Canva Cuts 22% of Staff While People Inc. and Squarespace Trim

Canva will cut or reshuffle 1,271 employees, 22% of its workforce, in the largest of three layoff announcements examined this week by internal communications analysts at Ragan. CEO Melanie Perkins published the memo on the company's own newsroom, setting a template that contrasts sharply with notes from People Inc. and Squarespace.

The three memos arrived within the past week and offer comms teams a live study in how leaders explain job cuts to staff. Each names a different reason. Each supplies a different level of detail. The differences matter, because employees judge the message by what it concretely promises.

What did People Inc.'s CEO tell staff?

People Inc. CEO Neil Vogel announced 195 layoffs, concentrated in print and legacy media verticals, in a memo obtained by Variety. Vogel cited "rapid changes" to the media landscape and confirmed the company had scheduled one-on-one meetings with affected employees.

Vogel paired the cuts with an optimistic claim, kept verbatim from the memo:

"We remain optimistic about our businesses and confident in our plans. We've added 320 new employees so far in 2026, expanding our talent and capabilities across the company, and we plan to continue making meaningful investments in 2027."

The note cites 320 hires this year and planned 2027 investments as proof of momentum. It does not say which departments absorbed the hires or what the investments will fund. Ragan's analysis, written by senior internal communications editor Sean Devlin, flags this as a gap. If leaders cite hiring or future investment in a layoff message, comms teams should extract those specifics before the memo ships and hand the remainder to managers, who serve as the best channel for translating information from the top.

How did Canva structure its announcement?

Perkins wrote that some of the 1,271 affected employees will have their roles changed, some will be asked to relocate to centralized hubs, and others will leave the company. The memo does not break down how many people fall into each group. Departing employees receive at least six months of salary and keep their company MacBooks.

The memo also addressed timing and privacy directly:

"We also want to give everyone the time to process this news and say goodbye in their own way. Everyone leaving Canva will continue to have access to Slack and Gmail until the end of the week, so they can choose when and how to share the news with their teams. This means you may not know exactly how your team is changing straight away, and we ask everyone to respect the privacy of those having these conversations. Leads will share more about the changes to different areas by the end of the week."

That passage does one thing most layoff notes skip: it tells the people who stay how and when they will learn what happens to their teams. Decisions on system access and follow-up timing usually sit with leadership, HR and IT. Internal comms can request those answers before drafting begins and push to include them. More information during major shifts increases the odds that messaging wins people over.

Why is Squarespace cutting nearly 300 jobs?

Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena wrote in a memo obtained by Business Insider that the company is laying off nearly 300 employees, 19% of its workforce. The memo outlined next steps and support, and stated plainly that the move was unrelated to a specific cost-cutting measure.

Casalena's explanation, verbatim:

"The way we need to work is changing faster than at any point in our history, and our operating model must adapt for the modern era. This means smaller teams, more player coaches, and a simplified organizational structure. This is not an exercise designed to reach a financial target — it is about reshaping our organization around how we need to work going forward."

An operating model is the way a company structures teams, roles and decision-making. Squarespace's model is likely tied to financials regardless of the framing, but the memo removes guesswork about motive. The Ragan analysis draws the operating lesson: when leaders say something must change, the more they share about what that change looks like for employees' futures, the better.

What is the pattern across the three memos?

• People Inc.: 195 cuts, offset by 320 hires in 2026 and unnamed 2027 investments.
• Canva: 1,271 employees affected, at least six months of salary for those leaving, weeklong Slack and Gmail access.
• Squarespace: nearly 300 cuts, 19% of staff, framed as an operating-model overhaul rather than a cost target.

The common thread for communicators is specificity. Memos that state who is affected, what support they receive and when remaining staff will learn more reduce the uncertainty that follows every restructuring announcement.