Pros
they hire lots of remote jobs
Cons
Apparently most people report a positive experience with Aquent, so mine might be specific to part-time work on a Microsoft contract. In my experience Microsoft has no interest in “contingency” workers beyond squeezing whatever they can out of them before finding a cheaper alternative (like my Indian replacement, I helped train, bless her). My Aquent experience: My real salary declined by over 25 percent over five years and continued declining after that. When I asked for a raise, I was told “oh, we can only do that at the start of the ‘fiscal,” or “We just laid some others off, so we can’t give you a raise.” Also, I was expected to be available for “on call” shifts with no pay, including evenings and weekends. There was no guaranteed level or work or a regular schedule. (You could specify what hours you’d be willing to work, but then you’d be limited in the hours you’d get.) The manager talks a good game (and there are good people on the project), but Aquent really takes advantage of the workers, probably because those folks need remote jobs, are near retirement, are home taking care of kids/sick relatives, or otherwise need a part-time job that might be hard to replace. And the manager never seemed at all concerned about finding work to fill in the dead “on-call” slots or about COLAs or any kind of decent raises. She was apparently quite concerned about sucking up to Microsoft though. And it’s clear Aquent’s only goal is expanding it’s footprint at Microsoft. So, if you get a change to do “PR review” at Microsoft through Aquent, I’d suggest you hold out for something where you’ll be treated better. I figured if I would have started off in a non-skill job at USPS at the same time I started this gig (as a veteran tech editor with over two decades at Microsoft), I’d be making more than I ended up making at Aquent. Oh, and when I was laid off, I found out Aquent wouldn’t pay for all my accrued vacation time. … Here’s to unions and countries with decent labor laws!
