Aya serves as a masterclass in how not to run a business. Consider working here only if you have exhausted all other options.
I have never worked for such a toxic, fundamentally flawed company. Aya subjects employees to enormous undue pressure, offers them zero control over situations, punishes them for unwarranted reasons, and constantly shifts priorities, fostering a poisonous and permeating culture of fear that they show no interest in changing. Despite winning awards for the “best workplace for women,” Aya fails to provide maternity leave. Aya breaks employees down well beyond healthy limits and terminates them as a punitive measure. Aya fires people on medical leave. Aya proudly boasts that they are a people-first company, but the reality starkly contrasts the positive image presented to the media, investors, and potential employees.
The result is a collection of sloppy and inefficient practices that demonstrate just how unproductive a company can be. At the highest level, Aya’s leadership is deeply flawed, with minimal communication from the CEO. There is no discernible product strategy beyond the vague directive to "be nimble,” and we build whatever the CEO says we’ll build. The lack of communication between Product and Engineering leads to an organization unable to support its teams effectively.
Top Engineering leadership is the most incompetent and malignant piece of the puzzle. Despite professing an agile and transparent organization where everyone is “having fun” and enabled to take ownership over their domain area, the reality is a strict command and control environment where employees lack autonomy and authority, are punished for reporting issues, suffer from unclear roles and responsibilities, and are berated for any real or perceived mistake. The politics are pervasively toxic, making it difficult to trust colleagues and engage in healthy debate. Having made teams impotent by removing all autonomy, engineering leadership is the only one allowed to prioritize work but is averse to doing so, meaning everything is #1. Priorities rarely last longer than a week and half-finished work is shelved, destroying employee morale and putting customers at risk.
The level of deception is unparalleled. Perhaps having sensed that the natives were angry, engineering leadership sent an “anonymous” survey that contained employee usernames in the URL. In the weeks that followed, many employees simply disappeared. Quarterly bonuses now hinge solely on the occurrence of high-severity incidents, which happen frequently due to a lack of priority, platform stability, and observability.
While positive reviews may dominate the platform, it's important to note that they mostly come from nurses, not corporate employees. Frankly, that’s also surprising, considering Aya is the defendant in a class-action lawsuit filed by nurses who cite Aya’s bait-and-switch practice of beginning a contract with a higher rate, then making a “take-it-or-leave-it” demand to accept less pay or be terminated. This is public, you can Google it.
If you’re desperate for a paycheck, they do pay money but please proceed with extreme caution and keep looking for a job that actually cares about you as a person.
