I Hate It Here

Latest Episodes:

S12 E6: We Regret to Inform You That This Episode Is About Firing People (with Jennifer Laurie) May 18, 2026

Show notes

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!

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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

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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) May 15, 2026

Show notes

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!

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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 at⁠⁠Aon.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 May 11, 2026

Show notes

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

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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 May 06, 2026

Show notes

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

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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.

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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 May 04, 2026

Show notes

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

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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 Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

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.

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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

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 Apr 27, 2026

Show notes

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 Apr 24, 2026

Show notes

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.

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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 at⁠Aon.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
---

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 Apr 20, 2026

Show notes

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

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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

Newsflash: You've Been Doing Compensation Wrong This Whole Time (with Candor IQ's Haris Ikram) Apr 13, 2026

Show notes

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!

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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

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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

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