Monday.com, the Tel Aviv-based work management software company renowned for its vibrant and adaptable project-tracking interfaces, has become the latest technology firm to identify artificial intelligence as a contributing factor in workforce reductions. On Wednesday, the company disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it plans to lay off approximately 20% of its global workforce, impacting just over 600 employees. This significant restructuring is framed as part of an "ongoing transformation of its product, marketing, and go-to-market strategy," aimed at fostering a "leaner, more focused operating model" as Monday.com intensifies its investment in an "AI-driven growth strategy."
The announcement arrives as the tech industry grapples with a wave of layoffs, with many companies re-evaluating their operational structures and strategic priorities in the face of rapid AI advancements. Monday.com’s decision underscores a broader trend where artificial intelligence, once a subject of futuristic speculation, is now a tangible factor influencing corporate decision-making and workforce planning.
A Shift Towards an AI-First Vision
In a candid memo to employees, shared on LinkedIn, Co-founder Eran Zinman emphasized that the layoffs were not primarily motivated by cost reduction or a direct replacement of human roles with AI. Instead, Zinman positioned the move as a necessary adaptation to the company’s evolving AI-first vision, a strategic pivot that was publicly articulated approximately a year ago when Monday.com underwent a rebranding centered on a platform-wide AI integration. This strategic reorientation signals a deep commitment to embedding AI capabilities across its product offerings and operational frameworks.
Despite the substantial workforce reduction, Monday.com anticipates a significant financial impact, projecting net restructuring charges in the range of $45 million to $55 million. However, the company maintains a positive outlook on its financial future, forecasting revenue growth of up to 20% year-over-year for the 2026 fiscal year. This suggests that the restructuring is intended to streamline operations and enhance future growth potential, rather than signal a decline in the company’s overall prospects.
The Broader Tech Layoff Landscape and the AI Factor
The move by Monday.com is not an isolated incident but rather part of a discernible pattern within the technology sector. Recent analysis from the Financial Times reveals that U.S. tech companies have collectively slashed nearly 140,000 jobs since the beginning of the current year. Giants like Amazon, Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft alone account for nearly 50,000 of these reductions, a trend that aligns with their substantial investments, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars, in building out AI data center infrastructure.
Intriguingly, the Financial Times’ analysis also highlights a potential market skepticism towards the AI-centric justifications for these layoffs. Companies that have explicitly cited AI as a factor in their workforce reductions have, on average, underperformed the Nasdaq composite index by nearly 10% in the 30 trading days following their announcements. This suggests that investors and market observers are scrutinizing these claims, potentially seeking more concrete evidence of AI’s direct impact on job displacement or demanding clearer explanations of how AI integration translates into workforce adjustments.
Nuances in the AI-Driven Workforce Evolution
While the narrative of AI-induced job cuts is prevalent, the picture is far from uniformly bleak. The Financial Times also points to the rapid hiring spree undertaken by AI-focused companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI. These organizations are actively recruiting, absorbing talent that has been shed by other companies in the industry. This dynamic highlights a significant reallocation of human capital within the tech ecosystem, with specialized AI expertise becoming increasingly sought after.
Furthermore, within some of the very companies implementing layoffs, there are instances of internal talent redistribution rather than outright elimination of roles. Meta, for example, strategically moved approximately 7,000 employees into new AI-focused positions earlier this year, even as it simultaneously laid off 8,000 other staff members. Similarly, IBM has announced plans to triple its entry-level hiring for AI and hybrid-cloud roles, even as it has undertaken recent workforce reductions. These moves suggest a complex evolution where certain roles are being phased out or transformed, while new, AI-centric positions are being created and prioritized.
A Chronological Overview of AI-Influenced Tech Layoffs in 2026
To provide a clearer perspective on this unfolding trend, a chronological compilation of significant tech companies that have announced layoffs with AI cited as a contributing factor in 2026 offers valuable context:
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Microsoft (July 9, 2026): The tech giant announced approximately 4,800 job cuts, representing 2.1% of its global workforce. The majority of these reductions were concentrated in its Xbox gaming division, a move described as a reset following the substantial acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While Microsoft stated these roles were "not being replaced by AI," the company acknowledged that "AI is changing how work gets done." CFO Amy Hood indicated that total headcount had declined year-over-year in fiscal Q3 and was expected to continue this trend as the company prioritized "building high-performing teams that operate with pace and agility" amid escalating AI investments.
