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Most layoff announcements draw anger. Canva\u2019s is drawing applause.<\/p>\n
Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins announced on Tuesday that a sweeping restructuring will affect 1,271 employees, or 22% of the Sydney-based design company\u2019s workforce. Her note to staff, which she also shared on LinkedIn, quickly became an online case study in how to cut jobs, largely because of what Canva is giving the people who leave.<\/p>\n
Jasveer Singh, co-founder and CEO of KnotDating, called it \u201ca master-class in how to handle layoffs\u201d and described Perkins\u2019s announcement as \u201cthoughtful, honest and generous,\u201d Newsweek reported. Mark Di Stefano, Rear Window editor at the Australian Financial Review, called the package \u201cexceedingly generous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commenters on Perkins\u2019s LinkedIn post struck a similar note. \u201cReally impressive, empathetic, transparent, and generous way to communicate what was undoubtedly a very hard decision,\u201d one wrote, according to Fast Company. On Instagram, the praise turned to envy. \u201cHow do I apply to be fired by Canva?\u201d one user asked, American Bazaar reported.<\/p>\n
The goodwill comes at a delicate moment. Perkins wrote that Canva\u2019s growth slowed this year for the first time in a decade, and in August the company cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%, the Australian Financial Review reported.<\/p>\n
For some of the 1,271, the restructuring means new roles or a request to relocate, with Sydney becoming the main base for more product teams. For others, it means leaving the company. Canva has not said how many will lose their jobs.<\/p>\n
In her note, Perkins said the company is \u201csimplifying layers, consolidating overlapping responsibilities, and ensuring teams have the right mix of skills and experience for the chapter ahead.\u201d As Canva grew, she explained, work was divided among more specialized teams, leading to \u201cfragmented ownership\u201d and making it harder to see the bigger picture. The goal, she said, is \u201cgetting 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Canva spokesperson told Fortune these roles are not being replaced by AI. \u201cAI is changing what\u2019s possible for our community and the kinds of products we\u2019re now building. That also changes how we need to organize our teams and the skills we\u2019ll need. These changes are about setting Canva up to build those products, not using AI to do the work of people who are leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortune, which put Perkins on its cover in 2022, has reported that the restructuring is part of a broader AI-driven rethink of the company.<\/p>\n
What departing Canva employees get<\/p>\n
Departing employees will receive at least six months\u2019 salary, inclusive of statutory entitlements, regardless of location. On top of that, they\u2019ll receive 12 months of continued healthcare coverage in countries where Canva already provides it.<\/p>\n
Other perks include career transition support, complete with one-on-one coaching, interview preparation and a year of LinkedIn Premium. Employees leaving the company can also take their company MacBooks with them, and Canva is removing the one-year vesting cliff for people who joined in the past year.<\/p>\n
And it doesn\u2019t stop there. Through a new Canva Collective Fund, eligible departing employees can apply for $10,000 grants to pursue an idea, start a business or launch a project, without Canva taking any equity or ownership in what they create. Applications close Dec. 14.<\/p>\n
The company said it has already received applications for a wide range of ideas, including writing and publishing a book, building a sustainable farming venture and going back to school. Canva has not disclosed how many grants it plans to award.<\/p>\n
Oracle\u2019s ceiling is Canva\u2019s floor<\/p>\n
The average severance package in the tech industry was 11.2 weeks of pay in 2024, according to a 2025 report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, near the bottom of the industries it tracked.<\/p>\n
Canva\u2019s minimum of six months, or roughly 26 weeks, is more than double that. It also matches the most anyone could get from Oracle, which laid off an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 employees in March and offered U.S. workers four weeks of base pay for their first year of service, plus one additional week for each subsequent year, capped at 26 weeks.<\/p>\n
Severance is moving in two directions<\/p>\n
Not every company is getting more generous. In an October study by global talent and workforce solutions company LHH, 56% of surveyed U.S. companies said they had made their severance policies more generous over the past two years, down from 76% in the firm\u2019s previous study. The share that made them less generous jumped to 38% from 9%.<\/p>\n
Tech is leaning the other way. In the IT services and technology sector, 64% of respondents reported making their policies more generous, compared with 28% who made them less generous, according to additional data LHH shared with Fortune. The firm cautioned that the subgroup findings are directional.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeverance and career transition support are standard at many companies,\u201d Russell Williams, SVP of Career Transition & Mobility at LHH, told Fortune. \u201cSeeing all of it in one package is the exception, not the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why companies pay more to say goodbye<\/p>\n
Williams said employers are paying more attention to how they treat departing employees, recognizing that it matters to their business.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople notice. That includes the ones leaving, the ones staying and the ones the company will want to hire down the road,\u201d he said. \u201cHow a company handles exits is one of the biggest signals it sends to the team it\u2019s counting on next.\u201d<\/p>\n
And layoffs aren\u2019t exactly rare these days. In a 2026 global study by LHH, 73% of surveyed employees said they had witnessed layoffs on their teams in the past year. Employees also reported heavier workloads, lower morale and lost trust in leadership following layoffs.<\/p>\n
As for Canva\u2019s package, Williams offered a different way to measure its value: \u201cBut we\u2019d argue the goal isn\u2019t necessarily the most generous severance package. It\u2019s the most effective transition package, one that helps people find real stability quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Canva #restructuring #workforce #LinkedIn #applauding #exit #package<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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