HoneyBook: “One of the most damaging myths of AI is that it is taking jobs away from humans”

“What we’ve learned over the past year is that A Players become A++ Players when empowered with the right AI tools,” said Maya Wolkoon, Head of People, TLV at HoneyBook.

CTech’s "HR in the AI Era" series explores how the AI revolution is impacting the workforce across Israeli high-tech companies. In this series, we uncover the effects (both personal and professional) that this technology shift has had on Startup Nation.

Maya Wolkoon

“We’ve seen people across the company adopt AI in ways we never anticipated, streamlining their work while improving its quality through incredibly creative adaptations of this technology,” she added. “And that’s genuinely exciting.”

You can read the entire interview below.

Company name: HoneyBook
Your name and title: Maya Wolkoon, Head of People, TLV
Names of founders and upper management: Oz Alon (CEO)
Year of founding: 2013
Investment stage: Series E
Total investment to date: $498 Million
Field of activity: AI, Fintech
Number of employees: 170 in Israel, 100 in the United States
Office location: Tel Aviv, United States
Number of open positions: 20+

On a scale of 1-10, how much does the AI revolution disrupt your company operation in general, and the HR department specifically?

I’d rate the AI disruption at around 6 out of 10 but for us, it’s not about replacing what we do, it’s about enhancing how we do it.

At HoneyBook, we’re embracing AI where it makes sense to improve efficiency, surface insights, and reduce manual work. But what makes us who we are, as a team and as a company, goes far beyond automation.

AI can’t replace human connection, team energy, or the joy of collaborating with people you care about. And that’s at the heart of our culture: we’re a team that thrives on real relationships, shared moments, and working together in ways that are meaningful and fun.

We’ve always put a strong emphasis on hiring A Players. What we’ve learned over the past year is that A Players become A++ Players when empowered with the right AI tools. We’ve seen people across the company adopt AI in ways we never anticipated, streamlining their work while improving its quality through incredibly creative adaptations of this technology. And that’s genuinely exciting.

For us, AI isn’t about replacing people, it's about unlocking new levels of performance, curiosity, and innovation. We’re not automating the human connection; we’re clearing the path for it.

What interesting AI tools do you and your staff use in employee management/recruitment?

We are constantly adopting tools and testing new technologies to push the envelope in many areas. One great example is our early adoption of Intercom’s Fin, an AI-powered support agent that helps us handle simple, repetitive customer inquiries. This allows our amazing Support team to focus on the more complex, nuanced cases that require the human touch we care so deeply about.

In recruitment, we’ve started piloting a tool that builds a pipeline of candidate profiles based on the job description – essentially reversing the process and letting AI surface potential fits. We’re also beginning to evaluate tools that help with resume screening, to speed up early-stage filtering while keeping quality and fairness top of mind.

Across the company, one of the most widely adopted tools has been AI meeting notetakers. We’ve experimented with different note taking tools and created systems that are intuitive and embedded in our existing workflow.

HoneyBook has three main offices, two in the US and one in Tel Aviv, with other team members working remotely, so we use our notetakers to share the output of our weekly team meetings, so that no office is left without a weekly read-out of what’s happening across the globe.

HoneyBook’s notetaker has significantly improved how we capture, share, and act on meeting outcomes. It makes our communication tighter and frees us up to be more present and focused during conversations.

As with everything AI-related, we approach this with a mix of curiosity and intention. Our goal isn’t to automate the human connection, but to remove friction, gain insight, and create more space for meaningful work.

In which roles or tasks within your company has AI already begun to replace human labor (if at all)?

One of the most damaging myths of AI is that it is taking jobs away from humans – this is not true now, and likely never. AI is taking over repetitive, time-consuming tasks, not replacing human creativity or problem-solving. We’re seeing AI reshape how we do business by taking on the manual, repetitive tasks that typically eat up our time, so we can focus on higher-value contributions.

