Canva reorganises company, with changes affecting 1,271 employees, or 22% of its workforce
Key Facts
Canva said on 4 November that its organisational changes would affect 1,271 people, or 22% of its workforce, reshaping company teams as growth slowed for the first time in a decade. Co-founder and co-CEO Melanie Perkins said this year had been the company’s hardest, adding that the slowdown came as Canva prepared for its next phase. The number affected does not mean all will lose their jobs; possible outcomes include role changes, moves to hub locations or departures from the company. Canva said this was "without a doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history." The announcement puts the reorganisation at the centre of the company’s moves, with its effects spanning structural changes and the departure of some employees.
The main organisational step is to bring the product, growth and platform teams together in one product organisation. The company said it would reduce narrow specialisations and management layers, and combine overlapping responsibilities. The approach means rearranging how work is distributed among teams responsible for developing products, expanding usage and operating the platform. The changes come as Perkins says Canva’s growth slowed for the first time in a decade, but she did not cite the slowdown alone as the reason for the decision. Instead, the company presented the changes as part of resetting the business for its next phase. Perkins said "this has been our hardest year yet," noting that the company had spoken earlier in the year about slowing growth.
The reorganisation also involves a geographic shift in the distribution of product teams, with Sydney set to become the primary hub for more of them and for other roles. Canva expects most employees to work in a hybrid arrangement from the office about two to three days a week starting in January. The move adds a geographic dimension to the announced job and management changes, with greater concentration of teams and roles in Sydney. Employees who leave will receive at least six months’ salary, including statutory entitlements, regardless of their location. Health coverage will also continue for 12 months in countries where Canva currently provides it. The package shows that the decision’s effects include transition and departure arrangements alongside a rebuilding of the internal structure.
Canva announced the creation of the Canva Collective Fund to provide grants of 10,000 U.S. dollars to departing employees who want to start a business, provided they register their interest by 14 December. The company has thus added a support path for those who choose to leave and start ventures, alongside the announced salary and health coverage. Canva scheduled an all-company meeting on 10 November to discuss the changes, answer questions and share more details about the next phase. Meetings of organisational team leaders will begin on 11 November, after the all-company meeting. These dates set out a published sequence for communicating with employees after the 4 November announcement. The company also set January as the start date for the new hybrid attendance expectations.
The reorganisation comes as Canva has undergone substantial commercial and digital expansion; the company said revenue reached 3.5 billion dollars in 2025, while monthly users rose to 260 million. In April 2026, it said its artificial intelligence products had been used more than 27 billion times as of that announcement, and that usage had tripled over the previous year. These figures provide context for the scale of activity the company is seeking to organise, as it says growth slowed for the first time in a decade. In the Australian economy, annual inflation was 4.3% in September, compared with 4.0% in August, while the trimmed mean measure of underlying inflation rose to 3.6% from 3.5%. Housing was the largest contributor to annual inflation, with prices rising 5.2%, followed by transport, up 8.7% amid higher fuel prices.
The Reserve Bank of Australia on 3 November raised its cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.85%, with six members voting for the increase and three backing a hold at 4.60%. The bank attributed the policy tightening to broadening inflation, higher fuel and goods prices, and domestic energy and capacity pressures. It said inflation "is now expected to remain above 3% over the next year." In forecasts published in November, the bank projected headline and underlying inflation to remain above 3% through the end of 2027, before returning to 2.5% in mid-2028. These economic developments provide a timeline for Canva’s announcement in Australia, without the company directly linking its decision to the path of interest rates or inflation. The next two communication dates set by the company are the 10 November meeting and team meetings beginning on 11 November.