I Hate It Here

Hebba Youssef

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.

  1. S12 E5: Certified System Girlie Meets Another Certified System Girlie with Liz Clarke

    1 HR AGO

    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

    44 min
  2. AI Readiness Gap: There's No True Playbook for AI Development, So Here's the Next Best Thing with Lauren Gregor

    4 DAYS AGO

    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

    45 min
  3. S12 E4: The Emotional Tax of Doing HR Correctly with Stacey Nordwall

    4 MAY

    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

    54 min
  4. AI Readiness Gap (Part 1): We're Not Ready (And That's Okay) with Parijat Sarkar

    29 APR

    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

    31 min
  5. S12 E3: Your Job is NOT Your Whole Personality, and We Need to Talk About It with Lauren Schneider

    27 APR

    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

    1hr 4min
  6. Better Decisions: You're Data Rich And Decision Poor, And It's Showing with Doug Melton

    24 APR

    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

    34 min
  7. S12 E2: Courage Over Compliance: A Conversation We Should've Had Already with Keisha Toussaint

    20 APR

    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

    52 min
  8. Newsflash: You've Been Doing Compensation Wrong This Whole Time (with Candor IQ's Haris Ikram)

    13 APR

    Newsflash: You've Been Doing Compensation Wrong This Whole Time (with Candor IQ's Haris Ikram)

    It’s kinda wild how many people of are still dealing with compensation issues today! Most companies have a comp strategy the same way most people have a fitness plan...technically it exists, but nobody is really following it. Haris Ikram, co-founder and CEO of Candor IQ, joins me this week to talk about his founder journey and why compensation is the most misunderstood, most mishandled, and most consequential thing happening inside your org right now. This one's going to sting a little, but it’ll bring plenty of clarity too, so it’s still worth it! --- 0:00:00 - Intro 0:01:54 - Something Haris Believed About Work Early in His Career That he Unlearned 0:03:18 - The Moment Haris Decided to Start a Company 0:06:39 - What Starting a Company Seemed Like vs What it was Actually Like 0:09:49 - Being a Founder vs Being an Executive 0:13:24 - The Hardest Part of Being a First-time Founder That Nobody Tells You About 0:15:45 - The First Mistake Founders Make With Comp That Cost Them Later On 0:19:32 - What Made Haris Want to Solve the Comp Problem 0:30:24 - Why HR and Finance Can't Seem to Get Along 0:41:37 - How Data Alignment Transparency Benefits Employees 0:45:50 - Haris's Advice for Somebody Who Wants to Start a Company --- 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 this podcast, be sure to check out more episodesfor even more exclusive insider content!  https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here⁠ Follow Haris LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harisikram/ Follow Hebba:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef

    51 min

About

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.

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