Canva’s restructuring includes departures, role changes and relocation, with departing employees receiving financial, career and wellbeing support.
6 November 2026
Canva layoffs form part of a major restructuring affecting 1,271 employees, or 22% of the company’s workforce. The design software company is changing its organisational structure, consolidating responsibilities and bringing more closely connected teams together.
The affected figure includes employees facing redundancy, changes to their responsibilities or requests to relocate. Canva has not disclosed how many of those 1,271 employees will ultimately leave the business.
For departing staff, the company has announced an exit package that includes at least six months’ salary, permission to retain their company MacBooks and a year of LinkedIn Premium. Additional measures cover healthcare, career coaching, employee assistance and support for launching independent ventures.
Why Canva Is Restructuring Its Workforce
In a public message to employees, Canva co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins said the company’s growth had slowed for the first time in a decade.
Perkins described an organisation that needed substantial changes to prepare for its next stage. Her explanation focused on evolving technology, changing customer expectations and internal structures that had become harder to navigate.
According to the company, increasingly specialised teams and overlapping responsibilities have created unnecessary coordination between different parts of the business.
Canva’s proposed response is to give smaller teams broader responsibility and clearer decision-making authority. The announcement presents the restructuring as a change to how the company operates, alongside reductions and changes to individual roles.
Canva Layoffs: What the Exit Package Includes
The Canva layoffs severance package combines financial assistance with practical support for employees seeking their next opportunity.
| Support | Announced provision |
|---|---|
| Salary | At least six months’ salary, including statutory entitlements, regardless of location. |
| Company laptop | Departing employees can keep their existing Canva MacBook. |
| LinkedIn Premium | A subscription lasting 12 months. |
| Healthcare | Another 12 months of coverage in countries where Canva already provides this benefit. |
| Employee assistance | Twelve months of Canva Care support, including coverage for family members. |
| Equity arrangements | Removal of the one-year vesting cliff for employees who joined within the past year. |
| Career coaching | Individual coaching, résumé assistance and interview preparation. |
| Professional introductions | An optional alumni talent directory shared with investors, partners and Canva’s wider network. |
Two details are particularly relevant when interpreting the announcement.
First, the minimum six months of salary includes statutory entitlements. Canva layoffs has not described it as six months of additional pay on top of every legally required payment.
Second, the MacBook provision allows employees to retain equipment already issued to them. It is not an announcement that departing staff will receive newly purchased laptops.
Removing the one-year equity vesting cliff also should not be interpreted as a promise that every employee’s entire future equity allocation will immediately vest.
Canva Collective Fund Offers US$10,000 Grants
Alongside the departure package, Canva is introducing the Canva Collective Fund.
The initiative offers US$10,000 grants to departing employees interested in starting a business or developing a project that benefits their local community.
Employees leaving through the restructuring can register their interest until 14 December 2026. Canva says it will not take ownership or equity in the projects supported through the fund.
The grants should be understood as a separate opportunity for interested employees, rather than an automatic US$10,000 addition to every severance payment.
For someone considering self-employment, the combination of retained equipment and potential startup funding could help with early expenses. Whether that route is suitable will depend on the individual’s circumstances and plans.
How Canva’s Teams Will Change
The workforce announcement accompanies several changes to Canva’s operating structure.
Product, Growth and Platform Will Be Combined
Canva plans to bring its Product, Growth and Platform functions into a single Product organisation.
The stated aim is to reduce handovers and make responsibility for improving the product easier to follow.
Roles Will Become Broader
The company also intends to consolidate overlapping responsibilities, reduce organisational layers and bring some narrow specialisms into broader roles.
For employees who remain, this could change the scope of their work even when their employment continues.
Sydney Will Become More Central
Sydney will become the primary location for more product teams and other roles that Canva considers closely connected.
Most hybrid employees are also expected to spend approximately two to three days in the office each week from January 2027, with arrangements depending on their area.
These changes help explain why the overall affected headcount includes relocation and role changes alongside job losses.
How Artificial Intelligence Fits Into the Changes
The Canva layoffs arrive as the company continues developing products built around artificial intelligence.
Canva AI 2.0, for example, is designed to help users create and refine editable designs through conversational instructions. Its broader product direction includes connecting design work with research, scheduling and other tasks.
That development provides context for changing priorities, but it does not establish that AI is directly replacing every departing employee.
A Canva spokesperson told the Australian Associated Press that the restructuring was intended to organise the company around the products it now wants to build. The spokesperson said Canva was not using AI to perform the work of employees who were leaving.
The distinction matters: investment in AI products and the automation of specific jobs are separate claims. The company’s public explanation supports the former without confirming the latter as the reason for these departures.
What the Announcement Means for Employees and Leaders
The financial package may give departing employees more time to search for suitable work. Retaining a laptop and receiving career support can also address practical barriers during that search.
However, an exit package does not remove the disruption of losing a role. Employees may still face uncertainty over future income, professional identity, family commitments or relocation decisions.
For Canva’s leadership, delivering the promised assistance will be one immediate test. Clear information about payment calculations, benefit eligibility and access to support will matter as much as the announcement itself.
A second test concerns the organisation that remains. Combining teams can simplify responsibility, but only if employees understand who makes decisions, which projects take priority and how workloads will change.
From a management perspective, the restructuring should ultimately be assessed through its results: whether teams can deliver useful products more effectively, whether responsibilities become clearer and whether employees receive the support promised to them.
What to Watch Next
Further information about the final number of redundancies will provide a clearer picture of the Canva layoffs.
The implementation of relocation arrangements, the January office expectations and the new Product organisation will also show how extensively the company’s daily operations change.
For departing employees, the immediate priorities will be understanding their individual package and accessing the financial, professional and wellbeing support available.
For Canva, the longer-term challenge is turning a difficult workforce transition into an organisation capable of delivering on its product ambitions.
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