Do not judge unless you have been in their shoes. I worked for another sm
Posted By: KS MT on 2008-03-11
In Reply to: Keystrokes insurance - Spooked
company that went through the exact same thing for 2 years. They were too big for small company insurance and do not have enough people that want insurance to qualify for large group. They would get all the way to the final contract and the insurance company would double the rate.
Keystrokes has been trying to get this resolved for a year. The reason for the information is because each company wants different things.
I spoke with someone very high up in the company about this. She told me that they get close and then something happens to change it, like the insurance company backs out due to too many health issues or that they decide that the group is not diverse enough. Keystrokes employs mostly women. The insurance companies do like this because women tend to go to the doctor more.
I do know that they are going to pay a portion though.
I think that the shame should be on you. Do you think that you are helping by complaining on a public board? There are 500 happy employees and just a handful who come to the boards to bash them. This is worse than high school.
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You don't know her. How can you judge? I do know her
and know that she is one of hte most caring people I have ever met. If she did not care, she would not post or get upset when people post. If you have ever met her, dealt with her at length, gotten to know her, you would know how wrong you are. You might be right that she is too emotional but I you cannot say that she does not care.
It is certainly not up to me to judge
another person's integrity. I wish D well and honestly hope things work out for her. The one thing that does bother me is the dissonance created between the fact that she was so adamantly offshoring and now is doing this 180. It is her company and her right to change her mind at any time. I am also just a tad disappointed that many of us sat in front of empty screens for weeks, all the while being told that a new account was coming on in September and then all would be fine again. Well, I suppose many new accounts will be coming on, but as they say, half a lie is still a lie. We all lost valuable time waiting when we could have been looking for other jobs and moving on. The situation was NOT going to go back to business as usual in September and D, of course, knew that. Still and all, I do wish D well. We cannot possibly know what she went through in making this decision, so I am not going to judge. We all change and if she has changed her point of view about offshoring, that is her prerogative. I hope she is successful. I don't have a problem with what was done so much as with HOW it was done. But it is over, I have a great job and it is time to move on. Good luck to D and good luck to us.
I have put myself in her shoes.
If she does not feel she is cut out to roll with the punches, she needs to find a job with a company that offers a mentoring program. If she is a regular MT with Spheris, she is expected to meet the same QA scoring guidelines as everyone else or risk being terminated.
Most companies cannot baby newbies. They just don't have the staff to do this. She needs to find a company that offers mentoring for newbies and stop complaining...or she needs to bite the bullet and try to do the work.
I felt overwhelmed when I first started in acute care. I found that it was helpful to type a blank on parts where I was having trouble and transcribe the entire report and go back to the blanks and listen again a few times. I was often able to figure them out.
I had to work ten hour a day when I started out in order to meet my quota, but I did it and it has paid off for me.
you are not in my shoes, so .......
if you are not, how do you know what the situation is for me, personally? So, your experience has been good. Others have shared with me in private that it has not been so good for them, either. I am not alone in this, so please do not criticize my opinion, okay??
Been in your shoes
I too started out in clinics about 5 years ago and was managed to be hired by a local hospital. Well...5 years later I'm working at Diskriter in their QA department. You can do it, it will come. Don't give up, it's worth it in the end.
Been in your shoes
Sorry but I've been in your shoes and did not like it one bit. I know this profession sucks but leaving the house for $10 an hour sucks too after taxes, gas, clothes, lunches, etc. I choose to work for 3 services to never again run out of work. I never work more than 10 hours a day (which is what it would amount to if I worked outside the house including driving there, being stuck in traffic, working and then driving home.) I was MTSO of my own company for 8 years until the hospitals kept taking longer and longer to pay and then suddenly there were all these woman who had taken the course and believed the hype and were willing to work for $.08 a line and then I was out of work. It that time I made $.14 per line and paid my subs $.11. I was good to them. I even kept most of the crappy dictators and did them myself so I've been on both sides of this job. I've worked for the services who don't pay or won't pay, who have no work. This job is not what it used to be but I've decided it is where I need to be right now so I will make the best of it. My family is coming off of 4 very lean years and I won't go there again. I'm all for helping someone who is trying to help themselves but not for people who want a pity party...and if I made $3 a day at my job I'd be finding out why and doing something about it.
I was in your shoes!
Mine were exactly the same ages as yours. It is very difficult to manage a home, 3 babies and work. My hat is off to you. I was able to get most of my work done when my hubby was home at night and on the weekends, but when I got real backed up, I would hire one of the teens in my neighborhood to come sit for a couple of hours so I could work uninterrupted.
