Canva will restructure around 1,271 employees, roughly 22 per cent of its workforce, as the Australian-founded design platform confronts its first growth slowdown in a decade and one of the largest reorganisations in its 13-year history.

Co-founder and chief executive Melanie Perkins announced the changes in an internal message to staff on 3 November, describing the decision as "without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history." The figure covers employees affected by the restructuring, not only redundancies — Canva has not disclosed how many will ultimately lose their jobs.

Why is Canva restructuring now?

Perkins told staff the company had experienced its "hardest year yet" and that growth had slowed for the first time in ten years. The admission follows a cut to Canva's 2026 revenue growth forecast in August, when the projection reportedly fell from 30 per cent to 20 per cent — a reduction of a third in expected growth in a single revision.

The company is also operating in a technology industry being reshaped by artificial intelligence, which is changing how people create designs, presentations and other digital content. Canva's announcement did not explicitly name AI as a cause. Perkins instead pointed to technological change and the need to adapt to evolving customer expectations.

"Success in our first chapter doesn't guarantee success in the next," she wrote. She argued the business needed to return to the smaller, more empowered teams that drove its early growth, rather than relying on incremental adjustments to the existing organisational structure.

What happens to the 1,271 affected employees?

Not all of the 1,271 will be made redundant. According to the company's announcement, some will take on different responsibilities, while others may be asked to relocate to centralised offices.

The structural changes include:

• Merging the Product, Growth and Platform teams into a single Product organisation, intended to reduce unnecessary coordination and simplify decision-making
• Cutting specialised roles and management layers in favour of broader teams with greater ownership of their work
• Concentrating more product teams in Sydney, alongside certain other specialised roles
• Increasing in-person collaboration, with most hybrid employees expected to work from an office roughly two to three days per week from January

Canva currently operates across 37 countries, so the restructuring process and individual employee discussions will vary according to local requirements.

What severance and support will departing staff receive?

Canva has outlined a support package for employees leaving the company. Every departing employee will receive at least six months' salary, inclusive of statutory entitlements, regardless of location. The package also provides:

• Career assistance and wellbeing support
• Access to healthcare benefits for 12 months in countries where Canva provides that coverage
• Permission to keep company-issued laptops
• A US$10,000 grant opportunity, about £7,400, through the Canva Collective Fund for departing workers starting a business or pursuing a community project

Canva says it will not take equity or ownership in any ventures created through the fund.

How large is the shift relative to Canva's trajectory?

The restructuring marks a sharp turn for a company that had sustained rapid expansion since its founding 13 years ago. The reduction in forecast growth from 30 per cent to 20 per cent, reported in August, set the financial backdrop for November's decision.

Perkins framed the changes as necessary preparation for the company's next phase rather than a retreat. The consolidation into one Product organisation and the reduction of management layers represent a deliberate reversal of the structure Canva built during its decade of uninterrupted growth.

Six months' guaranteed salary for every departing employee sets the package above standard practice at many technology firms undertaking comparable cuts.

For a platform serving users across 37 countries, the bet is that smaller teams move faster than large ones — even at the cost of the hardest decision in the company's history.