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Oracle (June 22, 2026): Oracle disclosed a significant workforce reduction of 21,000 employees over the preceding 12 months, a decline of 13%. The company explicitly cited the adoption and deployment of AI technologies as a driver for these cuts, stating in an annual financial filing that "The adoption and deployment of AI technologies across our operations have resulted, and may continue to result, in reductions to our workforce."
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GitLab (June 3, 2026): The DevOps platform provider laid off roughly 350 employees, approximately 14% of its staff. The company stated this measure was to fund AI infrastructure investments and manage the surge in traffic generated by AI workflows. CEO Bill Staples highlighted the pressure AI is exerting on competitors and the necessity of a "generational rebuild" of its core infrastructure to support projected 100x growth requirements. GitLab is also exiting 22 countries, flattening management layers, and collaborating with an undisclosed AI lab to optimize its platform for AI-scale workloads.
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Google (Ongoing through May 2026): Alphabet’s Google has implemented a series of unannounced layoffs across its Cloud division, impacting teams such as its Threat Intelligence Group and cybersecurity staff linked to Mandiant. These reductions occurred even as Google Cloud revenue experienced robust growth. The company has also significantly reduced its management layers, cutting over a third of managers overseeing small teams. Unlike many peers, Google has not issued a single overarching layoff announcement, opting instead for a rolling process involving performance reviews, voluntary buyouts, and structural reorganizations. Estimates place the total 2026 layoffs between 1,500 and 3,000+ engineers.
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Intuit (May 20, 2026): The financial software company announced plans to eliminate approximately 3,000 jobs, representing about 17% of its workforce. This restructuring is centered on reducing complexity and reallocating resources towards AI initiatives. CEO Sasan Goodarzi reportedly communicated to staff that the simplification of the company’s structure is intended to facilitate the delivery of superior products.
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Meta (May 20-21, 2026): Meta Platforms laid off around 8,000 employees, roughly 10% of its workforce. Concurrently, the company transitioned about 7,000 employees into new AI-focused roles, although reports suggest dissatisfaction among some of these employees. CEO Mark Zuckerberg conveyed to staff that these measures were essential, emphasizing that "success isn’t a given" in the competitive AI landscape.
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Cisco (May 14, 2026): The networking hardware giant announced cuts affecting nearly 4,000 jobs, or approximately 5% of its workforce. This occurred despite the company reporting better-than-expected quarterly profits and revenue. CFO Mark Patterson clarified that the restructure was not primarily for cost savings but rather for "realigning resources around silicon, optics, security and AI."
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Cloudflare (May 7-8, 2026): Cloudflare reduced its workforce by about 20%, impacting 1,100 employees. This decision was made amidst record quarterly revenue of $639.8 million, a 34% year-over-year increase. CEO Matthew Prince indicated that the majority of those laid off were in roles described as "measurers," including middle management, finance, legal, and internal auditing, suggesting AI automation’s impact on these functions.
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General Motors (May 12, 2026): GM eliminated between 500 and 600 jobs, primarily within its IT departments in Austin, Texas, and Warren, Michigan. The company cited a reevaluation of workforce needs amid uncertain market conditions. Sources familiar with the decision indicated that AI played a role, although not as the sole factor. GM’s statement focused on "transforming its Information Technology organization to better position the company for the future," while still maintaining approximately 80 open IT positions, including roles in AI and autonomous vehicles.
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Coinbase (May 5, 2026): The cryptocurrency exchange announced plans to cut around 700 employees, or 14% of its staff, as part of a restructuring aimed at navigating market volatility and enhancing AI efficiency. The company flattened its organizational structure and indicated it would experiment with "one-person teams" combining engineering, design, and product functions. CEO Brian Armstrong highlighted how AI has dramatically accelerated the pace of work, enabling engineers to "ship in days what used to take a team weeks," underscoring the need to "leverage AI across every facet of our jobs."