Good luck to you and God bless you. You have your hads full....BUT they grow up so fast, believe it or not, someday you will miss these times. :-)
1-1/2 months not enough to judge
nm
I do try not to judge most of what is on this board; however,
it is my opinion, that MTSOs and managers for companies really should not post on a public board like this. It is my thought that the quieter the company remains, the better off they will be.
Every MT has a different opinion about every company, some good and some bad. MTSOs have to take the good with the bad either way.
It just seems so unprofessional for a company owner to post on a public forum.
Don't judge all of us by 1 poster - there are sm
nasty and nice folks wherever you go. That goes for former employees too (like the one who first posted good riddance to Webmedx)- some folks are gonna be happy and other unhappy with any company out there.
Most of us are nice people at Webmedx!
Those are big shoes to fill
I guess you've never worked on the inside of an MTSO business, but you wouldn't believe how physicians and hospitals are chipping away at our pay by demanding lower rates from the MTSOs. Some MTSOs that people on this site complain about offering offshored services to client did it to KEEP from losing their clients. When it starts with the doctors and hospitals, what choice do the MTSOs have but to pass that on to the MTs? It really is a vicious circle.
Some MTSOs team up with schools and offer interships where an MT in training works for free for a period of time to gain experience. Now trust me, THOSE savings are not passed on to the experienced MTs...that goes directly into the MTSO's pockets and those MTSO push their long-term, higher paid MTs out the door to save a few pennies with no trouble sleeping at night.
So what about a union? You're right. More jobs will be offshored. More experienced MTs will lose their jobs. Doesn't anyone remember what happened when the air traffic controllers went on strike and the president of our United States canned every single one of them and airports had to hire an entirely new staff of controllers? Did you see airlines stop flying passengers? Nope. Managers worked triple shifts until restaffing occurred, oh, without extra pay since they were salarired.
I don't pretend to know the answers as to how an MTSO should run its business but honest communication, good benefits and wages that have been lost in just a few short years (less than 10) would be nice. It should stick to its gun and promote keeping jobs in the states for the patients' sakes. And for the Indian physicians who have organized and created their own MTSO's to keep their families in India employed should be boycotted. MTs should educate anyone they know who uses a doctor to ask the physician where his/her transcription is done or if s/he even knows and use only physicians with American-based transcription.
Boycotts worked in South Carlolinia and other states to take down the Rebel flag. Why can't we have a similar affect? Mostly because we are not organized (I did NOT say unionized) and we do not generate the media coverage necessary to affect change.
d~
Walk in my shoes
I am very small MTSO and it still gets hairy with turn around time. All it takes is for one I/C to say, today I don't want to work -- which they can -- like the one above said, I want to work when I want to and do as much as I want -- and suddenly she decides not to work, well suddenly that leaves 1000 to 3000 lines to be spread around, times that by 2 and what a mess. You cannot control what and how much the docs dictate. I would not hire someone unless they were strictly for overflow without somewhat of a committment whether it be the lines or time that the could do on specific days. Imagine having 15 people with this attitude. Like I said walk in my shoes, it is a balancing act. Too much work, they gripe -- too little they gripe. But someone that wants to work when they want, how much they want could not budget accounts that way. It would be strictly overflow and then if you weren't available when the work was you probably would not stick around nor again would I keep you around. Sure an IC can set their own hours but I expect a certain amount of work done in a certain amount of time to meet my TAT and not be docked because we didn't.
I have been in your shoes and perhaps worse sm
You don't need to explain yourself. You are here with a complaint about something a recruiter said to you, not so that others can pounce on you for not handling your personal difficulties! OF COURSE this didn't happen overnight and OF COURSE you have been working on it. I have had this very thing happen and it took many months to get ahead of it, but I did. I have faith that you can too.
I hang out here and I hope that like several others, I have a voice that is a voice of reason, maturity with more than a little heart in it. (Okay, so I am not the whiz kid of tech issues and some of you call me verbose and a braggart and I don't care.) Some days I come on here and think whew! Some of us need to go back to kindergarten and learn how to get along with others, learn to share, root for home team, share the ropes, hug our neighbors when they need it and understand that if we like our boo boos kissed better, then we need to do some boo boo kissin' too.
Now, I don't know about some of you with cold hearts and nasty fingers...but my mom told me several things growing up and I don't forget them even if I am olderer than dirt:
--if you can't say something nice, keep your mouth shut.
