Canva could be preparing for another round of job cuts or a company-wide hiring freeze in November, according to a report by Australian publication Capital Brief, raising fresh concerns among employees about the company's workforce plans.
The report, citing two employees familiar with internal discussions, said rumours were circulating about potential redundancies or a complete pause on recruitment. However, Canva has not officially announced further layoffs or confirmed plans for a hiring freeze.
The reported developments come months after the company eliminated 32 positions on March 29, 2025, including a significant portion of its technical content writing team.
Fresh workforce uncertainty follows earlier job cuts
Canva confirmed the March 2025 redundancies to Capital Brief, explaining that it was restructuring its technical content writing function to align documentation practices more closely with its engineering teams.
In a statement to the publication, the company said engineers were being given greater responsibility for creating and maintaining technical documentation, alongside the introduction of new tools.
Canva also said it would attempt to redeploy affected employees into other roles wherever possible. Employees who could not be reassigned would receive financial packages to support their transition.
The company was subsequently asked whether the new tools involved artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The latest reports of potential redundancies have renewed questions about how AI adoption and changing operational requirements could influence the company's workforce structure.
Co-founder's AI warning adds to employee concerns
Concerns about further job reductions had also surfaced earlier following remarks by Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht about the company's product development pace.
According to Capital Brief, Obrecht compared Canva's speed of product development with that of AI company Anthropic, stressing the need to accelerate innovation to remain competitive.
"If we are not working at this velocity we are not going to be competitive," he reportedly said.
The comments fuelled speculation about the pace of internal changes as Canva increases its focus on AI-powered products and engineering capabilities.
Tech layoffs continue across the industry
The reported uncertainty at Canva comes amid continued workforce reductions across the global technology industry.
Data from TrueUp.io showed that 679 technology companies had announced layoffs in 2026, affecting 198,882 employees at the time of the report. This represented an average of approximately 650 job cuts every day.
For comparison, 783 technology companies announced layoffs affecting 245,953 employees during 2025, equivalent to an average of 674 job cuts daily, according to the platform.
The figures indicate the continuing scale of workforce reductions across technology businesses, although they do not establish a direct connection between AI adoption and every reported job cut.
Revenue growth forecast revised as Canva expands AI strategy
The potential workforce changes come as Canva continues to expand its AI capabilities while adjusting its financial growth expectations.
The company ended 2025 with more than 265 million monthly active users and over 31 million paid users, reporting 20% growth in monthly active users during the year.
However, a separate report by Startup Daily said Canva had reduced its 2026 revenue growth forecast from 30% to 20%, a reduction of one-third in its projected growth rate.
In a message to investors, CEO Melanie Perkins acknowledged the revised outlook was below the company's original expectations.
"While this is strong growth at our scale, we want to acknowledge it is below the ambitious goal we set at the beginning of the year," Perkins wrote.
She also said Canva had slowed the rollout of its AI offerings to improve their underlying economics, rebuild the technology architecture and reduce unit costs.
The company has been placing AI at the centre of its product strategy, including the launch of Canva AI 2.0, with version 2.1 reportedly in the pipeline.
Canva, valued at US$42 billion (A$60 billion), is also considering a potential Nasdaq listing, according to the report.
Despite the revised growth forecast, the company has remained profitable for nine years and ended the June quarter with US$1.47 billion in cash, Startup Daily reported.
What happens next?
Canva has yet to confirm whether it will announce redundancies or introduce a hiring freeze in November. The number of employees potentially affected, the divisions involved and the timing of any decision also remain unclear.
For employees, the immediate uncertainty centres on whether the reported internal discussions will translate into formal workforce changes.
The company's next steps will also offer a clearer indication of how it intends to balance AI-led product development, financial performance and workforce requirements as competition in the global design software market intensifies.