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PayPal (May 5, 2026): PayPal revealed its intention to cut approximately 20% of its workforce over the next two to three years, affecting more than 4,500 jobs. This strategic move is part of a turnaround plan focused on AI adoption and organizational simplification. CEO Enrique Lores pledged to "aggressively adopt AI" in development processes and established a dedicated "AI transformation and simplification" team to redesign company processes. The cuts were framed as a reduction of organizational layers, with AI expected to influence customer service, support operations, and risk management.
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Snap (April 16, 2026): Snap Inc. reduced its global workforce by roughly 16%, equating to about 1,000 full-time employees, and canceled over 300 open positions. CEO Evan Spiegel cited advancements in AI as a primary driver, stating that "Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers." The company reported early successes with AI tools enhancing various aspects of Snapchat+.
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IBM (Rolling through 2026): IBM has been undergoing a period of workforce adjustments, with estimates ranging from 3,000 to 9,000 U.S. positions eliminated between Q4 2025 and April 2026, particularly affecting Red Hat engineering. This brings IBM’s cumulative total since September 2024 to over 15,000. While IBM plans to triple its U.S. entry-level hiring for AI and hybrid-cloud roles, approximately 200 HR positions were reportedly replaced by AI agents. A spokesperson described earlier cuts as a "routine rebalancing."
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Atlassian (March 11, 2026): The software company cut about 1,600 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, to "rebalance" towards AI and enterprise sales. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes acknowledged that while AI isn’t directly replacing people, it fundamentally alters the skill mix and number of roles required in certain areas.
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Dell (January 30, 2026, disclosed March 2026): Dell Technologies saw its total workforce decrease by approximately 10% in fiscal year 2026, resulting in about 11,000 job reductions. The company spent $569 million on severance. These cuts coincided with Dell projecting its AI-optimized server revenue to double in fiscal year 2027, indicating a strategic shift in focus.
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Oracle (March 5-31, 2026): As previously noted, Oracle began informing employees of significant job cuts via email. These reductions, which ultimately totaled 21,000 over 12 months, occurred even as Oracle reported strong quarterly financial results, with savings being redirected towards AI data centers.
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Block (February 26-27, 2026): Jack Dorsey’s Block (formerly Square) eliminated 4,000 jobs, nearly halving its workforce. Dorsey stated that "intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company." He predicted that most companies would soon reach similar conclusions and implement comparable structural changes.
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Salesforce (February 10, 2026): Salesforce laid off fewer than 1,000 employees across various departments, including its Agentforce AI unit. The company cited the efficiencies gained from its AI agents in handling support cases, reducing the need for extensive backfilling of support engineer roles. This followed an earlier reduction of approximately 4,000 customer-support roles.
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Amazon (January 28, 2026): Amazon cut 16,000 corporate jobs, adding to 14,000 reductions from October 2025, totaling about 9% of its corporate workforce in three months. CEO Andy Jassy indicated that the extensive rollout of generative AI and agents would lead to increased efficiency and a reduced need for certain corporate roles in the coming years.
Implications and Future Outlook
The widespread trend of AI-influenced layoffs within the tech industry suggests a profound shift in how companies operate and strategize. While the immediate impact is felt by employees, the long-term implications extend to the very nature of work, skill requirements, and the competitive landscape. The increased investment in AI infrastructure and development points towards a future where intelligent automation plays an even more central role in business operations.
However, the market’s reaction and the nuanced internal adjustments at companies like Meta and IBM indicate that the transition is complex. It involves not only the elimination of certain roles but also the creation of new ones, the retraining of existing workforces, and a strategic redefinition of operational efficiency. As Monday.com and other tech firms navigate this evolving terrain, their ability to effectively integrate AI, manage workforce transitions with transparency, and demonstrate tangible benefits from these changes will be critical to their sustained success and market standing. The coming years will likely see further refinement of these strategies as the full impact of artificial intelligence on the global workforce continues to unfold.
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