--you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
--if you want a friend, be a friend.
--if you hang your dirty laundry out to dry, it isn't going to get any cleaner.
--life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
--what goes around comes around.
I especially believe in that last one. I used to be a very angry, bitter person and I used to lash out and be nasty. Then I got sick. Then I came as close to dying as I want to get for a very long time yet. I don't have my health and I might not have much time left either. I have grown thin and frail though I am not yet 50. I woke up one morning while I was recuperating and decided that since my life was going to be shorter than I thought, so I had better shape up before I got shipped out for good. I changed my attitude and I changed my life.
Today, I have spent years sowing seeds of gladness, seeds of caring, seeds of friendship, seeds of understanding and I find my life incredibly rich and full.
I know that all of you who have to rip others apart have small, unhappy lives and you can't see that you have a major role in that, in fact, you have the STARRING ROLE. I feel sorry for you and you know who you are. I feel sorry for you because you are always going to have an unhappy, unfulfilled life because WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.
sorry, I had to rant and it is off topic, but not exactly.
I DID wear the same shoes as others..
HENCE, where I am now. So there.
I was in your shoes not that long ago
I had 3 under the age of 5 at home. I've worked both statutory/IC (the only difference is that statutory means they take out the federal taxes and IC doesn't)and employee positions. By far, the best for me was statutory. Even now that my kids are all in school, statutory is still better because of summer vacations.
Some things to remember: Most employee positions require you to punch a timeclock. Some companies let you get your work done in a 12-hour window, others require you to work just the shift your scheduled for. The employee position I had did not give you the window.
My employee position also required me to produce so many lines per hour, even though I was paid by production not hourly. Therefore, if you are scheduled 6 hours and had to produce 100 lines per hour, you needed to have 600 lines in by the time you clocked out. If you got interrupted by 1 of your kids, you had to either clock out and make the time up at the end of your shift (which no one feels like doing) or stay clocked in, try to handle the problem in a few minutes, and hope you make your 100 lines per hour. Of course, the line requirement was averaged over the week or payperiod (can't remember which now), so I always went with the second option of staying clocked in rather than having to make up time at the end of my shift. But, anything that took more than a few minutes to handle, you'd better clock out or else Big Brother will report you for stealing from the company.
There are some downsides to statutory. You do not get benefits. If you want a day off, you take it, but you don't get paid for it. You also don't get time and a half. You work what you work and get paid the same amount, unless you're with a company that pays incentives/bonuses for anything over a certain amount.
I honestly can't say much else about statutory. It's my favorite. The flexibility is just too good to pass by when you have little ones at home.
I won't comment on companies to work for. Too many people like to argue when you try to post something positive about a company. Read the archives, decide on 2 or 3 companies, then ask about those companies. It's just too broad otherwise.
Having worn your shoes,
I feel your pain. I've worked for a couple of companies that went offshore, also. In one I was transcribing Social Security disability evaluations. Those went to the Philippines.
Picture this: Your full name, DOB and SSN, as well as details of all your physical and mental disabilities, going to another country, potentially to be stolen and used by identity thieves. The US government contracting to have its work done by a company that sends the work to a foreign country.
Inconceivable to me at the time. Still makes no sense, but then I'm obviously not management material.
Don't judge a company by the recruiter -
I recently went through the same thing and I don't think the recruiter knew the difference between an elbow and a knee. Anyway, I got hired and am VERY happy with the company. The only test I took was a Q&A over the phone, no typing test, but I guess with 10+ years experience they didn't want to waste my time or theirs. Wish more companies would do that. It is time consuming to take these typing tests. Good luck.
It's not really fair to judge a person on how often
In this business, and especially when you're an IC, why should a company look down on an MT who has worked at different companies or changed jobs often, especially when work is slow at one company & they have to go looking for more work at another company? How is an MT supposed to stay at one company for years anymore when the companies are offshoring (leaving less positions for US MTs), running out of work for us, overhiring, going out of business, changing their platforms, cutting pay, etc., etc., etc...
Remember, this has been going on for 8 to 10 years no, so just because you perceive an MT to be a job hopper doesn't necessarily mean it's their fault or for the wrong reasons!
When MTs aren't making enough money with a company either because of little to no work to do, or if their company changes platforms that makes it harder to make a line count, what are they supposed to do? Stay there anyway? Sit and wait for work for days, weeks, months on end just so they can put on their resume that they are loyal and/or can hold down a job??
