Living Wages at Canva: A Model for Corporate Responsibility

"At Canva, we believe in providing compensation that ensures everyone can achieve a good standard of living. Our commitment goes beyond minimum wage, with living wage targets set to ensure employees can afford essentials for a happy, healthy life, enjoy hobbies, and save for future goals. This vision has really allowed us to implement living wages smoothly,” says Troy Garett, Compensation Specialist at Canva.

WageIndicator has partnered with Canva for the last three years in their living wage journey. Read the interview to learn more about this impactful initiative.

Why did Canva decide to explore and implement living wages? What was the initial motivation?

Canva is a very mission and values-driven organisation. It started with our founders, who were keen to establish a policy ensuring that everyone working at Canva can achieve a good standard of living. This ethos is embedded in everything we do, and it aligns with our broader company mission to not only build a successful business but to also make a positive impact on the world.

Our broader strategy, known as the Two-Step Plan, focuses on building one of the world’s most valuable companies while doing as much good as we can. This mission extends to our employees, ensuring that as Canva grows, so does our ability to support fair compensation and positive global impact.

Could you walk us through the implementation process? Specifically, what was the scope of the operation, how did you analyse the data we provided, identify gaps, and develop a plan to address them?

We took the living wage data, analysed it, and identified which benchmarks made sense for us to use in each location. We primarily focused on two key data points: the median skilled wage and the wage for a typical family in each location. From there, we chose the higher of the two, reflecting the skilled nature of our workforce.

We then combined this data with other public living wage metrics, such as the UK's Living Wage Foundation. After that, we assessed all Canva employees, including contractors, to identify those below the benchmark and the gap between their current salary and the living wage. We worked with managers to educate them on the importance of this initiative, secured budgets, and embedded the living wage into our salary bands and review processes. 

How big was the living wage gap in the beginning?

When we initially assessed wages, we found a small number of employees below the living wage benchmark. Addressing this was a priority, and we quickly took steps to ensure everyone met or exceeded the living wage. Since then, we’ve implemented a regular process to review wages every six months to ensure we continue meeting our living wage commitments across all regions.

Can you say that adjusting the minimum wage in a country due to legal reasons is a similar process to implementing a living wage, or are they different?

It's essentially the same process. We're treating the living wage like a minimum wage—once implemented, no one can fall below it. Some say implementing a living wage is difficult, while others adjust minimum wages frequently without issue. For us, it wasn’t difficult because we approached it with the mindset of making it a priority.

Were there any significant challenges or roadblocks during the process?

We didn’t encounter significant challenges, as there was strong alignment and support within Canva for this initiative. Our commitment to fairness and doing good made it easier to implement living wages smoothly across the organisation.

Canva has acquired several companies in recent years. How do you navigate the living wage strategy during these acquisitions? What does that process look like?

Our living wage strategy aligns with our overall total reward strategy. When we acquire a company, we first compare their compensation to ours, looking for any employees below our minimums. We prioritise remediation and adjustments right away.

Why did you choose to work with WageIndicator?

We chose WageIndicator because they provided global data and methodology that really aligns with our values. Their focus on ensuring people can afford a good standard of living made them the ideal partner as we implement our living wage strategy across multiple regions.

Does this approach help by accommodating different family types? Can we view it as a ladder, choosing either the lower bound for a typical family or a higher, more generous level?

We chose to define the living wage using the typical family metric to consider the broader circumstances surrounding individuals, rather than just their salaries. Our team wanted to ensure we not only achieved a living wage but also had a target that was above the minimum wage and living wage.

We believe everyone who works at Canva should be able to afford essentials for a happy and healthy life, enjoy hobbies, and save for future goals. By using these additional metrics, we can determine the highest bounds of the living wage in each country, helping us achieve those goals.

Can we say that paying a living wage contributes to your company's success? Also, can you shed light on your take on the EU directive on Minimum Adequate Wages?

I'd say paying a living wage is definitely a factor in our success. We pay competitively and reward our employees, which keeps them happy and thriving, ultimately enhancing our product. As a private company, we don’t have a public annual report. However, we do send internal reports to leadership every six months, detailing the number of identified gaps and the measures taken to address them. Lastly, concerning the EU directive on adequate wages, we’re already paying above the living wage, so we’re well-positioned. We're keeping an eye on developments with our reward partner in EMEA, but it’s not a major concern for us.

November 2024