Canva to Cut or Relocate 1,271 People in Restructure

The company said the plan would involve both job losses and requests for some employees to move to more centralised hubs so more teams could work together in person. It did not say how many of the 1,271 would leave outright and how many would be asked to relocate, which is not a small omission. “Cut or relocate” is a neat phrase from management’s side. For the people inside the number, the distinction is the whole story.

Perkins told staff that “for some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralised hubs” and that it would also mean “saying goodbye to teammates and friends who have helped build Canva into what it is today”.

A figure equal to 22% of the workforce is not a tidy adjustment dressed up in restructure language about “collapsing layers”. It is a serious redraw of how the company wants to operate and where it wants its staff to be.

Canva said employees leaving the company would receive at least six months of salary and keep healthcare coverage for a further 12 months in countries where that benefit applies. They can also keep their laptops, and can apply for grants of US$10,000 to start their own ventures.

The company has long been held up as one of Australia’s standout startup successes and a possible Nasdaq listing candidate. That makes this harder to write off as routine housekeeping. A private tech company does not move or lose more than a fifth of its workforce unless management has decided the old setup is no longer acceptable.

The broader sector has been cutting staff and reshaping itself as software companies respond to pressure from cheaper AI challengers while racing to build AI tools of their own. The Guardian placed Canva’s move alongside restructures at Atlassian, Block and WiseTech Global.

Canva, though, did not mention AI in its announcement. What it did say was enough: more than 1,200 people will either leave or be asked to move, and the company wants more teams together in person.