Newsflash, GOOD MTs hold up their end of the bargain when hired by these companies ... it's the COMPANIES who aren't living up on THEIR end! Why should an MT go broke waiting for work or losing income on a crappy platform change??
That's SO unfair to MTs and just out and out ridiculous. Burns me UP!
Please read new post before you judge...
Please see the post regarding this subject under the New MT board
Great post! In the same shoes you are! sm
I'm not worried anymore, though. I made it through my probationary period with lots of ups and downs, a lot of tough dictators, one that I STILL cannot understand and I do this guy EVERY DAY! But I like the job, like the QA people I have and have finally made it up to line count and I've been there since December. Now, to stay there.... Nice group of people. I like it a lot. Don't know what account you are on but I logged off just a while ago and the stats were still coming in. LOL  
I've been in your shoes, with 3 kids, but (sm)
there is a very fine line to walk between hiring enough people for a new account and putting them somewhere until it actually starts, and overhiring. You want enough people, not too many, not too few. Try walking that line sometime. I have, and you usually get flak from both sides. Hang in there.
But what if the shoes doesn't fit? What then? What about TT getting unfairly
bashed here from some anonymous poster who can come on here and say anything?
let the MTSOs step in the MTs shoes - sm
If they cant pay a decent wage, them maybe it is time to let some of the clients go and work for yourself. It is just like MTs, if you accept a low rate of pay that is what you get. Stand up for yourself MTSOs and ask for more money. Get a back bone.
Keystrokes works in about 15 rad platforms, so you cannot judge on one. The pay
scale is a starting point. I make over $85000 a year with them, FT days, 1 weekend a month, 8 hours a day. I rarely take extra as my account is staffed pretty tight and we work together.
I would rather get 120-150 reports a day at 1.10 then 20 at 1.25.
Depends on the account though.
4 cpl could be for newbies or editors. Don't judge so quickly
Consider that service owners have to take the time to edit and provide feedback to newbies and that takes a LOT of time.
Take the MTSO to Judge Judy! Embarassment=pay
 
You don't know what accts I work on so how can you judge whether or not they are excellent? nm
.
Best not to judge a company based on recruiter. (sm)
I just wanted to say that I am an MT and am related to a recruiter who actually recruits for several different companies at the same time. She isn't allowed to give out account names or even cities that the accounts are in by any of the companies she recruits for. She also is only the first step - if you seem like a good fit and pass the tests, then she puts someone from the actual company in touch with you to give you more information. I know of at least 2 other recruiters who also work for more than one company. They aren't on-site at the company, have no direct knowledge of the work flow patterns or accounts, and haven't ever actually even met the people they are recruiting for! Not all companies do this, but some of the smaller ones outsource their recruiting this way. My advice is this: If you don't get what you need from the recruiter, ask to speak to someone else who can tell you more.
This is a person who finds it SO easy to judge
and assume, and preach - that because HER life works, everyone else's should as well. Got a news bulletin for the OP - there is NOTHING mature about posting a one size fits all philosophy with a 'holier than thou' tone to boot.
Perhaps the OP doesn't realize this about people who fall from financial security so that a new pay schedule can be devastating: There but for the grace of God go you.'
We're all moody at times. I would never want to be in the shoes of one of the sm
big service owners. I imagine I would be postal, not just moody. I could never run a service of that size and be in a good mood all the time, could you? Have you tried? Didn't think so.
We have work. I've been in your shoes though with other jobs
They are screaming desperately, I get the job, and the second day of the job, there is no work so I sat there all afternoon twiddling my thumbs. By day 3, when I was told there was only 3 reports to do, I quit. Life's too short to waste my time and energy.
You judge an entire company by the posts of 2 or 3 out of 500+ employees?
That amazes me with MQ too. A few people post but the what they write it taken as gospel.
Keystrokes is very well run; it is sad that someone can make a blanket statement about something they know nothing about.
don't think 'Kel' who started needs anyone telling her how to judge a post...
let people post and make up their own minds
I worked for a temp agency for 3 years..LOVED it. Just worked. No counts, no hassels, GREAT pay..
No benefits at the time. I even learned pathology while temping (8 months on that assigment). I loved the variety, the ability to say I'm not available such and such time. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I didn't need benefits.
A company is ONLY supposed to verify that someone worked there, what dates they worked, whether PT o
and last date worked. It opens everyone up to a lawsuit if more is given, so most companies are told by their attorneys and business advisors to verify only.
No one has a right to a reference, only verification of employment.
It worked! Latest suggestion from DJ's email worked. nm
nm
If I worked a longer day, I just put my regular shift, 3p-11p, or whatever. If I worked sm
an extra day, then I was told to fudge the hours around on the other days so it all came out to 40. I didn't really mind -- have learned not to expect overtime in this profession -- and I was happy to be able to work whenever I needed to get the lines I needed. However, them telling me directly to fudge on my time sheet would seem to be a violation of the wage and hour laws. I suppose it doesn't matter now if they do not even have enough work to make the minimum line count necessary. Several of the companies I thought were golden seem to have gotten a bit tarnished lately … sad.
Glad it worked for you. I have worked for companies
that were more reliable and paid without the delay I had. Maybe you started before they started doing that but it makes no difference. I TOO am a single parent.
You are not trying to argue? Sounds like you not only are trying to argue but you are just waiting for anyone to post anything about the co on here so you can just get out there and respond, which seems to be the way I have always noticed it. It's like all the MTs or whoever that work there are just waiting to respond.
This board is about the good points and bad points about companies. I am telling my experience.
The people were nice people though, but my experience was not a good one and I will not say it was.
I can go a week after the end of payday and even 10days later but that's it. Kids would starve.
Best company I have ever worked for, and I have worked for a lot!
I can't believe some of the things these people say here, and have to wonder if it just the same person or two bashing. I have been at MDI for four years and I do not have a low workload and I get treated very, very well.
They one I am not sure of. I have always worked FT for them. I have worked both IC and employee
and I always did way over 12,000 a pay peroid. I am sure they are pretty comparative to other companies. You definitely could contact a recruiter by applying if they would answer all of your questions up front. Good luck.
Worked for both
They both have their pros and cons. MedQuist is poor at communicating with their staff. Keep you in the dark, but they leave you alone and let you work. Spheris, on the other hand micromanages every minute of your time. If you stop to go to the bathroom without signing out, your phone will be ringing within 5 minutes with your supervisor wanting to know where you are. They are much better at communicating and support, though. You just have to pick your poison.
I worked for both MQ and S.
MQ SUCKS!!!! Spheris has better training, no rental fees on equipment, management and trainers who actually know what they're doing, a decent platform, and better pay. Those jerks at MQ threatened via $30 Fed Ex envelope to sue me for the equipment I had already mailed back to them, and I had proof of it with UPS tracking confirmation. And no, I never got fired from there. Besides all that, S isn't involved in any lawsuits and hasn't been delisted from NASDAQ like MQ has.
When I worked at MQ
Their "clinic work" was from Emory University and very, very difficult. It was in their clinics that they did drug studies, cancer research, surgeries, AIDS research with lots of ESL residents and doctors. It isn't like a nor doctor's office "clinic." They don't tell you that when you take the job.
worked for both
cherry picking (MDI) and they have to know what you are doing all day (TSI) "WHERE ARE YOU, WHY AREN'T YOU TYPING?"
OK, I worked for a different TSI.
I don't know about that one. I work for a very small MTSO with fewer than 20 MTs. It's my fit, but I'm not going to name names on the boards.
Worked for both.....
I worked for Spheris a while ago, they were very unprofessional in my opinion, disorganized and really didn't pay well, communication was almost nonexistant. My manager never even introduced herself and just really had a bad attitude in her email, which was her only contact.
I started with OSi about 6 months ago and couldn't be happier. Their platform is very easy to use and highly productive. I have never run out of work, pay is always on time and they are very flexible. I am completely happy with them.
worked for them?
/
This Worked For Me
You sound like you are in the shape I was in about 5 years ago with my hands. My doctor recommended high doses of Magnesium with smaller doses of Vitamin B6 with it. I took 2600 mg (all at one time) of Magnesium every day with 200 mg of B6. Within 3 days my pain was COMPLETELY gone and I've never had to wear braces again! Of course, I no longer take those incredibly high doses of magnesium daily, but I do stick to about 1000 mg a day with a 100-mg capsule of B6, and I've remained pain-free all this time. Good luck to you!! And by the way, my friend works e-bay as her full-time income and seems to be pretty content with it. :)
Have you worked for them before?
Just wondering if you have worked for them before and know how bad the accounts are. I dont want to get into a bad situation.
who had it when you worked on it?
?
Has anyone ever worked as an MT
Just applied with temp agency who is hiring for MT work. Don't know what to expect. I will be giving up the at-home job to do this job. I think. Just wondering would it be less money and demanding line counts, etc. I think it's close to home.
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