Parijat’s Advice For People Feeling Behind on AI Running a small business is hard, and HR should not get in the way. TriNet helps small businesses by outsourcing HR to professionals. This lets business owners get back to the real work: building a company, and leaving a legacy. Learn more about TriNet. If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Parijat: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parijatsarkar/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E3: Your Job is NOT Your Whole Personality, and We Need to Talk About It with Lauren Schneider
We talk a lot about career pivots like they're these well-planned, LinkedIn-announcement-ready moments. In reality, they are almost NEVER that! Today I'm chatting with Lauren Schneider, Head of Brand and Communications at Compt. Lauren is a recovering TV reporter, millennial mom, improv performer, and someone who has quit jobs in the messiest, most human ways possible and lived to tell about it. We're getting into what happens when your whole identity gets wrapped up in a job that isn't working, what it feels like to walk away without a safety net, and how you start to reclaim the parts of yourself that work slowly convince you don't matter. This one felt like therapy, so it’s time! 00:02:04 - How Lauren Got Into Improv 00:05:49 - Something Lauren Believed About Work Early on That She Had to Unlearn 00:13:16 - The Culture Shock of Moving to Salt Lake City 00:26:06 - Lauren’s Advice From Mentors About Quitting a Bad Job 00:30:40 - Was Lauren Financially Prepared to Quit Her Job? 00:38:38 - Quitting Jobs Without a Safety Net 00:47:04 - How Lauren’s Experiences Changed Her Relationship With Work 00:57:27 - What Lauren Wants Listeners to Take Away From Her Story The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- And if you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out I Hate It Here on YouTube for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Lauren LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenthandley/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
Better Decisions: You're Data Rich And Decision Poor, And It's Showing with Doug Melton
We have more data than ever, and somehow we're still making people decisions that feel like they were made with a Magic 8-Ball and a prayer. Make it make sense! Dashboards, engagement scores, predictive analytics…it's all there, and yet the decisions still feel completely disconnected from what the numbers are saying. In this episode of Better Decisions, I sat down with Doug Melton, Global Chief Commercial Officer for Human Capital at Aon and a human capital analytics expert, to get into why orgs are so insight-rich but decision-poor, and what it looks like to close that gap. --- Aon’s Human Capital capabilities help organizations make confident workforce decisions by connecting advisory, insights and data across health benefits, talent and retirement. By aligning people strategies to business outcomes, we enable leaders to drive engagement, manage program sustainability, and build a resilient workforce ready for what’s next. Learn more at Aon.com --- 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:57 - Why Orgs Struggle to Turn People into Data Decisions 00:06:20 - Why Some People Struggle to Even Understand the Data in Front of Them 00:08:32 - Ways Leaders Can Come to Agreements on Outcomes and How They’re Being Measured 00:12:27 - The Difference Between Collecting Data and Making Better Decisions With the Data you Already Have 00:16:19 - What Does Good Judgment Look Like When Analytics Conflict With Intuition? 00:23:05 - One Analytics Decision Companies Keep Getting Wrong--- If you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/i-hate-it-here-newsletter/ And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out I Hate It Here on YouTube for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Doug: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-melton-a955a12/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S12 E2: Courage Over Compliance: A Conversation We Should've Had Already with Keisha Toussaint
If you've been in HR long enough, you know this feeling. You see something wrong, you know it's wrong, and then you look around and realize the system you work inside of wasn't actually built to let you fix it. Today I'm talking to Keisha Toussaint, founder of BCC'd HR and someone who did what most of us only think about doing: she removed the corporate muzzle entirely. We're getting into the moment that changed how she saw this job forever, what happens when you advocate for the right thing and leadership responds with escalation instead of accountability, and why courage isn't optional in HR, even when the org makes it feel that way. Another day of tough convos, but important convos nonetheless! 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:20 - Something Keisha Believed About Work Early On and Had to Unlearn 00:06:10 - A Difficult Conversation Keisha Had at Work 00:11:17 - How Keisha Thought HR Operated Vs How it Actually Does 00:18:43 - When the Energy in the Room Shifts 00:22:19 - Understanding What HR Roles Actually Require From You 00:28:29 - Moments That Require Courage 00:37:44 - How Orgs Respond to Outspoken Employees, Especially Employees of Color 00:44:57 - Advice For Folks Dealing with Difficult Convos at Work --- The Predictive Index behavioral assessment reveals how people work, think, and thrive—so teams can understand each other better and perform at their best. Because when you truly understand your people, work just works. Learn more: trypi.com/ihateithere --- And if you love I Hate It Here, sign up to Hebba’s newsletter! It’s for jaded, overworked, and emotionally burnt-out HR/People Operations professionals needing a little inspiration. And if you love the podcast, be sure to check out I Hate It Here on YouTube for even more exclusive insider content! Follow Keisha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keishatoussaint/ Follow Hebba YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
