Canva Restructuring Affects 1,271 Employees, With Six Months’ Pay and Career Support

Canva’s restructuring reaches about 22% of its workforce, and the package for departing employees extends well beyond pay. The company says 1,271 people will be affected through layoffs, role changes or relocation, alongside support that includes at least six months of pay, continued healthcare in eligible countries and help finding new work.

The scale reflects a shift in the company’s outlook. Canva, the graphic design platform launched in 2013, has grown for a decade, but co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins told employees that growth slowed for the first time in the past year. In a memo, she described the period as Canva’s “hardest year yet.”

Perkins said that smaller adjustments wouldn’t be enough to prepare the business for its next decade. Her stated plan is to “re-found Canva,” returning to smaller, empowered teams. That signals a change in how the company wants to organize its work, even as the announcement leaves open how many people will lose their jobs, change roles or move locations. The 1,271 figure covers all three groups.

Pay, equity and healthcare support

Everyone affected will receive at least six months of pay, regardless of where they live, Perkins said. The company is also making an exception to its usual equity vesting schedule: employees who leave in this restructuring can keep their equity even if they haven’t worked at Canva for a year. The memo doesn’t specify the value of those holdings or how many employees are eligible, so the practical benefit will vary from person to person.

Healthcare coverage will continue for another 12 months in countries where Canva currently offers it. Departing employees and their families will also have 12 months of access to Canva Care, the company’s employee assistance program. These provisions offer a defined period of support, while the geography-dependent healthcare terms mean the package won’t be identical for every employee.

Career assistance forms another substantial part of the offer. Canva is providing individual coaching and interview preparation, along with a year of LinkedIn Premium. It plans to assign a significant portion of its recruiting team to resume reviews and practice interviews. For employees facing a job search, that puts internal recruiting capacity toward helping people present their experience and prepare for interviews.

Networks, equipment and grants for new ventures

Departing employees can choose to join an alumni talent directory that Canva will share with investors, partners and its wider industry network. Participation is optional, and the directory is intended to help connect former employees with possible roles. The company is also letting affected staff keep their MacBooks. Perkins explained that the decision accounts for employees who may not have a personal laptop available.

Canva has also set aside grants for people who want to pursue a business or community project. Under the new Canva Collective Fund, departing employees can apply for $10,000 grants, and the company says it won’t take an ownership stake in what recipients create. People leaving as part of the changes have until December 14 to register interest. The announcement doesn’t say how many grants will be awarded, so the total funding available and the selection process remain unclear.

Access to workplace tools will continue through the end of the week. Canva plans to keep Slack and Gmail open so affected employees have time to take in the news and say goodbye to colleagues. That short window may help people manage the immediate transition, while the longer-term provisions—such as coaching, healthcare and the alumni directory—address different needs over the months that follow.

A generous package, with questions about execution

Greg Simpson, who leads global career transition and mobility at talent advisory firm LHH, said the scale of Canva’s support didn’t surprise him in a recent interview. His comment places the package within a broader shift toward more career assistance for people leaving employers. That context matters: severance can help with income and benefits, while coaching and introductions may help workers compete for new roles, but neither guarantees how quickly someone will find work.

Jasveer Singh, co-founder and CEO of KnotDating, praised Canva’s handling of the announcement in an interview, calling it “a master-class” and describing the company’s communication as “thoughtful, honest and generous.” Those are assessments of the way the changes were presented; the effects for staff will depend on the terms each person can use and what opportunities become available.

For Canva, the central business question is whether smaller teams can support the next phase of growth after a decade in which expansion had not slowed. For employees, the immediate facts are clearer: 1,271 people face a layoff, role change or relocation, and those leaving have access to pay, equity treatment, benefits and job-search resources. How well those resources translate into new work will be an important measure of the package’s value.