Canva CEO Melanie Perkins has garnered widespread praise for the comprehensive severance packages offered to nearly 1,300 employees, representing 22 percent of the company's workforce. The layoffs, attributed to advancements in new technology and a rapidly evolving global landscape, were announced Tuesday.
Perkins, co-founder and CEO of the Australian graphic design software firm, expressed care for the affected employees in a public note. The support measures extend to nearly 1,300 individuals across 37 countries.
Employees will receive a minimum of six months' salary, a full year of healthcare coverage, and a year of LinkedIn Premium. Additionally, departing staff will be permitted to keep their work MacBooks. The company has also established the "Canva Collective Fund" to support former employees who wish to start their own ventures, with Canva stating it will not seek any ownership or equity in these new projects.
Social media reactions highlighted the compassion and generosity of the severance plan. "Plenty of companies will do layoffs this year. Few will do them like this," commented one user on LinkedIn. Another added, "The way you have communicated this change with compassion and empathy is really impressive. Many leaders could learn a thing or two from this."
Perkins, who co-founded Canva in 2013, has an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion, according to Forbes. The company's valuation has seen adjustments, with backers like Blackbird Ventures and Airtree reportedly lowering their estimates from $41.8 billion to $34 billion, partly due to rising AI expenses and new product rollouts.
Despite the tech sector's overall growth, with the NASDAQ Composite increasing over 11 percent since January, the industry has seen significant workforce reductions. TrueUp, a service tracking tech layoffs, reported that over 204,000 individuals have been laid off globally this year, with March being the most active month for such actions. The service projects that up to 242,000 tech employees could be terminated by year-end.