KEY POINTS
- Canva says 1,271 employees, representing 22% of its workforce, will be affected by a major organisational restructuring.
- The changes will include job losses, role adjustments and relocation of some employees to centralised hubs.
- The company reduced its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20% in August.
- CEO Melanie Perkins says the restructuring is intended to simplify operations and prepare the company for its next phase of growth.
MAIN STORY
Canva is restructuring its workforce in a move that will affect 1,271 employees, or approximately 22% of its global team, as the design software company responds to slower growth and changes in the technology market.
Chief Executive Officer Melanie Perkins announced the changes in a memo to employees on Tuesday, November 3, explaining that some workers would lose their jobs, while others would have their roles changed or be asked to relocate to centralised hubs.
The announcement comes after Canva lowered its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20% in August. Perkins described the year as the company’s most difficult yet, noting that its growth had slowed for the first time in a decade.
The company is also facing increased competition from artificial intelligence tools, including image-generation models developed by OpenAI and Google. These technologies are changing how people create visual content, placing additional pressure on established design platforms to adapt their products and operations.
Rather than making smaller adjustments, Perkins said Canva had concluded that a more fundamental restructuring was necessary. The company plans to return to smaller, empowered teams with broader responsibilities and greater freedom to make decisions.
One major change will bring its Product, Growth and Platform functions together under a single Product organisation. Canva said the existing arrangement had created unnecessary handovers and coordination between teams, making it harder to take responsibility for larger product challenges.
The restructuring will also reduce specialised roles and management layers. According to Perkins, dividing work among increasingly narrow teams had fragmented ownership, with different groups responsible for separate parts of the same projects. The company intends to combine some of these responsibilities into broader roles.
Canva is also changing where some of its employees work. Sydney will become the primary base for more product teams and other roles requiring closer collaboration. From January, most employees under its hybrid working arrangement are expected to spend two to three days in the office each week, depending on their location.
THE ISSUES
The scale of the restructuring highlights the pressure facing technology companies as artificial intelligence changes both the products they offer and the skills they require.
For Canva, the challenge is not limited to introducing new AI features. Its leadership is also reconsidering how quickly teams can develop products, respond to customers and compete in a market where new tools are changing user expectations.
The reduction in its growth forecast provides another indication of the business pressures behind the decision. Although Canva has built a platform used by hundreds of millions of people, its leadership believes the organisational structure that supported its earlier expansion may not be suitable for its next stage.
The decision also reflects a broader tension for technology businesses: expanding operations can create specialised expertise, but additional layers and fragmented responsibilities may slow decision-making. Canva is betting that fewer organisational barriers and broader employee responsibilities will make it more responsive.
WHAT’S BEING SAID
“This has been our hardest year yet, and as we shared earlier this year, our growth has slowed for the first time in a decade.” – Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva.
“To set ourselves up for the next decade, we need to refound Canva, getting back to our roots of small, empowered teams with the freedom to make decisions, take ownership and focus on what matters most for our community.” – Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva.
“We want to get back to spending more time building, and less time navigating how work gets done.” – Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva.
“While understanding how we reached these decisions won’t make them any less painful, I want to emphasise that they are not a reflection of the talent, care and dedication people have brought to Canva, their skills or the enormous contributions they’ve made along the way.” – Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva.
WHAT’S NEXT
Canva says it will begin individual discussions with affected employees, with the timing varying across its 37 countries to account for local requirements and processes.
Employees leaving the company will receive at least six months of salary, inclusive of statutory entitlements, while those who joined within the past year will have the one-year vesting cliff on their shares removed.
The support package also includes up to 12 months of healthcare coverage in countries where Canva provides it, continued access to its employee assistance programme, career coaching and interview preparation. Departing employees will also receive one year of LinkedIn Premium and be allowed to keep their company MacBooks.
The company is introducing a Canva Collective Fund offering US$10,000 grants to departing employees who want to start businesses or pursue projects with community impact. Those interested have until December 14 to register, and Canva says it will not take equity or ownership in the ventures.
Perkins is scheduled to address employees at a company-wide meeting on November 10, where management will discuss the restructuring and the company’s plans for the next phase.
BOTTOM LINE
Canva’s restructuring is an attempt to address slower growth and adapt its operations to a technology market increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. But the changes also carry a significant human cost, with more than one-fifth of its workforce facing job losses, relocation or changes to their roles as the company reorganises for its next decade.
Source: Business Insider
