Canva Restructuring Hits 1,271 Staff — 22% of Workforce Affected

Canva is reorganizing around 1,271 employees — roughly 22% of its staff — in the design platform's first-ever mass restructuring, and some of those people will lose their jobs outright. CEO Melanie Perkins announced the changes and called this the hardest year in the company's 13-year history. For users, nothing changes today. For the people inside, almost everything might.

What does "affected" actually mean?

Affected is not the same as laid off. Canva hasn't disclosed how many jobs will genuinely disappear, because the 1,271 figure bundles together layoffs, role changes and relocations. There's no country-by-country breakdown either. That matters if you're benchmarking tech cuts — the headline number overstates the layoffs inside it.

One circulating figure needs care. A 20% number has appeared in coverage, but Yahoo Finance describes it as a savings target for managers, not a companywide headcount cut. Don't quote it as a layoff percentage.

Why now?

Canva says growth slowed for the first time in a decade. Perkins also pointed to new technology changing how people create content, and reports tie that directly to competition from AI tools built by OpenAI and Google. Inc. notes Canva had never announced mass layoffs before. Perkins framed the plan as a "refounding" — her word, and a signal that leadership sees this as strategic reset, not a routine trim.

The pattern is familiar. Software companies across the sector are reshaping teams around AI, and AI-driven tools are already altering how job seekers search and how employers hire. Practitioners in design and product roles should read this as market signal, not just news.

What changes structurally?

• Canva merges its Product, Growth and Platform groups into a single product organization.
• Narrow specialist teams get cut.
• Layers of management are being removed.
• Sydney becomes the main base for more product teams, and some staff will be asked to consider relocating there.
• Hybrid workers must be in the office two to three days a week from January 2027.

If you work in a specialist silo at a scale-up, that last bullet cluster is the real message: consolidation plus office mandates is becoming the default operating model.

What do leavers get?

The exit package is unusually generous by current market standards:

• At least six months' salary, including statutory payments.
• 12 months of healthcare coverage where that benefit exists.
• Mental health support, career coaching and interview help.
• A year of LinkedIn Premium, the paid tier of the job network.
• Leavers keep their work MacBooks.
• Aspiring founders can apply for a $10,000 grant from a new Collective Fund.

For anyone negotiating an exit elsewhere, this sets a concrete benchmark: six months' pay plus hardware plus transition support is what a well-capitalized private company is offering in 2025.

What it means for users and workers

Canva's apps and pricing plans stay the same for now — the millions using it for slides, social posts and school projects won't notice a difference. The open question is whether a leaner, consolidated product team ships faster under AI-era competitive pressure, and how many of the 1,271 affected employees land in new roles versus out the door.