Canva is cutting roughly 22% of its workforce, which affects 1,271 people. Layoff news in tech is nothing new this year. What’s unusual here is the reaction. Instead of anger, much of the online conversation is about how the company is treating the people who are leaving.
This post covers why Canva is restructuring, what departing employees receive, and what any business owner or manager can take from it.
Key Takeaways
- Canva is reducing headcount by about 22% (1,271 people), after growth slowed for the first time in roughly ten years.
- Not every affected person is losing a job. Some are moving into new roles or relocating.
- Departing staff keep their company MacBooks and get at least six months of pay, plus healthcare, coaching and more.
- Rising AI costs and tougher competition from chatbots are putting pressure on the business.
- How a company handles an exit shapes its reputation as much as the decision itself.
Why is Canva cutting jobs?
Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins told staff in an internal memo that the company has had its hardest year yet. She said Canva grew from an idea in a pitch deck into a tool used by hundreds of millions of people over thirteen years, but that early success doesn’t guarantee the next stage will go well. Growth, she acknowledged, has slowed for the first time in a decade.
Several pressures sit behind that slowdown, according to reports:
- AI costs. Canva has been building its own AI models to reduce its dependence on outside providers. The spending has been heavy enough that the company reportedly lowered its revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%.
- Investor confidence. Early investors have reportedly marked down Canva’s valuation to about $35 billion.
- New competition. Chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini can now generate images, which makes it easy to produce posters, presentations and other visuals. That is territory Canva once owned almost outright.
How is Canva changing its structure?
The layoffs come with a reorganisation. Reports say product, growth and platform teams are being combined so that fewer handoffs slow decisions down. Employees may also be asked to cover a wider range of work, which cuts down on narrow specialist roles.
Canva has long been known for flexible, remote-friendly work. It has now asked staff to come into an office a few days each week.
One detail is easy to miss: the 1,271 figure doesn’t mean 1,271 people are out of work. The changes include role transitions and relocations alongside actual job losses.
What do laid-off Canva employees receive?
This is the part that got people talking. The package goes well beyond a final paycheck.
| Support | What’s offered |
| Laptop | Employees keep their company-issued MacBook |
| Severance | At least six months of salary, statutory entitlements included, in every country |
| Job search help | One year of LinkedIn Premium, one-on-one career coaching, resume help, interview prep |
| Networking | An opt-in alumni directory linking former staff with employers and industry contacts |
| Healthcare | Up to 12 months of continued coverage where Canva already offers it |
| Wellbeing | A year of access to Canva Care, the employee assistance programme, for staff and their families |
| Equity | No one-year vesting cliff for people who joined within the past year, so they keep stock that would otherwise be forfeited |
| Founder grants | $10,000 USD through the Canva Collective Fund for those starting a business or community project, with no equity taken |
The equity change deserves attention. A vesting cliff usually means a newer hire gets nothing if they leave before the first anniversary. Waiving it protects the people who would otherwise lose the most.
How did people react?
Reaction on social media was largely positive about the handling, even if the cuts themselves were unwelcome.
AI engineering professional Pratham Kohli argued that layoffs touch livelihoods and families, and that Canva’s approach shows how to do this with empathy. He added that it remains the exception and should become the norm.
Software engineer Anubhav Sethi wrote on LinkedIn that Canva had set a benchmark and won over many employees despite cutting 22% of staff.
Shraddha Khule, who joined in 2023, shared on Instagram that she was still processing the news. She described Canva as the best organisation she has worked for, including during her maternity leave and a temporary extension of her relocation to Dubai. What stood out most to her was how well the company ran the process and the transition.
What can business owners learn from this?
You don’t need to be a 1,000-person company to apply the lessons. Whether you run a clinic, a marketing firm or an IT shop, workforce changes can happen faster than planned.
- Treat the exit as part of your brand. People remember how they were let go, and they talk about it publicly.
- Give practical help, not only money. Equipment, healthcare continuity and job-search support solve real problems in the first weeks.
- Protect your newest people. Waiving a vesting cliff or an equivalent barrier is a small cost with a large goodwill return.
- Plan AI spending against revenue. Canva’s forecast cut is a reminder that AI can raise costs faster than it raises income. Our guide to AI spending ROI and your IT budget walks through a simple test you can run on your own tools.
- Revisit your tech stack. When general-purpose AI tools can replace a specialised product, review what you actually pay for, and secure what you keep. Our managed IT services trends for 2026 and the comparison of in-house IT vs outsourced managed IT are good starting points.
- Keep systems and access under control during transitions. When people leave, accounts, devices and data need to be closed out cleanly. Review the signs your business needs managed cybersecurity if offboarding is still a manual process.
If you run a small or mid-sized business and want help with the IT side of change, the team at PANAT Experts provides managed IT and cybersecurity support. For healthcare practices dealing with staffing shifts, billing and operations, Pana Healthcare Solutions can help.
Frequently Asked Questions
Canva is reducing its workforce by about 22%, affecting 1,271 employees. The figure includes people moving into different roles or relocating, so not all of them are losing their jobs.
The company says growth slowed for the first time in a decade. Reports point to higher AI costs, a lowered revenue growth forecast and competition from chatbots with image generation.
Laid-off employees receive at least six months of salary, including statutory entitlements, regardless of where they are based.
Yes. They can keep their company-issued MacBooks.
A year of LinkedIn Premium, career coaching, resume and interview help, an alumni directory, up to 12 months of healthcare where offered, a year of employee assistance access, relaxed equity vesting for recent hires and $10,000 grants for people starting their own ventures.
Final Thoughts
Layoffs are painful whatever the package looks like, and a generous severance doesn’t change the loss of a job. Still, Canva’s approach shows that the way a company handles a hard decision can earn respect even in a difficult moment. For smaller businesses, the lesson is straightforward: plan costs carefully, especially AI costs, and treat people well on the way out.
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