On Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Monday.com — the Israeli work management SaaS company that went public in 2021 at a $7.6 billion valuation — announced it was laying off 630 employees, representing 20% of its global workforce. The move, disclosed by co-CEOs Roy Mann and Eran Zinman, was officially framed as a "strategic restructuring around an AI Work Platform" rather than a cost-cutting exercise. But the numbers tell a more complicated story.
The mass layoff arrives at a moment when Monday.com is projecting record revenue and has just raised its non-GAAP operating margin forecast from 13% to 15%. If the company is performing so well financially, why cut one-fifth of its staff?
The math that doesn't add up
The official narrative is that Monday.com is transforming into an "AI Work Platform" — one featuring AI assistants, a no-code app builder, and automated agents that replace processes previously handled by human teams. In practical terms, the company claims AI enables it to do more with fewer people. The problem is that the raised operating margin projection suggests a significant portion of the "efficiency gain" will come directly from payroll reduction.
According to TechCrunch, Monday.com is far from alone. The publication compiled a running list of more than 20 tech companies that cited artificial intelligence as the stated reason for mass layoffs in 2026 — including Snap, Block (Jack Dorsey's fintech company), Duolingo, and Grammarly. The phenomenon has even earned a label: "AI-washing" of layoffs, where AI serves as a more palatable justification for cuts ultimately driven by margin pressure and Wall Street expectations.
The macro picture: 122,000 tech cuts in 2026
Data from Layoffs.fyi shows more than 122,000 tech professionals lost their jobs in 2026 through July. A growing share of those cuts explicitly name AI in official communications. StartupFortune, in a detailed analysis published Friday, noted that Monday.com will incur between $45 million and $55 million in severance and restructuring charges — an amount that will be more than offset by the annual salary savings.
TechTimes highlighted that artificial intelligence has been the leading stated reason for U.S. job cuts for four consecutive months in 2026 — a streak with no precedent in outplacement records.
Pivot or opportunism?
Defenders of the strategy argue Monday.com is genuinely reinventing itself. The company has launched a suite of AI agents that automate entire workflows — from project approvals to resource allocation — and a visual app builder that promises to reduce reliance on internal developers. Products like the Monday AI Assistant and Monday WorkForms embed language models directly into the platform.
Critics counter that laying off 630 people — including engineers, designers, and support teams — contradicts the narrative that this pivot is about innovation rather than savings. If AI is so transformative, why cut the very people who would build that transformation?
A recurring pattern
Block cut over 1,000 roles in April, citing AI. Snap laid off 529 employees in May with the same justification. In every case, the companies reported improved margins in the following quarters. Coincidence — or strategy?
What's becoming clear is that 2026 is cementing a new corporate vocabulary: "AI-driven restructuring" has become shorthand for "we're cutting costs and we want the market to approve." Monday.com may well be genuinely building a next-generation AI platform. But for the 630 professionals who lost their jobs, the difference between a "pivot" and a "layoff" is purely semantic.
Sources: TechCrunch, Business Insider, TechTimes, StartupFortune, TechCrunch
