Canva's 1,271-person restructure combines departures, new roles and relocation

Canva's reorganisation will affect 1,271 people, about 22% of its workforce, through a mixture of departures, changed roles and relocation requests. That is the scope described in chief executive Melanie Perkins' note to staff; it is not a published count of redundancies alone.

Reuters dates the company announcement to Wednesday, November 4, 2026. Slashdot's originating report, which linked to The Guardian, appeared that day too. The distinction within the headline figure matters for employees trying to understand whether their next discussion concerns a different job, a different location or leaving the company.

Product decisions move into one organisation

Canva is combining Product, Growth and Platform into a single Product Org. Perkins describes the existing arrangement as requiring too many handovers to improve one part of a product. The proposed change gives teams broader responsibility for a problem from beginning to end.

The note also says narrower specialisms will be incorporated into broader roles, overlapping responsibilities consolidated and management layers simplified. Those are management's proposed remedies for fragmented ownership. They do not yet demonstrate that delivery will become faster or that the remaining workload will be manageable.

For a worker, the material question is how the responsibilities of a revised role change alongside its reporting line. A smaller organisation chart does not explain who inherits work that previously crossed several teams.

Sydney and the January office expectation

Sydney will become the main home for more product teams and other roles for which Canva considers close collaboration important. Some employees will be asked to relocate to centralised hubs.

Separately, Perkins says most hybrid employees will be expected to work in an office roughly two to three days a week from January, depending on their area. That is distinct from a relocation request: an employee can face a change in weekly attendance without the announcement establishing that their job moves to another country.

The company says individual timing and processes will vary because its teams operate across 37 countries. Employees need the details of their own role and location discussion before treating the global announcement as their final outcome.

The support promise and the unanswered operating questions

Canva says departing employees will receive at least six months of salary, including statutory entitlements, alongside career support. It also describes continued healthcare coverage for twelve months in countries where it already provides that benefit. These are the company's stated arrangements; an affected employee should check the terms presented in their individual process.

Perkins attributes the reorganisation to slower growth and problems in how work is organised. The note does not quantify how many positions AI has replaced. Treating the 22% figure as evidence of a measured automation gain would add a conclusion the announcement does not establish.

For business customers, the useful follow-up is who owns their product, support or implementation relationship after teams change. The staffing announcement alone does not document a change to a customer's service terms or an interruption to a particular workflow.

Sources

• Canva's staff note from Melanie Perkins

• Reuters' November 4 report, syndicated by StreetInsider

• Slashdot's originating November 4 report