Design tech company Canva is doing some major restructuring: The move will impact nearly 1,300 employees, or roughly 22% of its staff. But the company’s also getting attention for how it’s treating the employees who are being let go.
On November 3, CEO Melanie Perkins announced the news in a post on LinkedIn, sharing the letter she sent to all staff laying out a generous severance package that’s being fawned over on social media.
The letter explained that all terminated employees would receive six months of salary, regardless of location. Canva, which is based in Sydney, will also remove the one-year vesting cliff for those who joined the company within the past 12 months, which means even those who came on board recently can walk away with shares in the company.
Former employees will also continue to receive healthcare, plus dedicated career support, résumé help, coaching and interview preparation, plus one year of LinkedIn Premium. Additionally, the company launched a fund to provide $10,000 grants to those looking to start a company or project or their own.
“Whether it’s starting a business or doing something meaningful for their local community, the fund is designed to help get those ideas off the ground,” Perkins explained in the letter.
The company is even allowing all terminated employees to keep their MacBook laptops.
“We’re making significant changes to how we’re organised, which sadly means saying goodbye to many exceptionally talented people who have helped build Canva into what it is today,” Perkins wrote in her LinkedIn post.She added that the company put in the time and effort to create “an opt-in alumni talent directory” where former employees can learn about work opportunities. Perkins included her email address and asked leaders with any work opportunities to reach out to her directly.
The news comes at a time when Canva is gearing up for a potential IPO following several years of spending on its suite of AI-powered products.
“This is the hardest decision we’ve made in Canva’s history, and we know it will deeply impact many people and their loved ones,” Perkins continued. “While we believe these changes are critical to help set Canva up for the future, Canva would not be the company it is today without their hard work, and we want to do everything we can to help set them up well for their next chapter.”
More often than not, when companies go through major overhauls (like laying off nearly a quarter of their employees), the news is about how those employees may struggle to find employment, or how the company failed to support them.
In today’s era of forever layoffs, companies tend to drop staff with decades of loyalty abruptly over a group Zoom call, and that’s that. But Canva has seemed to take a more humane approach than we’re used to.
Commenters on the CEO’s post were quick to weigh in on how the company is showing other leaders how to handle layoffs gracefully.
“Really impressive, empathetic, transparent, and generous way to communicate what was undoubtedly a very hard decision,” one LinkedIn commenter said. “Especially with what this industry has seen over the past year, this is an example for other organizations on how to do a hard thing right.”
Another added, “Plenty of companies will do layoffs this year. Few will do them like this.”
That’s likely the case, but with all the positive attention surrounding Canva’s approach to restructuring, it’s hard to imagine it won’t inspire at least a few leaders to take note. Or perhaps it will inspire more workers to push for better treatment in the future should they be shown the door.
