Ask Aya by NDWA

Across the U.S., 2.2 million domestic workers (mostly women of color and immigrants) do essential work caring for homes, children, and elders. Because the work is often informal, many rely on unspoken agreements that can be unfair and difficult to change. Workers are frequently left to navigate tough situations, ask for raises, and resolve conflicts — often in a second language.

Starting in the summer of 2024, NDWA engaged IDEO.org and THCo to conduct deep user research with domestic workers to understand pain points and potential opportunities for the organization to provide impactful tools. Across interviews, focus groups, and surveys with NDWA members and unaffiliated domestic workers, one question kept surfacing: Could NDWA help them negotiate better working conditions and pay? While resources are available (from NDWA sample contracts to labor rights explainers on state agency websites), they're scattered, hard to parse through, and difficult to put to use in the moment. What was missing was something simple, centralized, and built for real life.

We explored several potential solutions to help workers with negotiation, including video resources from content creators, peer-to-peer coaching, and expert Q&A. Ultimately the winning solution was our concept for an AI-powered chatbot called Ask Aya.

Even in early concept testing, Ask Aya wowed nearly everyone. Workers who were unsure about using an AI chatbot walked away surprised by how human, helpful, and immediate the experience felt. What made Aya stand out wasn't just the technology — it was the immediacy of instant answers, 24/7, in their native languages. We designed Aya to feel friendly and reassuring across the brand, including the avatar herself and throughout the conversation UI. She doesn't assume you know what to ask or how to interact with AI; she provides thoughtful prompts and asks the right follow-up questions to make sure she gives accurate, localized labor rights information.

Each interaction is tailored to the worker's situation and offers two to three clear options, each with example scripts that make it easier to communicate needs directly to an employer. Additional resources are offered at the end of the chat, if relevant.

Trained on NDWA's trusted resources and rooted in worker experience, Ask Aya serves as an accessible coach, helping workers advocate for themselves with confidence and clarity, exactly when they need it.

During beta testing:

"IDEO.org and The Holding Co. helped us revisit old assumptions and reimagine how we could reach workers in their moments of greatest need. This partnership helped us transform decades of organizing wisdom into something workers can access instantly with a personalized touch. Their user-centered design-thinking process showed us new ways to scale our impact and meet our members where they are."— Sam Witherbee, National Domestic Workers Alliance

• "Dignity-driven AI"? This chatbot advocates for domestic workers Fast Company
• National Domestic Workers Alliance helps domestic workers advocate for better pay with Claude Anthropic case study