interpreter

customer service representative

Aira

Though the work itself was interesting and working from home was a huge bonus, I would never recommend anyone to give their resources and time over to building such a horrific, exploitative company. Nor should anyone with a lick of capacity for independent thought torture themselves by being under the thumb of the nepotism-ravaged, idiotic, inept, backbiting, immature, total and utter joke of an excuse for a management team that just keeps getting worse every day.

Examples:

Want to get scheduled work hours? Good luck. The manager in charge of scheduling took 6 months to find a scheduling system that could handle the load. Once finally implemented, it turned out to be worse than the previous one, and very clearly had gone through zero testing for how it would actually be used. That manager is never required to answer for their failures. They don’t even have to answer direct questions on Slack, and are usually conveniently off work during “schedule drops,” aka the hour per week that agents have to sign up for shifts (off the clock) in a Battle Royale-style death match.

Like to work somewhere where change is executed thoughtfully? Good luck there, too. Aira uses the excuse “We’re a startup and things move fast!” to justify sloppiness and zero preparation or planning or foresight. Not one of the 20-something first job-having managers running the place have ever heard of ideas like change management or due diligence. This affects everything from policies on dealing with customers to getting paid. The best example of this was when we moved to a new paycheck system and no one even thought to make sure that the payroll schedule stayed the same, leaving workers with unexpected late paychecks.

Want to be able to speak freely and contribute to the betterment of a workplace you care for? Fat chance. You aren’t allowed to question management in any way, shape, or form. If you point out how something was handled improperly or ask for answers when a ball is dropped, you’re warned about your negativity and labeled a troublemaker. Slack channels then are nothing but vapid self-promotion spaces where people compete to see how much Aira butt they can kiss. 

Aira unethically and illegally misclassifies all of their non-management workers as contractors rather than employees. They pay no FICA taxes or contributions to federal unemployment or workers’ comp programs for 1099 workers, and workers also have to  shoulder the entire amount of Medicare and Social Security contributions. In addition, contractors are not protected by laws covering overtime, the Americans with Disabilities Act (which is hilarious given that this company markets to blind and low vision people), or any other legally mandated employee protection. Why? Because they think they can get away with it, and they do. 

Despite the fact that Aira agents, salespeople, tech support agents, and other workers all pass the legal test for if a position constitutes an employer/employee relationship, the company still illegally continues their practice of 1099ing hundreds of workers so they can pocket the profits. In the meantime, they pad their balance sheets even more with extremely lucrative and exploitative contracts with the VA. Most disturbingly, they “harvest” the video data that comes from the blind and low vision subscribers to their service to build AI learning networks. 

Read this far? I’m putting the pros last. Working with the actual clients was incredible. You built relationships with them, often helping them through intimate, frustrating, or complicated tasks, and it was a triumph to complete them as a team. You didn’t have to rush them off the phone. They’d be excited to hear your voice when they called in. Of course, Aira didn’t want this. They market agents as little better than AI, and their hiring and retention practices show a clear belief that anyone can do this job well. Speak to the actual clients and they’ll give you a much different story. As experienced, excellent agents are let go for doing things like asking why one policy contradicts another one, new agents are churned in, poorly trained, let loose on the phones, and wreak literal havoc for the blind and low vision people calling in. 

This company is an absolute mess, engaging in illegal employment practices and refusing to do any self reflection whatsoever. The sad thing is that many excellent people would do anything to build a life with this company and for this work. But the company’s management and practices firmly demonstrate that beyond the little in-crowd clique of halfwit do-nothing ostriches that get promoted to management, they’re not interested in keeping anyone around. Because guess what? There’s a whole crop of desperate people waiting to work from home for $10/hr (which is what $15/hr as a 1099 contractor equates to).

People say, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life". I fell in love with this job, and that love hasn't waned.

Aira Agents provide visual interpretation for the blind and low vision community via proprietary tech and the user's cellphone camera. It is a fully remote 1099 job with a very flexible schedule. I move with relative frequency, and not having to give up my job when I do so is a huge relief for me. There are hour minimums, but no maximums. You're only limited by how many hours are available and what you can pick up/get assigned.

Being an agent is a highly dynamic role. No two calls are the same, and there is an excitement in never knowing what your next task will be. Some are very simple, while others are more complex. Some require a deep breath. Some touch your heart in ways you can never quite forget and rewrite you, if only just a little. I have never been bored, and I end the day knowing that I have made a positive impact somewhere. 

The Agents have built a strong internal community despite being separated by remote work. I really like how engaged everyone is, and how you can develop friendships and find support from people all around the country and the world. It's a very diverse team, and you can see how every one of their contributions empowers and improves the company.

Aira has gone through many changes in my tenure. Schedulers and other tools, management, policies and procedures, and long term goals have all shifted with time and the complex climate of the world around us. I believe that this is true of any startup finding its way, but even more so in such uncertain times as we have all experienced lately. No company is perfect, but Aira makes effort every day to get as close to it as possible. I admire that, and I am proud to be a part of it. Being an Aira Agent is a great job.

