Australian design software company Canva has cut 1,271 jobs, about 22 percent of its workforce, and the package it offered departing staff has become a talking point in its own right.
Chief executive Melanie Perkins announced the restructuring on Tuesday. In a letter to staff, she said the company had grown into areas that were no longer pulling their weight and needed to concentrate on its strongest products and markets. A company spokesperson said the roles were not being replaced by artificial intelligence.
Departing employees will receive at least six months’ salary, including statutory entitlements, along with career-transition coaching. Canva is also offering help to staff who want to start their own ventures, through a fund it calls the Canva Collective Fund.
The scale of the package drew unusual praise on LinkedIn, where executives and human-resources leaders said they had rarely seen a technology company offer so much to people it was letting go. One commenter with 25 years in the industry said they had never seen an exit package like it. Others were less sure: they argued that generous terms do not change the fact that more than 1,200 people are losing their jobs, and asked whether other employers would follow the example or simply watch from the sidelines.
The contrast with the industry norm is stark. Research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that the average severance payment for technology workers in the United States was about 11 weeks of pay in 2024 — less than half of what Canva is offering at a minimum.
The cuts come after a period of slower growth for the privately held company, which has been investing heavily in AI features. Canva says the restructuring will let it focus on the areas where it can grow fastest.
Sources: Fortune; Morningstar; Australian Financial Review.
