How algorithms wreaked havoc with these workers' schedules and cut their pay

"You were just telling the story — in this one company — of all these transformations that have happened to hourly work in America" said Daniel Schneider, a project lead of Harvard University's SHIFT project, which gathers data on conditions of hourly work.

Working hours became more intense

The company Valerus works for is called LanguageLine Solutions, which includes the UK's National Health Service and multiple New York City agencies among its clients. Its parent company, call center giant Teleperformance, was accused of trying to surveil remote workers and subsequently reached an agreement with a labor union federation over its surveillance practices.

Many LanguageLine interpreters said their jobs were intense to begin with. Through the phone line and on video calls, they help people navigate all kinds of life circumstances. On one call, they might translate an insurance policy for someone. On the next call, they could be helping a judge deliver a prison sentence.

Valerus said she occasionally tears up at work. "Sometimes the kids and mothers lose their lives during childbirth or they are on life support [and] they need to decide whether to give their organs."

There used to be one or two minutes of downtime between calls, but multiple workers told NPR that has disappeared. All that remains is a mandatory 15 seconds between calls.

It was very draining, said Anna Manciano, a Polish-English interpreter who worked for LanguageLine for eight years. "You start losing focus, start making mistakes." For interpreters who work on video calls like Valerus, it also means that they barely have time to stand up and stretch.

LanguageLine responded in a statement that it "absolutely and categorically do not want this for our interpreters" and has a health and safety committee that reviews workplace matters.

Scheduling isn't the only way algorithms help management make work more intense. Hotel cleaners have been pushing back against software that mandated the order in which they clean rooms. It made them clean rooms back to back where heavy lifting was and sent them zipping across different floors with heavy equipment, increasing their risk of injury.

"These are not pre-ordained outcomes of the software," said Carlos Aramayo, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents hospitality and restaurant workers, in Senate testimony last year on AI's potential to support workers, "They are management decisions."

"Mandatory involuntary time off"

One way algorithms began to change workers' lives at LanguageLine was when they found themselves with what the company describes as mandatory involuntary time off, which showed up on their work schedules under the paycode "AEX."

Those scheduling changes came with little notice. "On Thursday I would have a regular schedule, and then by the end of my shift, I have AEX for Friday," Valerus said. Sometimes, she would return from her lunch break only to find out she had no more work for the day. That short notice meant it was difficult for workers to find other gigs, schedule appointments or otherwise make use of the time off.

When workers are put on AEX, they don't get paid. Tax forms Valerus provided to the workers and seen by NPR show that her income from LanguageLine fell 18% from 2024 to 2025. One part-time worker's pay fell by over 70%. Manciano's income became so unstable that she quit in 2025 after giving birth to her first child. But even as their hours were falling, the company barred them from working for other translation services in its code of conduct.

In its statement, LanguageLine said that it's dealing with "headwinds facing our entire industry, including new policies instituted by the current administration," and they "have had to adjust schedules to accommodate lower-than-expected volumes." The company says it's piloting using AI for "routine, repetitive tasks" but it's not aiming to cut jobs. "Our interpreters rarely handle these today. For us, this will be market expansion," it said.

NiCE takes over scheduling

Workers say LanguageLine has cut back the hours of its interpreters before but in 2025, something changed and their schedules became more fragmented.

"It would be absolutely ridiculous," said Karolina Yermak, a Russian-English interpreter. "For instance, seven hours off…and then an hour and a half left in the evening for you to work."

On another occasion, Yermak said, "[for] one hour, one morning, I'm not working. So what am I supposed to do with that hour?"

The change coincided with LanguageLine switching to a new workforce management software, NiCE, which advertises itself as providing "smarter scheduling, accurate forecasting, and real-time intraday optimization" powered by AI.

In a blog post, the company highlighted how scheduling software can help reduce labor costs. NiCE is being used by corporations including American Airlines, Morgan Stanley and Toyota, according to the company's website. It did not respond to NPR's request for an interview.

LanguageLine said that NiCE was "used to forecast volume and determine schedules," and monitors "real-time occurrences" like weather and travel disruptions.

While algorithmic scheduling tools like NiCE have become pervasive across industries with low-paid hourly work, few case studies have documented how the tools reduce wages for workers. "The fact that you have this before and after is super powerful." said Schneider, the Harvard researcher.

This kind of scheduling technology that tried to match workers' hours with customer demand affected retail workers hard over a decade ago, prompting New York's Attorney General to investigate 13 major retailers in 2015. Public outcry prompted many state and local "Fair Workweek Laws" aimed at setting minimum scheduling standards.

But in most places where such laws exist, only retail workers are covered, said Susan Lambert, a professor emeritus at University of Chicago who studied low wage jobs.

Over time, this kind of software has also become prevalent in other industries such as restaurants and call centers, but they don't affect workers in all companies the same way depending on whether a company or industry is unionized. Unions tend to bargain with employers on scheduling practices and protect workers from the economic fallout, said Virginia Goellgast, a professor at Cornell University that has studied unionized call centers.

LanguageLine said it acknowledges that "schedules have been more unpredictable than normal" and is calibrating the scheduling system to give staff more stability.

Schneider said software like this helps companies transfer the business uncertainty they used to bear onto their workers. "It's a risk shift."

Workers pressure for change

In 2025, over 200 LanguageLine interpreters signed a petition to protest the company's reductions to their hours. Some workers in LanguageLine have been trying to unionize since 2024, demanding things like higher pay, paid bathroom breaks and better benefits.

New York City comptroller Mark Levine speaks after taking the oath of office on Jan. 1. Heather Khalifa/AP

Heather Khalifa/AP

At least one client appears to be taking notice. At a recent press conference that labor organizers hosted at New York City Hall, the city's comptroller Mark Levine called on LanguageLine to respect workers' rights to forming a union.

"As comptroller, we are looking at all the contracts that LanguageLine has with New York City to make sure they are in compliance. We're not playing here."

Valerus is taking part in the unionizing efforts, but she's also looking to take on new jobs to supplement her income so she can better support her children .

"This is very stressful," she said.