What 30 to 35 Departing HoneyBook Workers Are Offered as the Company Reorganizes Around AI

HoneyBook is laying off approximately 14% of its 255-strong workforce, and the cuts affect around 30 to 35 employees, the majority of whom are based in Israel. The small-business software company tied the move to a reorganization meant to fit its structure and work processes to the AI era, and it is doing so while it is estimated to have hundreds of millions of dollars in cash reserves. HoneyBook has promised departing staff favorable severance terms and Calcalist learned that their stock options will stay valid for longer, though no amounts have been made public. For Metaintro readers in software, the cut comes from a company that says the move is driven by financial strength.

What Exactly Is HoneyBook Cutting, and Who Is Affected?

The layoff covers about 14% of the 255 people HoneyBook employed when the cut was reported, and most of those being let go are in Israel. The news broke on October 8 in the Israeli business press.

HoneyBook builds business management tools for small businesses in the U.S., and its software lets owners handle marketing, project management, collections and invoicing from one system. The company was founded by Oz and Naama Alon and Dror Shimoni, and Oz Alon is the chief executive.

No breakdown by team, role or office has been published in Calcalist, Globes, ICE or the public part of TheMarker's story. Beyond the majority being employed in Israel, where the other affected staff are based has not been disclosed.

Why Do the Job Counts Range From 30 to 35?

Two counts circulate, and they describe the same cut. The share and the base match across the coverage, 14% of 255 workers, including in ICE and Globes. The count is around 30 to 35 employees in Calcalist CTech's story and between 30 and 35 of the company's 255 workers on the ICE business site.

The higher figure, about 35 workers and 35 out of 255 employees, appears in TheMarker and Globes. HoneyBook did not give a headcount figure in its statement, so the count stands at 30 to 35 jobs, with two of the four reports giving 35 or about 35.

What Reason Has HoneyBook Given for the Cuts?

The company points to AI, saying it is "undergoing a reorganization process aimed at aligning our structure and workflows with the AI era, while integrating AI into our product and value proposition for customers." It added that the move is driven by financial strength and strategic focus, with the goal of becoming a faster, more agile organization.

HoneyBook says the move comes from financial strength rather than financial distress. It also described the step as a difficult decision and thanked everyone who played a part in the company's journey.

This is a difficult decision, and we thank everyone who played a part in the journey that made us a leading solution for small businesses in the U.S., HoneyBook said in its statement, according to the Calcalist CTech report.

There is a market backdrop as well. Small-business software is being challenged by vibe-coding companies such as Wix's Base44 or Lovable, and by people who prefer to use Claude Code to set up and maintain their business (translated), Globes reporter Assaf Gilad writes.

What Does HoneyBook Make, and Where Is AI Already in the Product?

HoneyBook launched to put corporate-level contract and invoicing tools in the hands of small businesses in 2013, added loans, checking and money management tools under HoneyBook Finance in 2023, and marks 2024 with the line AI entered the chat. HoneyBook says its platform has processed approximately $18 billion in payments by tens of thousands of business owners since its inception, a figure ICE also carries.

The AI features are already on sale. The tools sold as HoneyBook AI take meeting notes and summarize to-dos, turn a workload into a daily action plan, send predictive alerts when leads reach out and have a high likelihood of booking, and generate instant, personalized email responses. The company markets those features with its own claims of a 30% higher booking rate and 20 hours back every week for customers who use them.

What Are Departing Workers Getting, and What Is Still Unknown?

The company has promised support and favorable severance. HoneyBook has also extended the validity of the departing employees' stock options, Calcalist learned.

HoneyBook lists staff benefits including a competitive salary, equity, and retirement plans, along with open PTO, parental leave and hybrid workspaces.

Severance amounts, the length of the option extension and a list of affected roles do not appear in Calcalist, Globes, ICE or the public part of TheMarker's story. The company has raised half a billion dollars so far, from investors including Norwest, Aleph, Hillsven and Tiger Global.

What Are Laid-Off Workers in Israel Owed Under Local Rules?

Most of the affected staff are employed in Israel, where Israeli labor law sets the dismissal steps.

• A hearing comes first. Israeli case law requires that employers provide employees with a Zechut Shimu'ah (right to be heard) before making a dismissal decision, according to Russell D. Mayer of Livnat, Mayer & Co., whose guide was last updated in November 2024. The employer must provide the employee with a written invitation to attend the hearing, detailing the reasons for the potential dismissal, and the employer should invite you to bring a relative, friend, lawyer, or other. The hearing must be conducted in good faith, considering the employee's arguments, and the employer should record/document the internal hearing and provide a copy to the employee immediately.
• Notice is set by tenure. Salaried staff on a fixed monthly salary get at least 1 month after 12 months of employment, with shorter periods for newer staff. Even if the employer waives work during notice, it must still pay the employee's full salary during this period.
• Severance has a statutory baseline. An employee terminated after one year is generally entitled to severance calculated at the rate of one month's regular salary for each year of employment, and under Section 14 arrangements all or most severance entitlements are deposited directly into the severance component of the employee's pension account.
• Ask for your employment certificate. Employers must give written confirmation of the employment period within 14 days of termination or one week from the employee's request.

