US company ClickUp lays off 22% workforce, but CEO says bigger rewards await those...

ClickUp has announced a major round of layoffs as the company accelerates its shift towards artificial intelligence-driven operations. The cloud-based productivity platform revealed that it is cutting 22% of its workforce, with CEO Zeb Evans insisting the decision was not simply about reducing costs.

Sharing the update on X, Evans said the company was restructuring itself around AI and automation while introducing what he described as “million-dollar salary bands” for top-performing employees using artificial intelligence effectively.

“Most savings from this change will flow directly back into the people who stay,” Evans wrote on X.


“We’ll be introducing million-dollar salary bands. If you create outsized impact using AI, you’ll be paid outside of traditional bands.”

ClickUp wants ‘100x output’ with AI-first model

According to a 2023 earlier company blog post, ClickUp had more than 1,000 employees globally. The latest layoffs are part of a wider effort to rebuild the company with an AI-focused structure.

Evans explained that the future workforce at ClickUp would now fall into three broad categories:

• builders
• system managers
• front-liners

He said builders and system managers would increasingly work alongside AI systems and automate parts of their own jobs, while front-liners would focus on customer interaction and maintaining “the human touch”.

“The people that automate their jobs with AI will always have a job,” Evans said in another X post.

“They become owners of the AI systems, agent managers.”

He also claimed the company’s long-term goal was to achieve “100x output” through AI-powered productivity.

AI workflows becoming mandatory at ClickUp

Reports suggest the company has already started pushing employees to use AI agents more aggressively in day-to-day work.

According to remarks made to Business Insider by growth operations manager Andy Cabasso, ClickUp has encouraged workers to share AI workflows internally and build a stronger AI-first culture across teams.

The move reflects a broader trend across the global tech industry, where companies are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence tools while simultaneously reducing headcount.

Meta, Microsoft and LinkedIn among firms cutting jobs amid AI boom

ClickUp’s announcement came during the same week that Meta confirmed sweeping job cuts affecting around 8,000 employees.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the shift in an internal memo quoted by CNBC.

“AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes,” Zuckerberg reportedly told employees.

“The companies that lead the way will define the next generation.”

Several other major technology firms, including Microsoft, Cisco, Cloudflare, Coinbase and LinkedIn, have also announced layoffs or restructuring linked to AI adoption in recent months.

According to data from Layoffs.fyi, more than 114,000 tech employees across 150 companies have reportedly lost jobs in 2026 so far.

California steps in over AI job fears

As anxiety grows around AI replacing workers, Gavin Newsom has announced measures aimed at supporting employees displaced by automation.

The California governor recently signed an executive order designed to help workers affected by AI-driven layoffs through severance protections, employment support and transition assistance.

“California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us, and we won’t start now,” Newsom said in a statement.

“This moment demands that we reimagine the entire system, how we work, how we govern, how we prepare people for the future.”

AI layoffs becoming the new normal in tech

The latest developments show how quickly artificial intelligence is changing hiring patterns across Silicon Valley and the wider global tech sector.

While some companies see AI as a tool to boost productivity and reward top talent, critics worry that aggressive automation could fundamentally reshape the job market and leave thousands of workers behind.

Inputs from agencies