HR The Next Leap
Justt: “Perks do not solve burnout. Poor management creates it, and strong leadership reduces it”
Orit Stanton, Chief People Officer at Justt, discusses how the company has managed business continuity amid a prolonged state of crisis for which there is no playbook, and why hiring AI-ready talent drives leverage in an employer's market, as part of CTech’s HR: The Next Leap series.
“Perks do not solve burnout. Poor management creates it, and strong leadership reduces it,” says Orit Stanton, Chief People Officer at AI-powered chargeback management platform Justt. According to Stanton, “one of the biggest shifts in recent years is that employees are much less influenced by symbolic perks and much more influenced by the quality of their day-to-day experience.” She adds: “If I had to name the most important benefit we can offer today, it would be thoughtful leadership.”
From active and looming war threats, to AI rapidly and constantly redefining what it means to be productive, running a company in Startup Nation brings with it its own category of challenges and rewards. HR: The Next Leap takes a glimpse into the heart of Startup Nation via the HR professionals shaping its culture. We survey the executives whose jobs are more demanding and more vital than ever, as they heed the future-proofing of their workforce, while simultaneously ensuring business continuity and employee wellbeing during relentlessly unprecedented times.
Riding the momentum of the AI revolution, Stanton explains that at Justt, “we are not hiring people to compete with AI... We are hiring people who are AI-ready, people who know how to use it well.” Meanwhile, from a recruitment perspective, she acknowledges that within the current employer's market, “strong candidates absolutely still have leverage.” However, she contends that “the best candidates are usually not just looking for the highest number. They are looking for a place where they can do meaningful work, move fast, and have real influence.”
You can read the entire interview below.
Company Name: Justt.ai
Sector: Payments
Founders: Roenen Ben-Ami, Ofir Tahor and Asaf Gozlan
Year of Founding: 2020
Investment stage: Series C
Total investment to date: Approx. $100M
Investors: Zeev Ventures, Oak HC/FT, F2 Venture Capital
Current number of employees: 130
Website: https://justt.ai/
Social Media: LinkedIn
As of March 2026, the market officially shifted into an 'employer's market'. How have your screening criteria changed, and do candidates - including senior-level ones - still hold any leverage in negotiating salaries and terms?
What has changed is that we now have a wider choice among strong candidates. This allows us to be more selective and more intentional.
At Justt, we do not play games with compensation. We pay competitively, and we hire people who can create real impact. Today, that also means looking for people who are AI-ready: people who know how to use new tools well, move fast, and operate with a high level of ownership and accountability.
In a market like this, we don’t optimize for negotiation, we optimize for impact.
Strong candidates absolutely still have leverage. But the best candidates are usually not just looking for the highest number. They are looking for a place where they can do meaningful work, move fast, and have real influence.
How have/are you managing operational continuity and recruitment while the economy navigates the emergency state triggered by the conflict with Iran? With the threat of escalation looming at any moment, how are you and have you been handling everything from interviews interrupted by sirens to managing teams thinned by massive, ongoing reserve duty?
Business continuity in times like these is both an operational discipline and a cultural test. There is no real playbook for it.
The challenge was to hold two things at once: the very real human needs of our employees, and our responsibility to continue showing up for our customers. Different employees were dealing with very different realities, and flexibility was essential. We assumed people were doing their best under difficult circumstances, with safety always coming first.
Our response started with clarity and prioritization. We communicated frequently, sometimes even over-communicated, because uncertainty creates additional stress. We also tried to preserve key routines and company rituals where possible, while adapting them to the moment.
Operationally, we created a daily task force focused on customers and on the most critical business priorities, so decisions could be made quickly and execution could stay tight. In parallel, our People team stayed in close contact with all our employees in Israel to understand needs, offer support, and maintain connection. We supported reserve-duty families in practical ways, and we also looked for thoughtful ways to make daily life feel a little lighter, from sending small care packages to employees’ homes to expanding practical day-to-day support where it could genuinely help.
On the recruitment side, flexibility mattered a lot. We understood that interviews could be interrupted, delayed, or take place under difficult circumstances, and we approached candidates with empathy and understanding rather than judgment.
Beyond the role of empowering employees, which roles has AI eliminated over the past year, what percentage of your workforce was reskilled to avoid being phased out, and how has this impacted entry-level hiring?
We view AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement strategy.
We are not hiring people to compete with AI. We are hiring people who are AI-ready, people who know how to use it well, think critically, move fast, and operate with a high level of personal ownership and accountability. For us, AI raises the bar. It changes how great work gets done, and it increases what strong people can achieve.
We have not approached AI as a tool for eliminating roles. We have focused on integrating it into how we work so lean teams can move faster, operate at a higher level, and create more impact.
As a startup, we usually hire people with experience because our teams are intentionally lean. At the same time, we care about creating meaningful entry points into the company. Our internship program is one example, it gives students the chance to do real work, create real impact, and in some cases grow into full-time roles.
Against the backdrop of the unstable security and political climate, are you seeing an increase in relocation requests or 'quiet quitting' by top-tier talent moving abroad, and what is the most proactive step you are taking to retain them in Israel?
At this stage, we have not seen a meaningful increase in relocation requests or in quiet disengagement among top talent.
What we do see is that strong people are becoming much more selective about the kind of environment they want to be part of. Stability matters, but so do challenge, pace, and the sense that your work is actually moving something forward.
For us, retention starts with building a company where talented people can grow, contribute, and feel the impact of what they do. Clear leadership, honest communication, and strong management are part of that, but so is the quality of the work itself. In the long run, people stay where they feel stretched, trusted, and part of something that matters.
In an era where stability has replaced flashy perks, how are you addressing the deep mental burnout of employees torn between the professional and security fronts, and what is the most critical benefit you offer today in place of the bonuses that have vanished?
Perks do not solve burnout. Poor management creates it, and strong leadership reduces it.
One of the biggest shifts in recent years is that employees are much less influenced by symbolic perks and much more influenced by the quality of their day-to-day experience. Burnout is shaped by workload, clarity, management quality, and whether people feel they are being treated like human beings during very human circumstances.
That is why our focus is not on adding more perks, but on building strong managers, clear priorities, and healthier ways of working. It also means creating a culture that keeps pushing people forward. We are investing heavily in AI adoption across the company, not as a side initiative, but as part of the standard we expect people to work at. We want every employee to have access to these tools, know how to use them well, and keep raising the level of how they operate.
If I had to name the most important benefit we can offer today, it would be thoughtful leadership. A strong manager who creates focus, flexibility, and psychological safety, while also pushing people to grow and adapt, has more impact on wellbeing than almost any traditional perk.
