Show overview
I Hate It Here has been publishing since 2023, and across the 3 years since has built a catalogue of 139 episodes. That works out to roughly 120 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence, with the show now in its 7th season.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 46 min and 57 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Business show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 1 weeks ago, with 28 episodes already out so far this year. Published by Hebba Youssef.
From the publisher
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.
Latest Episodes
View all 139 episodesS12 E10: A Few of My Own First-time F*ckups + Some Jaw-Dropping HR Horror Stories
S12 E9: We Watched People Blow Up Their Lives on Summer House, and Our ATS Implementation Lowkey Feels Similar (with Madison Montgomery)
AI Readiness Gap: Your Two-Year HR Preparedness Countdown Starts NOW (with DeAnn Alcantar & Kelly Pacatte)
S12 E8: Why You Can't Build a World-Class Company With a Zip Code Mentality with Sagar Khatri
S12 E7: Your First Time Joining a Startup With No HR or Systems…What Could Go Wrong?! (with Christine Song)
AI Readiness Gap: The AI Competency You're Hiring for Today Might Not Even Exist Tomorrow with Kristin Russum
S12 E6: We Regret to Inform You That This Episode Is About Firing People (with Jennifer Laurie)
Better Decisions: It Turns Out, Ignoring Women's Health at Work is Extremely Expensive For Everybody (with Kembre Roberts and Kevin Fyock)
S12 E5: Certified System Girlie Meets Another Certified System Girlie with Liz Clarke
AI Readiness Gap: There's No True Playbook for AI Development, So Here's the Next Best Thing with Lauren Gregor
S12 E4: The Emotional Tax of Doing HR Correctly with Stacey Nordwall
AI Readiness Gap (Part 1): We're Not Ready (And That's Okay) with Parijat Sarkar
S12 E3: Your Job is NOT Your Whole Personality, and We Need to Talk About It with Lauren Schneider
Better Decisions: You're Data Rich And Decision Poor, And It's Showing with Doug Melton
S12 E2: Courage Over Compliance: A Conversation We Should've Had Already with Keisha Toussaint
Newsflash: You've Been Doing Compensation Wrong This Whole Time (with Candor IQ's Haris Ikram)
Better Decisions: The Leaders Getting AI Right Are Doing Something Most Orgs Refuse to Do with Marinus van Driel
Most AI conversations I sit through are either full of hype that doesn't hold up or sooo doom-and-gloom that I leave feeling like I should update my resume and move to a cabin. This episode is neither of those things, and that's exactly why I loved it! I sat down with Marinus van Driel, a partner at Aon who leads their workforce transformation team, to talk about what's actually happening with AI and workforce strategy in 2026, and more importantly, what leaders are getting catastrophically wrong about it. The short version: most organizations are treating AI like a cost-cutting lever when they should be using it to redesign how work gets done entirely. The longer version is in this episode, and it's worth every minute! 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 00:01:45 - Marinus’s Background 00:03:12 - The Biggest AI/Trends in 2026 (So Far) 00:08:09 - How We Can Prepare for Major Changes in the Workplace 00:14:12 - What Leaders Need to Know so They Can Understand AI More Effectively 00:19:15 - How HR Can Separate Fear-based Decisions into Strategy 00:25:30 - What Leaders Are Doing Differently to Become Forward-thinking Orgs 00:30:53 - What Companies Keep Getting Wrong About AI, and What a Better Decision Looks Like 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 Marinus: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinus/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S11 E10: Engagement Scores Don't Lie, But the Way You're Using Them Absolutely Does with Anne Maltese
We have all handed an engagement score to a CEO, watched them nod confidently, say something completely incorrect about what it means, and had to just sit there smiling while dying a little inside. Just me? …Definitely not just me. The number isn't always lying, but the questions we've been asking for the last decade might be! My guest today is Anne Maltese from Quantum Workplace, and she has spent nearly 20 years watching what happens when people data lands in executive rooms, between the good, the bad, and the deeply cringe-worthy. We're getting into new ways to think about engagement, smarter questions to bring your leadership team, and why the disengaged people on your team might not be who you think they are. Buckle up! --- Quantum Workplace helps leaders build thriving teams that fuel business success. We give leaders at every level a clear path forward—by unlocking critical talent insights across engagement, performance, and development. With clarity and confidence, people leaders can act decisively, scale leadership quality, and strengthen connection and performance. Trusted by thousands of people-focused companies, Quantum Workplace makes it easier to keep teams aligned, empowered, growing, and valued on the path to business success. Visit quantumworkplace.com to learn more. --- 00:02:13 - Something New Anne Wants to Learn This Year 00:05:11 - The Biggest Shift Anne Has Seen Around How Orgs Talk About Engagement 00:11:20 - Is Your Engagement Healthy? 