Canva will lay off 1,271 employees, 22% of its workforce, as part of an organisational restructuring to prepare the company for its next phase of growth.
In a memo to employees on November 4, Co-Founder and CEO Melanie Perkins said the changes would involve restructuring teams, relocating some employees to centralised hubs and changing the roles and skills the company needs.
The restructuring will also bring product, growth, and platform teams under a single Product organisation, reduce management layers, and consolidate specialised roles into broader positions.
“This has been our hardest year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade,” Perkins said in the memo.
Founded in 2013, Canva has grown into a design platform used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Perkins said the company needs to return to its founding approach of smaller, empowered teams as it prepares for the next decade.
She added that the company had explored several alternatives before concluding that smaller changes would not be enough to prepare it for the next decade.
As part of the restructuring, Sydney will become the primary location for more of Canva’s product teams and certain other specialist roles.
The company said it would continue investing in its global workforce but wants teams working on closely connected areas to collaborate more frequently in person.
From January, most employees working under its hybrid model are expected to spend two to three days a week in the office, depending on their location.
Canva also plans to reduce the number of specialised teams and simplify reporting structures to give employees greater ownership of projects.
“We want to get back to spending more time building, and less time navigating how work gets done,” Perkins said.
Canva said employees leaving the company will receive at least six months’ salary, including statutory entitlements, regardless of their location.
The support package also includes 12 months of healthcare coverage in countries where the company currently provides it, along with continued access to its employee assistance programme for employees and their families.
Employees who joined within the past year will also have their one-year vesting cliff removed. The company will provide career support, including individual coaching, interview preparation and one year of LinkedIn Premium.
Departing employees will also be allowed to keep their company-issued MacBooks.
Canva is also launching the Canva Collective Fund, which will provide $10,000 grants to departing employees interested in starting a business or pursuing community projects. The company said it would not take equity or ownership in the ventures.
