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Canva restructures: 1,271 people, 22% of staff, affected as product teams merge and Sydney becomes the hub
Canva said on 4 November that 1,271 people, 22% of its staff, will lose their jobs or change roles or locations. Leavers get at least six months' pay, a year of healthcare and US$10,000 start-up grants. Product, Growth and Platform merge.
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Canva said on 4 November 2026 that 1,271 people, or 22% of the company, will be affected by a restructuring that merges its product organisations, flattens its layers and moves more teams to Sydney. For some of them the change means a new role or an offer to relocate to a central hub, and for others it means leaving. The announcement came in a note from co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins to staff, which Canva published in its newsroom.
Ms Perkins called it the hardest moment in the company's thirteen-year history and apologised to those affected. She said the world is changing quickly, with new technology transforming what people can create, how they create it and what they expect from the products they use. Canva, she wrote, has grown from a dream in a pitch deck into a platform used by hundreds of millions of people, but success in its first chapter does not guarantee success in the next. Her note closed with thanks to those leaving: the Canva that exists today, she wrote, is the result of their hard work, creativity, passion and care, and the decisions do not diminish their talent or contributions. She said Canva's growth had slowed for the first time in a decade, as the company had said earlier this year, and that after exploring alternatives she had concluded small changes would not be enough. The answer, she wrote, is to refound Canva, getting back to small, empowered teams with the freedom to make decisions, take ownership and focus on what matters most to the community.
What Canva says it is changing
The note describes three changes.
The first is a single product organisation. Product, Growth and Platform, which have been separate, come together as one Product Org. Ms Perkins said improving one part of the product often meant navigating between the three, with more handovers and coordination than necessary, and that the aim is clearer ownership and more time spent building.
The second is fewer specialisms and fewer layers. Work had been divided across more and more sub-specialties, she said, which fragmented ownership. Narrow specialties will be folded into broader roles, overlapping responsibilities will be consolidated and management layers simplified.
The third is co-location. Sydney becomes the primary home for more product teams, along with roles in other specialties where shared context and close collaboration matter most. Ms Perkins acknowledged that relocating is a big decision for those asked to consider it, and said Canva is committed to making the process as smooth as possible with comprehensive support. Canva will keep investing in its global team where being close to customers and markets matters most. From January, most hybrid staff are expected to spend around two to three days a week in the office.
The company says it worked from its mission and goals to the structures, skills and locations it needs, and only then looked at individual roles. It says the decisions are not a reflection of anyone's talent or contribution.
What those leaving receive
Canva set out the support in the note.
| Support | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pay | At least six months of salary, including statutory entitlements, in every location |
| Equity | The one-year vesting cliff is removed for people who joined in the past year |
| Healthcare | Twelve months of continued cover in countries where Canva provides it |
| Wellbeing | Twelve months of Canva Care, its employee assistance programme, extended to family members |
| Career help | One-to-one coaching, interview preparation, a year of LinkedIn Premium and help with résumés from a significant part of the talent acquisition team |
| Equipment | Leavers keep their Canva MacBook |
Canva is also creating a Canva Collective Fund, with US$10,000 grants for departing staff who want to start a business or do something for their community. They have until 14 December to register interest, and the company says it will take no ownership or equity in what they create. An opt-in alumni directory will be shared with investors, partners and the wider industry.
Meetings on 10 and 11 November
Canva is also cancelling non-critical meetings for the rest of the week, and Ms Perkins told staff who need time to process the news to take the day off without logging it as leave. Those affected will receive a calendar invitation for a one-to-one meeting with a senior leader to discuss next steps. Because Canva has teams in 37 countries, local requirements and processes differ, so the timing and form of these conversations will vary. People leaving keep access to Slack and Gmail until the end of the week so they can tell their teams in their own way.
Team leads will share more about changes to each area by the end of the week, and the company will hold a company all-hands on 10 November to talk through the changes, answer questions and describe the path ahead. Organisation leaders were asked to wait until after that meeting to bring their teams together, with organisation all-hands from 11 November. Ms Perkins also asked staff to respect the privacy of those having these conversations, because teams may not know straight away how they are changing.
About the Author
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Amita Sahani
Staff Writer
Amita Sahani writes for Wirony. Every story under this byline is reviewed and approved by an editor before it is published, and corrections are made openly.
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