‘A master class in how to handle layoffs’: Canva is restructuring 22% of its workforce, and LinkedIn is applauding the exit package

Most layoff announcements draw anger. Canva’s is drawing applause.

Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins announced on Tuesday that a sweeping restructuring will affect 1,271 employees, or 22% of the Sydney-based design company’s workforce. Her note to staff, which she also shared on LinkedIn, quickly became an online case study in how to cut jobs, largely because of what Canva is giving the people who leave.

Jasveer Singh, co-founder and CEO of KnotDating, called it “a master-class in how to handle layoffs” and described Perkins’s announcement as “thoughtful, honest and generous,” Newsweek reported. Mark Di Stefano, Rear Window editor at the Australian Financial Review, called the package “exceedingly generous.”

Commenters on Perkins’s LinkedIn post struck a similar note. “Really impressive, empathetic, transparent, and generous way to communicate what was undoubtedly a very hard decision,” one wrote, according to Fast Company. On Instagram, the praise turned to envy. “How do I apply to be fired by Canva?” one user asked, American Bazaar reported.

The goodwill comes at a delicate moment. Perkins wrote that Canva’s growth slowed this year for the first time in a decade, and in August the company cut its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%, the Australian Financial Review reported.

For some of the 1,271, the restructuring means new roles or a request to relocate, with Sydney becoming the main base for more product teams. For others, it means leaving the company. Canva has not said how many will lose their jobs.

In her note, Perkins........

© Fortune