Unemployment benefits have their own conditions. The National Insurance Institute of Israel sets five conditions, including being an Israeli resident or a temporary resident and having turned 20 but not reached the age of 67. One of them is a qualifying period as salaried employee of at least 12 months out of the last 18 months preceding your first registration with Employment Service, counting only months of work between the age of 18 and 67. If you register online, you must appear in person at the bureau nearest your home within 14 days of the online registration, and it is important to report to Employment Service soon after work termination. The qualifying working months are not required to be consecutive nor from a single employer, and even one day of work in the month will be deemed as a full working month.

Why Does an Extended Stock Option Window Matter?

As part of its support for the departing workers, HoneyBook has also extended the validity of the departing employees' stock options, Calcalist learned. How much longer the options now stay valid does not appear in Calcalist or ICE.

Tax rules can matter too for anyone holding US incentive stock options. Under US federal law, one condition under which section 421(a) shall apply to shares from an incentive stock option is that, at all times from the grant date until the day 3 months before the date of such exercise, the holder was an employee of the corporation granting the option, its parent or subsidiary, or a corporation that issued or assumed the option in a section 424(a) transaction, as set out in section 422 of the tax code. The length and terms of the HoneyBook extension have not been disclosed in the original story, so a departing worker should ask in writing for the new exercise deadline. Israeli employees whose options sit under local tax arrangements should ask the same question of a local adviser.

Is HoneyBook Part of a Wider Wave of AI-Linked Cuts in Israeli Tech?

Two Israeli tech companies cut dozens of jobs each the same week and tied the moves to the AI era. Data storage startup Silk, based in Yokneam, let go an estimated more than 30 workers, 20 at the start of that week and about 10 a few weeks earlier, together about 25% of its research and development staff, shortly after raising $45 million. Both companies explain the moves as fitting the company's work structure to the AI era.

Pentera's August cuts affected approximately 60 employees, with around 30 of them based in Israel, and the company plans to continue recruiting employees with relevant experience in artificial intelligence, according to Calcalist. Pentera's August round appears on a full list of Israeli high-tech layoffs in 2026.

monday.com announced about 620 layoffs, around 20% of its global workforce, with about 350 of them in Israel, in an August 2 report on Israeli tech cuts, with management describing the change as adapting the organization to an era in which work is done by employees together with AI agents, while adding that this is not a simple replacement of workers with AI (translated). Wix moved to lay off about 20% of its staff, close to 1,000 people in May, and MyHeritage cut about 15% of its workforce, about 75 employees, in July.

Our approach is not ‘AI replaces people.’ But it would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas. It does, Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes said in March, according to the TechCrunch running list.

Yonatan Katz and the economists at Leader Capital Markets saw a moderate contraction trend (translated) in Israeli high-tech employment and tie it to AI penetration and the shekel's appreciation in their review of June data. Outside Israel, GitLab laid off roughly 350 workers, about 14% of its staff on June 3, and Coinbase said it was cutting about 700 employees on May 5.

What This Means for Software Workers, and What Should You Do Next?

HoneyBook is cutting jobs while describing the step as driven by financial strength, and the company is estimated to have hundreds of millions of dollars in cash reserves. The cut fits a wider trend in which strong, established tech firms reorganize their workforces for efficiency and automation (translated), in ICE's analysis.

• If you were affected, get the terms in writing. Ask for the severance amount, the notice period, the new option exercise deadline and your employment certificate. Israeli rules give you a right to be heard before a final decision, so use the hearing to raise anything you want reviewed.
• Register for unemployment early. Check the 12 out of 18 months qualifying rule and keep the in-person check-in deadline.
• Do the option math before the window closes. Work out the cost to exercise, the tax effect and whether you can afford to hold the shares. If your options are US incentive stock options, the three-month ISO rule is the starting point.
• Look at where AI skills are wanted. Pentera's August cut came as the company plans to continue recruiting employees with relevant experience in artificial intelligence, according to Calcalist.
• If you are still employed in small-business software, read what AI products already do. Features that generate instant, personalized email responses and take meeting notes and summarize to-dos are now sold as product, so check which parts of your role those tools already cover.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many people is HoneyBook laying off?

A: HoneyBook is cutting approximately 14% of its 255-strong workforce, around 30 to 35 employees, and other coverage puts the number at 35 out of 255 employees, most of them in Israel.

Q: Why is HoneyBook cutting jobs?

A: The company says it is reorganizing to align its structure and workflows with the AI era while building AI into its product, and it says the move comes from financial strength rather than financial distress.

Q: What severance are HoneyBook workers getting?

A: HoneyBook has promised favorable severance terms and has extended the validity of departing employees' stock options, but amounts and deadlines do not appear in Calcalist, Globes, ICE or the public part of TheMarker's story, and Israeli law generally sets a baseline of one month's regular salary for each year of employment after one year.

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