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I Hate It Here: Daily Summaries Delivered
by 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 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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- 4 days ago59 min
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
- 1 weeks ago35 min
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
- 2 weeks ago47 min
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
- 3 weeks ago41 min
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
- 3 weeks ago44 min
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
- May 6, 202644 min
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
- May 4, 202654 min
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
- Apr 29, 202631 min
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
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About I Hate It Here
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 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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