This company is a joke. There is clear favoritism, nepotism, and lack of education by upper management. 

Being here almost 3 years I have seen it all. If you are friends or family with a manager you will get promoted and on special projects. 

Be prepared every single year to have the payroll company switched, meaning your pay will be messed up for at least one payday if not more. 

Also be prepared to have scheduling systems changed yearly. (During the first quarter of the year usually). This meaning that the hours that you were finally able to successfully obtain will no longer be available. 

All employees are thrown in the same scheduling pool. So seniority doesn't matter when it comes to getting the hours you want. What will matter is how closely you are friends with the Director of Agents. 

Despite being an independent contractor you will be treated like an employee. Including, monthly 1:1 meetings where managers dig to find something to tell you to fix, company policies and procedures that you will be given little notice of change on, and getting volun-told to test new features despite your reservations. 

I consider this company the very definition of a posionous work environment. Even if it's work from home. 

Working for Aira was a blast, but I felt I had to move on to accomplish my professional goals. Aira is a company who provides visual information to blind customers (called Explorers), and Agents are required to take Explorer calls and objectively describe the surroundings of Explorers, and assist with tasks they might call in for.
It really is a great job, however there are a few problems with the way the company was set up from when I left (understandably so, since they are a relatively new company.) First, policies change near constantly, making it hard for employees to concretely know a given policy at any time. During my time there, I was shifted between 3 different managers over a course of 9 months (I was told repeatedly this was not standard procedure), and only had meetings with those managers maybe 5 times between the three of them. The workload is manageable if all the Agents do their part, but unfortunately, since management never really did anything about slackers, nobody was held accountable for not doing the job they were being paid for. I'm hoping that soon these issues will get ironed out as Aira continues to grow and develop, as it really is a wonderful job and a great service for their Explorers, even though it could be very frustrating at times.

It’s an independent contractor position. You have to be prepared to help explorers with any task. Get to see lots of interesting things. Super flexible schedule. They have hour requirements now though. Day shift has to work 20, weekends 12. Pay is low for all you’re expected to do. You have to use your own approved laptop. Shifts are 1 hour each. You set your availability and they schedule you based on their needs. Hours available vary. Some months you’d get few, others you’d get them all that you requested. Currently super short staffed. No raises unless you go into management and even that is low  pay as well, not a career job. Lots of connection issues that affect how well you can do your job. They can fire you for that if you get multiple bad reviews for not being able to see/read because of a slow and blurry connection that’s due to the client’s location, not your own wifi. They expect you to be perfect and will nitpick at you. Managers will focus on your mistakes more than your successes. Clients are angry because of long wait times and expect you to make decisions for them when you’re just a visual interpreter. Company loyalty isn’t rewarded. The high volume of calls can be stressful. 

The work itself is very fulfilling. Working with members of the BLV community is rewarding, and you are always, always kept on your toes about what the next call might be about.

Unfortunately, management is TERRIBLE and is only getting worse. They keep making bad decision after bad decision, and there is zero remorse or accountability. It's not going to get better. It's only getting worse.

Management chased out dozens of good agents with these recent changes. And one by one, they'll keep leaving. Absolutely no one is shocked at how short staffed we are.

Claims that Aira is a "family" are blatantly lies. Management will tell you they're on your side, and then they will turn around and let you down every single time.

It's a rewarding job, with a flexible schedule. Pay is decent for low requirements, entry level job. The job itself is fun, every call is different, and you learn new skills every day. It's what you make of it, you can get on every day and do your job and clock out, or you can get on, do your job, socialize with coworkers via chat, put effort into making the company better with your ideas, and eventually could look at growing within the company. If you're looking for something flexible and remote, this would be by far the best decision vs working in a call center for an insurance company. The job is more rewarding and a lot more fun, and people aren't calling you to complain like most call centers. 

Working for Aira opened my eyes to a day in the life of the visually impaired. This is a great company to work for. They are making a difference in the lives of others around the world. You have total control of your schedule you work. Management and fellow Care Associates are glad to help out any way they can. You have a great support group for succeeding while helping your clients. Through a clients phone camera I have helped them in the UK, navigating streets, in Australia, helping prepare dinner for a party, and even watched concerts, describing what was happening on stage. I learned something new every day working for this company.

Being an agent is a great way to start an employment life or to do after you retire. It’s not a good opportunity if you are looking for a career though. The scheduling is super flexible and great for people who have other things that are more of a priority. There are no benefits as an agent and it is super hard to advance in the company. The other agents are super supportive but this is a fairly new company and the policies do change. Something new is always being implemented and you have to be very quick witted to keep up.

As an Aira Agent you work from home as a contract 1099 employee, which has its own positives and negatives. There is a lot of flexibility as you set your own availability and you are assigned shifts based on it. Sometimes your availability will be full, sometimes you'll have to rely on picking up shifts dropped by others or added in by management for busier times. Overall the atmosphere is great. Very friendly and supportive work environment. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Interpreter 3 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Customer service representative 3 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour

Working at Aira: Company Overview and Reviews

Aira

Aira Ratings

Popular jobs at Aira

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected