SYDNEY (The Thursday Times) — Canva, the online design tool used by small businesses and students around the world, is making changes that affect 1,271 jobs, or 22% of its staff, including layoffs and moves to Sydney, co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins announced on Tuesday.
“For some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralised hubs,” Perkins said. “Sadly, it will also mean saying goodbye to teammates and friends who have helped build Canva into what it is today.”
She said “small changes won’t be enough” and that the company needs to “refound Canva, getting back to our roots of small, empowered teams”. The announcement did not say how many of the 1,271 people will lose their jobs.
Canva will merge its product, growth and platform teams into one organisation and make Sydney the main base for more of its product teams. From January, it will expect most hybrid employees to spend two to three days a week in an office.
Those leaving will get at least six months’ salary and 12 months of healthcare cover, along with career support.
Canva is the second web tools company to announce cuts this week. Website builder Squarespace said on Monday it was laying off 19% of its staff.