For example:

• In R&D, developers use AI (via tools like Cursor) to accelerate code writing, testing, and documentation.
• In our Data Engineering team, we now use generative AI to write data validation tests, auto-generate documentation, and even create column-level descriptions in our data models. This has helped the team stay better organized, reduce manual overhead, and focus more on higher-value problem-solving.
• In Product, Research, and Design teams we are extensively using AI to deepen our problem discovery and exploration as well as get early input on our product iterations by bringing “AI-generated users” into the early stages of product development, in addition to (and not instead of) talking to real customers.
• In Operations and Customer Experience, AI helps generate content drafts, automate workflows, and extract insights from data.
• Even in our People team, we use AI to support writing, people programs briefs, research, and improving internal processes.
• In Content Marketing, we’ve created custom GPTs which follow our brand guidelines and checks for tone, grammar, and accuracy.

But in all these cases, humans are still at the center, making decisions, bringing context, and ensuring quality. We don’t see AI as a replacement mechanism, but rather as a force multiplier: it helps good people do great work, faster.

What are the two major challenges you are coping with these days?

One of the biggest challenges we’re facing right now is navigating the pace of change both in the world around us and within the tech ecosystem. With AI evolving rapidly, market conditions shifting, and employees’ expectations changing, our job in the people team is to stay grounded while helping the company remain agile. This requires balancing experimentation with stability, and ensuring our people feel safe and supported as we explore new ways of working.

The second challenge is maintaining connection and culture across a distributed, hybrid team. With offices in Tel Aviv and the US, and team members working remotely, we’re constantly looking for new ways to build shared experiences, foster trust, and ensure that every employee feels seen and included – no matter where they are. It’s not just about communication; it’s creating a true sense of belonging.

Have you experienced workforce-related challenges due to the war, and are you still feeling the impact of the security situation on your human resources?

We’ve felt the human and emotional impact of the war. While our global operations continued without disruption, our Israeli team was directly affected whether through military reserve duty, supporting family members, or simply coping with the ongoing uncertainty and the emotional toll.

The world has been going through upheaval over the past three years, and we are committed to provide stability and support to our colleagues in Tel Aviv and their families.

Our guiding principle at HoneyBook is People Come First. Before anything else, our team members need to feel safe, supported and encouraged to bring their best selves to work. We adapted quickly, offering flexibility, time off, emotional support, and creating spaces for openness and connection. Managers were equipped to lead with empathy, and we made sure employees felt seen and supported.

At the same time, we’ve been working actively to bridge the experience gap between our Israeli and US teams. Part of our HR role has been to help our US-based colleagues understand the Israeli context, and foster a culture of empathy, patience, and cross-cultural support.

Have you made changes to your workforce following the increased use of AI tools, both in terms of headcount and internal shifts between departments?

We haven’t made changes in headcount, but we have seen change in how people work, learn, and evolve within their roles. The rise of AI hasn’t led us to reduce teams, but it has prompted us to rethink how we operate and how we build capabilities across the company.

Our view is that AI isn’t a reason to downsize – it’s a reason to invest in learning, internal mobility, and responsible innovation.

How does the global market uncertainty affect your workforce, in terms of employee numbers or departmental reallocations? Are you scaling your workforce up or down in different regions around the world?

Global market uncertainty is top of mind, yet HoneyBook is hiring across all offices in Tel Aviv and the US. Our member base is expanding, our product is advancing, and we are excited to be growing. We’ve had employees reach out with relocation requests, which we evaluate individually, balancing personal needs with business outcomes. We recognize that our employees' personal needs change, and we do our best to support them thoughtfully and responsibly.

Do you estimate that in 2025–2026 you will increase or decrease the number of personnel? Explain why.

We are actively recruiting across all offices. At HoneyBook, we’ve consistently grown with intention and responsibility, and this year is no different. We are continuing to hire for key strategic roles, particularly in R&D, Data, and Machine Learning areas that are central to our product innovation and long-term vision.

Our approach is thoughtful: we focus on quality, alignment, and long-term impact, ensuring that each hire strengthens both our culture and our capabilities. In parallel, we continue to invest in our existing team through internal mobility, development opportunities, and leadership growth. Recruitment for us isn’t just about scaling; it’s about building the right team for the future.