Canva cuts jobs, laid off employees get free MacBook and LinkedIn Premium

Layoffs can be brutal. One day you have a job and the next day you find yourself back in the job market. But it appears that Canva, which just laid off over 1,200 employees, may have managed to cushion this blow. And the answer lies with some free items.On Tuesday, Canva announced that it was cutting 22 per cent of its workforce, or 1,271 employees. According to CEO Melanie Perkins, the decision was made after the company faced its “hardest year” in history. “I’m deeply sorry for the pain and disruption this will cause for everyone affected,” she wrote in an internal memo.The company, which employs more than 5,700 people across 37 countries, including India, has not specified which teams or regions will be affected.While we have seen a number of layoffs across the tech industry in recent months, Canva seems to be doing something different when it comes to the severance package. What is Canva giving to laid-off employees?A severance package is given to an employee when they are laid off. It varies from region to region, but usually comes with a couple of months of pay along with certain benefits. But Canva is going further. It is giving those laid-off some free goodies including a MacBook.As per the memo, all 1,271 employees will be allowed to keep their company MacBook. This, Perkins said, was to ensure that they still have a laptop with them after leaving the company. “We know not everyone has a personal laptop,” she said. Though it is hard to tell which MacBooks Canva issued to its employees, we can expect the devices to be fairly new. Alongside free MacBooks, Canva is also giving a one-year subscription of LinkedIn Premium to impacted employees. This is part of a broader support package which includes one-to-one career coaching and interview preparation. Canva says it will also dedicate members of its “Talent Acquisition team to helping people review their resumes and practice for interviews to find their next opportunity.”Salary, healthcare, and Canva’s new fundBut what about money? According to Melanie Perkins, all impacted employees will receive “at least six months' salary, inclusive of statutory entitlements.” This, Perkins said, would be the case for all employees regardless of their location.The company will also remove the one-year vesting cliff for employees who joined during the past year. That is, those who had been laid off within a year of joining would still be eligible for equity in the company.Apart from this, Canva will also provide 12 months of continued healthcare coverage in countries where it currently offers the benefit. Departing employees and their families will also retain access to Canva Care, the company's employee assistance programme, for one year.Canva is setting up an opt-in alumni talent directory and sharing it with investors, partners and its wider industry network to help departing employees find new roles. There is also the Canva Collective Fund, which will provide $10,000 grants to affected employees who want to start a business or undertake a project in their local community. The company said it would not seek ownership or equity in anything created using the grants. Employees have until 14 December to register their interest.Affected employees will retain access to Slack and Gmail until the end of the week, allowing them to decide when and how to inform their teams.“I am deeply sorry this is how your chapter at Canva is ending,” Perkins wrote. “Please know these decisions do not diminish your talent, the value of your contributions, or the difference you've made here. We will do everything we can to support you in what comes next.”While other companies have also given fairly generous severance packages, Canva appears to be the only one giving free MacBooks or setting up a fund to invest in any projects of those who have been laid off.For instance, when Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs in July, it offered US-based employees at least 60 days of base pay with tenure-based additional pay of up to a 39-week cap. On the other hand, Oracle reportedly gave laid-off workers in India one month of base pay for each year at the company, along with two months' salary as a top-up and health insurance coverage.- Ends