Pros
I spent the last five years consulting to different organisations and getting to see the culture, management practices, and experience the overall feel of a huge number of companies, before coming to Canva. I can easily say Canva is not only the best place I have ever worked for, but also the best place I have ever come across. The company cares about culture and its people: There is an entire team (Vibies) dedicated to making the place a fun and inclusive place to work and they pull it off. Food is catered for every morning and lunch. There are constantly spontaneous and interesting events being organised e.g. Gin night, wine-club, yoga on fridays, a fitness boot camp twice a week, and my spouse has commented about how welcomed she feels every time she visits. The company has its own dedicated coaching team to help people grow and develop in their careers and personal lives. The only other companies I have ever seen doing this are Zappos and Google. I work in a group that comprises all of the people elements of the company and every single person I have met in this group has given me the impression that they genuinely care about people. In fact generally outside of this group I would categorise employees here as good humans BUT NOTE not every person that makes it in is amazingly mature or a good culture fit. It’s a human organisation and like anywhere else there’s definitely a bell curve e.g. I have come across a small few who will take their grievances out in backdoor conversations (or on glass door) without ever addressing it with the person in question, or taking responsibility for examining their own view in spirited debate. The majority are pretty cool people. In my first week at the company two of the founders (on separate occasions) personally welcomed me and demonstrated care. On the few occasions I have had to come to them with questions they have been surprisingly responsive despite how busy they are, on one occasion being quite friendly in answering my questions whilst they were at an airport about to board a plane. There are heaps of opportunities to make things happen: This is the kind of place where if you have an idea you can pitch it and very quickly find yourself with the responsibility and autonomy to make it happen. 50% of the goals I am working on right now I pitched myself into. I also know that this isn’t unique to me. Because of my role I work with a huge cross section of the company and this is something that I have seen time and time over. A friend just yesterday told me that he is in talks about potentially being given his own team to coach after pitching that he could take more responsibility.
Cons
The environment is fast paced, things change quickly as the company pivots, and sometimes work that is being delivered is suddenly no longer relevant: I think this is a reality of working in the tech space, and in a company that is still young and fast growing. But I know it can sometimes put people out. Not everything has been figured out: Things change every season and because the company grows so quickly things break, or can be inefficient, or there are questions that haven’t been answered yet. This can create uncertainty, or a lack of clarity about who to go to for what, or how to get some issue solved. This is also the reason theres so much opportunity, and I think the company generally is quite focused on figuring these things out. But if you want to work for a place where everything is crystal clear and all the roads are paved, Canva isnt that place
