Canva has laid off about 1,200 employees, roughly 22 percent of its workforce, and its severance terms are drawing praise from people who have followed the cuts. CEO Melanie Perkins announced the reductions in a LinkedIn post, and the Sydney-based design technology company has framed the package as a way to support those leaving the business.
The core of the package is six months’ salary, paid regardless of where employees are located. Canva has also removed the one-year vesting cliff for recent joiners, a change that affects people who had recently started at the company and might otherwise have lost equity they had not yet vested. Terminated staff will keep healthcare coverage for a temporary period, giving them time to arrange new coverage while they look for work.
Beyond the financial terms, the company has put in place a set of career support measures. Departing employees will receive help with résumés, coaching and interview preparation. Those leaving will also be offered one year of LinkedIn Premium, and a $10,000 grant fund is available to people who want to start a business or pursue a project. Employees may keep their MacBook laptops, a detail that has been widely noticed in discussions of the package.
Canva has also created an opt-in alumni directory intended to help former staff share job opportunities with one another. In a further step, Perkins published her email address so that leaders at other companies with open positions could contact her directly about placing affected workers.
The announcement did not give a specific reason for the layoffs. The timing coincides with possible preparations for an initial public offering, and the restructuring follows several years of heavy spending on AI-powered products. Neither point was confirmed by the company in the announcement itself.
Commenters responding to the news praised the handling of the cuts as transparent and empathetic, particularly the decision to publish the terms openly. It remains unclear how quickly the affected workers will find new jobs, and it is not yet known whether other companies will adopt similar severance packages.