Canva's Layoff Perks: Keep the MacBook, Six Months' Pay, LinkedIn Premium

Canva told the 22% of staff it laid off this week to keep their company-issued MacBooks — plus six months of salary, a LinkedIn Premium subscription and a year of healthcare. Squarespace, cutting 19% of its workforce in the same week, offered a similar deal: keep the laptop, take 16 weeks of severance and stay on healthcare through May 2027.

X users called Canva's package "humane" and demanded "more founders like thissss." That's not the usual reaction to mass layoffs in tech. So what does this change for the people who still have jobs — and the ones sending the next round of reduction-in-force emails?

Why pay more to people you're pushing out?

Canva explained the math in a public statement: "We wanted to do everything we could to support the people leaving Canva, both financially and as they take their next steps. We've put together a comprehensive package that provides immediate financial security, ongoing wellbeing and career support, and opportunities to pursue what's next."

On the laptops specifically, Canva kept it blunt: "We know not everyone has a personal laptop."

Squarespace told MarketWatch the same thing in different words: "We wanted to provide meaningful support to employees through the transition." The package adds career coaching and job-search assistance on top of the cash and healthcare. The company called letting people keep their laptops "another practical way to support them as they move on to what's next."

The survivors are the real audience

Elton Chan, co-founder and CEO of Second Talent, a hiring platform for developers and engineers, said the generosity has an internal logic. Companies that cut deep don't want to spook the employees left behind.

"Layoffs affect how the employees who remain view their employer," Chan said. "If departing colleagues receive little support, it can damage morale and make people question their own job security."

He added: "More generous packages can help preserve employee trust and protect the company's reputation among future candidates."

There's also the publicity angle. Commenters did point out that Canva is still "laying off 22% of their staff," and some argued it "seems cheaper to hold on to them as employees." But the praise has largely drowned out the critics. That's the point.

What happens when you do it badly

The contrast is recent and ugly. Earlier this year, Oracle laid off 30,000 employees, notifying many at 6 a.m. and locking them out of their devices immediately. The severance ran four weeks of base pay plus one week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks. Observers pegged the cuts as a way to fund AI data centers.

Then there's Uber in 2020. Farah Sharghi, laid off that year, said the company demanded terminated employees return their laptops — during shelter-in-place orders. "I was like, 'I'm not comfortable going to the post office. I am not doing that. Absolutely not,'" she said. The backlash forced Uber to drop the requirement.

Joe Mull, an employee engagement expert and author of "Employalty," said the reputational stakes keep rising because departed staff now broadcast everything. "Employees are sharing their stories on TikTok and LinkedIn, so how you go about this can cost [companies] not just in the talent market — it can cost them customers, too," he said.

The brand math is measurable. YouGov data shows almost half of Gen Z says a brand having principles matters to them, and 24% want brands to share their views publicly. A company that fires people callously loses on both counts.

Is this the new normal? No.

Tech has a specific reputational problem right now, Mull said: "We are seeing tech companies more heavily investing in AI infrastructure rather than human support." Workers are reading the coverage and thinking, "If I work in the technology space, I'm at risk."

But Chan threw cold water on the trend thesis. "I don't think packages like Canva's will become the industry standard anytime soon," he said. Severance size tracks the balance sheet, and companies forced into mass layoffs usually don't have spare cash for extended salary coverage. "The packages also reflect each company's financial position and approach to restructuring," he noted. "For now, these are better viewed as examples of companies going beyond the usual severance arrangements."

For practitioners, that's the takeaway: Canva and Squarespace set a new ceiling for optics, not a new floor for the market. The next wave of cash-strapped cutters will still offer the lean Oracle-style terms — and pay for it on LinkedIn.