00:16:39 - Smarter Questions to Walk Into an Exec Room With Instead of Just Standard Engagement Scores 00:27:01 - What Does it Mean if Someone is a Top Performer, But Disengaged? 00:34:24 - What Good Data Storytelling Looks Like in Practice 00:38:35 - Does Data Show That HR Leaders are Thriving? 00:42:23 - How HR Should Start Rethinking Measuring and Reporting Engagement 00:48:03 - What Gives Anne Hope For the Future --- 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 Anne: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-maltese-0b9a876/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S11 E9: Your L&D Strategy Is Broken and No, a Workshop Won't Fix It with Hanan Sahourieh
L&D gets done dirty constantly and I have been saying this for years!!! It's the function that gets underfunded, overcomplicated, blamed for culture problems it didn't create, and somehow still expected to fix everything with a workshop and a Kirkpatrick model. Hanan Sahourieh got into all of it: why L&D functions fail before they even get started, how ego and power dynamics quietly destroy learning cultures, what trust actually looks like when you have to rebuild it from scratch, and the mistakes learning professionals make without even realizing it. Oh, and she wrote a book called Everybody Be Cool which is the most accurate title for an L&D book I have ever heard in my life. --- Quantum Workplace helps leaders build thriving teams that fuel business success. We give leaders at every level a clear path forward—by unlocking critical talent insights across engagement, performance, and development. With clarity and confidence, people leaders can act decisively, scale leadership quality, and strengthen connection and performance. Trusted by thousands of people-focused companies, Quantum Workplace makes it easier to keep teams aligned, empowered, growing, and valued on the path to business success. Visit quantumworkplace.com to learn more. --- 00:01:42 - Something New Hanan Wants to Learn This Year 00:04:30 - The First Thing Hanan Notices When L&D is a Mess at an Org 00:07:35 - The Story Behind Hanan’s Book Title, Everybody Be Cool 00:13:12 - Why Cross-functional Leaders Keep Over-engineering Stuff That Isn’t Theirs to Run 00:19:44 - Pushing Back on a Senior Leader When They Think They Know Better Than the Learning Team 00:25:52 - A New Idea in L&D Right Now 00:30:29 - How to Build Trust That’s Brand New or Even Lost 00:38:16 - Some of the Most Common Mistakes Learnig Professionals Make Without Realizing 00:42:13 - The Single Most Important Thing HR Should Get Right About Learning in Year One 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 Hanan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hananharb/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef
S11 E8: The Most Important Hire I Ever Made Ended Up Replacing Me with Morgan T. Stanley
Okay so this episode is a little different, because the layers here are a lot. Morgan T. Stanley is my guest today, and yes, that is her real name, and yes, we have laughed about it many times. We started as peers, then somehow ended up in a manager-direct report situation, then became peers again, and NOW she has my old job! We discuss everything — how we met, what it was like when the dynamic shifted, what she changed after stepping into the role, and how leadership has genuinely changed her as a person. This one felt less like an interview and more like two people who've seen each other grow up in this industry, finally putting it all on the table. --- Quantum Workplace helps leaders build thriving teams that fuel business success. We give leaders at every level a clear path forward—by unlocking critical talent insights across engagement, performance, and development. With clarity and confidence, people leaders can act decisively, scale leadership quality, and strengthen connection and performance. Trusted by thousands of people-focused companies, Quantum Workplace makes it easier to keep teams aligned, empowered, growing, and valued on the path to business success. Visit quantumworkplace.com to learn more. --- 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:39 - One New Thing Morgan is Learning This Year 00:04:30 - How Hebba and Morgan Met 00:15:59 - How Hebba and Morgan Have Learned From Each Other Over the Years 00:21:44 - When Morgan Stepped Into Hebba’s Old Role 00:36:24 - What Changes Did Morgan Make After Stepping Into Hebba’s Old Role? 00:41:51 - How Morgan’s Relationship With Power and Responsibility Have Evolved 00:48:45 - How Morgan’s Role Has Changed Her --- 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 Morgan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgantstanley/ Follow Hebba: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ihateit-here/videos LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hebba-youssef Twitter: https://twitter.com/hebbamyoussef