Monday.com lays off hundreds to focus on AI
TechCrunch Ram Iyer
Monday.com is cutting 630 jobs, about 20% of its staff, to pour more money into AI. It's the latest sign that
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Ram Iyer — read the original for the full story.
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Monday.com just confirmed what a lot of workplace software companies have been hinting at for months: the AI pivot has a body count. The Israeli firm is cutting roughly 630 jobs, about 20% of its workforce, and calling it a move toward a "leaner, more focused operating model." The real story is what that model is focused on — an AI Work Platform the company redesigned its entire product line around earlier this year.
That platform bundles a no-code app builder, a customizable AI agent, a workflow automation tool, and a chatbot that handles grunt work like writing reports and refreshing dashboards. Monday.com's bet is that enterprise customers don't just want software anymore; they want AI agents sitting alongside human employees, doing a chunk of the actual work. Betting the company on that thesis apparently meant deciding it needed fewer humans to build and sell it.
The restructuring isn't free. Monday.com says it will book $45 million to $55 million in charges tied to the layoffs, a reminder that even AI-driven cost-cutting comes with a real upfront bill. Whether that spend translates into faster product cycles or just a smaller, more stressed team remains to be seen.
And Monday.com is far from alone. Layoffs.fyi data shows more than 122,000 tech jobs have disappeared in 2026 already, with a record 78% of companies this year pointing to AI refocusing as a reason for cuts. May alone saw a monthly layoff spike the industry hasn't seen in years. Monday.com didn't invent this pattern — it just joined it, with a very specific number attached.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Every time a company frames layoffs as an 'AI-first' strategy, remember that the AI didn't fire anyone — a spreadsheet and a board did. Monday.com gets to look forward-thinking while quietly admitting its old headcount was never about AI capability, it was about margin. This is the same script tech has run all year, and calling it innovation instead of cost-cutting doesn't make the 630 people any less unemployed.
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