Canva has announced a major restructuring.
On Tuesday, the design software company’s chief executive, Melanie Perkins, released a memo to employees titled “Important update for our team.” She stated in the article that the restructuring will affect 1,271 employees, accounting for approximately 22% of the workforce. Some employees will see their roles changed or repositioned, while others will lose their jobs, she said.
Canva previously lowered its growth expectations. In August, the company adjusted its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%. Perkins said in Tuesday’s memo that this year has been the company’s “most difficult year yet” and that “growth has slowed for the first time in a decade.”
Canva also faces new competition from artificial intelligence tools, including OpenAI and Google’s image generation model.
Read the memo:
Hello everyone, Today I have some very difficult news to share. After months of thinking about how to prepare for Canva’s next chapter, we’ve made the extremely difficult decision to make significant changes to how we organize, where some of our teams are located, and the roles and skills we’ll need going forward. This means 1,271 people, or 22% of Canva, will be affected. For some, this will mean a change in their role or being asked to relocate to a centralized centre. Sadly, this also means saying goodbye to the teammates and friends who have helped make Canva what it is today. This is, without a doubt, the most difficult moment in our thirteen-year history. Behind every decision are people we care about deeply, and I know the consequences will be very real for those directly affected, their families, friends and teammates. I am deeply sorry for the pain and disruption this has caused everyone affected. While nothing will make this news any easier, we will do everything we can to support everyone affected. I want to explain as openly as possible why we are making these changes, how we are making these decisions, and most importantly, how we will care for those affected today. Why are we making these changes?
We’ve talked a lot about how quickly the world is changing. New technologies are changing what people can create, how they create, and what they expect from the products they use. Over the past thirteen years, we’ve turned a dream from a pitch deck into a platform used by hundreds of millions of people. None of this would be possible without the talent, imagination and care of everyone involved in this journey. However, the success of the first chapter does not guarantee the success of the next chapter. This has been our most difficult year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade. After exploring a wide range of alternatives, I came to the hard conclusion: small changes are not enough. To prepare for the next decade, we need to reorganize Canva and return to our roots of small, empowered teams, giving them the freedom to make decisions, take ownership, and focus on what matters most to our community. It also means making some of the toughest decisions we’ve ever faced, including saying goodbye to those who have helped make Canva what it is today. I’m deeply sorry for this. what are we changing
We’re making three changes to bring the uniqueness of Canva back to the way we work. #1. We’re simplifying how we build Canva together As we’ve grown, more of our work has been organized around team structures and narrow areas of ownership. Improving one part of the product often requires navigating between product, growth, and platform, with unnecessary handoffs and coordination. This makes it harder to solve larger problems and build a deeply unified product for our community. We tried a lot of things over the years to solve this problem, but it became clear that we needed to revisit our underlying structure. We’re doing this by integrating product, growth and platform into one product organization and changing the way we work to provide clearer ownership, greater autonomy and flexibility to achieve our most important goals. We want to get back to spending more time building, not less time getting the job done. #2. We are reducing specialization and breaking down layers to expand ownership Over time, we distributed work among an increasing number of subspecialties and teams. While this helped us build valuable expertise, it also led to fragmented ownership, making it harder to see the full picture as different teams were responsible for many parts of the same work. We are reducing this fragmentation and integrating narrower sub-specialties into broader roles so that teams have more ownership of goals from start to finish. We’ve also simplified the hierarchy, consolidated overlapping responsibilities and ensured the team has the right mix of skills and experience for future chapters. #3. We’re co-locating closely connected teams and increasing face-to-face collaboration Working across borders brings tremendous benefits and talent, but it also makes it more difficult to bring the right people together to solve complex problems. We will continue to invest in our global team, especially where it matters most, close to our communities, customers and markets. At the same time, Sydney will become the primary location for more of our product teams, as well as other specialist roles where a shared environment and close collaboration are important. We know that relocation is a big decision for those asked to consider it and we are committed to making the process as smooth as possible with comprehensive support. We also want to bring more teams together to build trust, learn from each other, and strengthen the connections that make Canva special. Starting in January, we expect most hybrid Canvanauts to be in the office 2 to 3 days per week, depending on conditions in your area. how we make these decisions
I know many of you will have questions about how we make these decisions. We start with a question: What does Canva need to do to succeed in its next chapter? We start with our mission and future goals, then consider the structures, skills and locations needed to achieve them. Only then do we understand what this means for individual characters. While understanding how we make these decisions doesn’t make them any less painful, I want to emphasize that they do not reflect the talent, care, and dedication that people bring to Canva, their skills, or the tremendous contributions they have made along the way. Support those who are leaving
We know everyone’s situation is different, and while nothing makes today’s news easy, we try to reflect these varying needs in the financial, career and wellbeing support we offer to everyone affected:
- Everyone will receive at least six months’ wages, including legal entitlements, regardless of location.
- Eliminate the one-year vesting cliff for past year enrollees.
- Twelve months of continuous medical insurance In the countries where we currently offer this service.
- Twelve months of Canva Care (our EAP)this coverage also extends to family members.
- Dedicated career support including one-on-one coaching, interview preparation and one year of LinkedIn Premium. We also have a large talent acquisition team dedicated to helping people review resumes and practice interviews to find their next opportunity.
- Opt-in Alumni Talent Directory We will proactively share this with investors, partners and the wider industry network to help connect departing Canvanauts with new roles.
- Everyone who leaves gets to keep their Canva MacBook As we all know, not everyone has a personal laptop.
We also launched the Canva Collective Fund, which provides $10,000 to former Canvanauts who want to start their own business. Whether it’s starting a business or doing something meaningful for the local community, the fund is designed to help bring those ideas to life. Everyone who leaves as part of these changes must register their interest by December 14th, and we will not acquire any ownership or equity they create. what happens next
Our top priority is to make time for conversations with everyone directly affected by these changes. Affected individuals will receive a calendar invitation to an individual meeting with senior leaders in their area to discuss next steps and available support if they wish to attend. Our teams are spread across 37 countries, and we need to follow different local requirements and processes, which means when and how these conversations happen may vary depending on where people are. We also want to give everyone time to process the news and say goodbye in their own way. Everyone leaving Canva will continue to have access to Slack and Gmail until the end of the week, so they can choose when and how to share news with their teams. This means you may not know exactly how your team is changing right away, and we ask that everyone respect the privacy of those having these conversations. Prospects will share more information about changes in different areas this weekend. We’ve put together answers to some frequently asked questions and everything you need to know. There’s no need to read through them all now, but we hope they’ll be helpful when you’re ready. Next week, we will hold an all-company meeting on November 10th to discuss these changes, answer questions, and share more information about the path forward. We have asked organizational leaders to wait until then to bring their teams together, with all staff meeting starting on November 11th. To everyone who continues to work at Canva: I know this news will be incredible, especially as we say goodbye to friends and teammates who have been such an important part of our journey. Please take care of yourself and others, and be there for those who are leaving. We are also canceling non-critical meetings for the remainder of the week and encourage anyone who needs some time and space to process this news to take a day off. There is no need to record this as a vacation. For those of you leaving Canva: I hope I can adequately express my gratitude for all you have contributed. What Canva is today is the result of your hard work, creativity, passion, and care. Hundreds of millions of people around the world are empowered by the causes you help build, and I hope you know how big of a difference you make. I’m deeply sorry that this is the end of your chapter in Canva. Please know that these decisions do not diminish your talent, the value of your contributions, or the difference you make here. We will do everything we can to support you in the work ahead, and I hope that the work we do now is worthy of what you have helped build. Mel