If you’ve noticed, the pros are nice but they’re all superficial and very “hip”. They highlight these well and do really good PR with these mediocre, overly-budgeted “magical experiences” to cover up major flaws: 1. Heavily disorganized, chaotic, and easily distracted culture. Canva is so volatile. - Overly complicates processes that could’ve been simple - Important decisions are commonly made last minute, all by the founders themselves or managers - Approval line is incredibly vague; when things go wrong people point fingers - Priorities always change. It’s what people mean when you hear “fast paced environment” in Canva. Departments and teams change literally at least twice every year (if not more). People switch roles all the time, and wear multiple hats at that. Goals change midway through the season. New requests pop out of nowhere, usually in the middle of a big project. If you’ve imagined any chaotic instance, it’s probably already happened here at least once. 2. Vague growth & role hierarchy There’s this dumb chart every performance review (about 2x a year) that is meant to show career/role “levels” with weird, ambiguous labels like “E1, E2, C2, C3”. It’s such a poor attempt to put “structure” when honestly the odor of this bs can be smelled a mile away. If we’re being honest, nobody really understands what these labels mean. They rate you by “Canva’s 12 skills” which are made-up, broad things like “Navigates complexity” or “Rallies others” and it doesn’t really capture what people typically achieve/not achieve at any workplace. It’s such a confusing way to rate employees and at the end of the day, doesn’t feel fair or accurate in any way. It’s hard to get a really favorable rating, so many employees are stuck in the same level and salary range for YEARS. They tell you you’re “doing well” but apparently it’s never enough to get an increase or promotion. Also, the title you have? Nonexistent. It’s all for show. Once you’re in, none of it matters because the company doesn’t honor it. Your scope widens, your seniority barely matters day to day unless it concerns company politics. Lines are blurred. 3. Cult-like. People are so obsessed with (toxic) positivity here, and praise the CEO/COO/CPO almost like they’re deity. It’s insane how much normal feedback or remarks are taboo because of how “positive” the culture is. Say something mildly constructive and people become so offended. I’ve seen honest and genuine people be attacked, keyboard-warrior style just because of something that’s not even remotely offensive. Honest, constructive feedback to improve systems, the product, or someone’s work aren’t taken well unless you sweeten it with flowery words. 4. Salary is okay, but not competitive as they so claim it to be. Canva spends god knows how much on aforementioned lavish “magical experiences” - but very rarely compensates employees in terms of cash/salary increases. Canva is a rich company with literal billions of profits but they make sure it goes to intangible/non-monetary benefits that only last a day or a moment. When we achieve something big, they just throw a big party. They commend everyone for “doing a great job” but honestly we can do without the parties. Just give us a salary increase. You already said it yourselves that these achievements wouldn’t be possible without us, so pay us better. It helps employees and their families more than parties ever will. 5. Nepotism and favoritism is so real and it’s disgusting. So many people get in because they’re either siblings, spouses, or in a relationship with an existing employee. On top of that, obviously these same people get preferential treatment because of these connections. The only reason there are old 8+ year employees is because they don’t get rid of people who joined by nepotism/favoritism. They don’t fire these people, even if their incompetence is SO obvious. They form some sort of special circle that gets privileges (being noticed, financially rewarded, publicly acknowledged) that non-favorites DO NOT have (or have to fight tooth and nail just to get a fraction of what favorites get). These same people promote each other and are the only ones who really get to move up the ladder. So many managers/seniors in Canva DO NOT deserve to be in their positions. A lot of them don’t know anything about what they’re doing. If you don’t have connections, you best believe you’ll stay in the same position and never see the day you get promoted.
