Excellent post? She misunderstood the whole issue...nm
Posted By: abc on 2008-11-16
In Reply to: Amen Sister, Amen! Excellent post. (nm) - OldMT
nm
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misunderstood my post
My contribution to the discussion was to point out that all these internecine issues are not where the essential problem arises. Corporate policies in our country are working steadily to increase the wealth at the top while giving less and less to the workers. This is happening in many industries. The solution is not fighting amongst ourselves. We are not valued -- we are cogs. People quit and then are rehired at companies several times. In the past, that would have not happened. Companies do not care if you are unhappy or ethical - just crank out those lines so they can make their money, sell their company to someone larger, and sail away while we are working harder and harder for fewer -- or no -- benefits and line rates that are sinking daily. Whether Betsey is working two jobs or not is of little relevance to you and your family's future.
Maybe you misunderstood my post
I obviously feel I deserve more than 8.5-9 cpl. But that's what I'm getting. No arguments, no negotiations, no talking them up to that rate.
Yes, we have all lost work overseas. Yes, we have all lost work to VR. But to announce on a board that is known to be frequented by corporate hacks and their minions and announce that they'll take whatever job they toss their way for 7 cpl diminishes the ability of anybody else to make a living wage if someone is suddenly setting the new ceiling for American MTs at 7 cpl.
I don't know about you, but I don't like having to work two jobs. And that's at the current industry average of 8.5-9 cpl. How many jobs do you want to work at a line rate of 7 cpl? Especially given that not all of them are going to be 1 or 2 doctors M-F?
You misread or misunderstood her post. It isn't
the bank she was worried about having the info but the MTSO having her banking information. Between no check, corrupted file that contained the contract, and the phone being disconnected I would be seriously concerned and keep daily watch on my account. Working without a signed contract isn't a good idea, though having a signed contract isn't foolproof either.
Whoa, you TOTALLY misunderstood my post
Calm DOWN! I meant to ask your company only allows you to type 1200 lines a day? I would never do what you're accusing me of. Slow down and consider that before you blow your top like that. I was sympathizing with you, not trying to tear you down. Geeze!
Excellent post, MT! NM
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Excellent post.
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Excellent Post
So much of what you said is true - you commented briefly about how much the leads do for the MTs and so much of what they is not paid for. Medware keeps track of their employees time by Merit Minutes. Merit Minutes constitutes the time spent TYPING in a chart. If you need to research a drug name and spend more than 5 minutes looking for it, Merit automatically shuts off the clock. So you have spend your time researching an item but you do not get paid for your time after 5 minutes. Lately, it also seems harder and harder to achieve the minutes needed to equal 8 hours. I know several people, myself included, who have made comments that it seems like 10 hours are needed before the 8 hours mark is reached. Additionally, if you have phone your supervisor for something, if you run out of jobs and have to email the lead MT (who no longer exists) for more work, that is time spent which you don't get paid for. If Medware's computer goes down or they experience a power outage, you have to make up the time for it later. If Medware performs a maintenance check on Merit, you have to wait and make up the time later. In a real world office, you would be paid for that time, but not at Medware. And taking time off for yourself? That is definitely frowned upon by certain team leaders. Taking sick time? They will actually ask you to make up that time later even if you have accured the sick time benefits!
Even though Medware will tout itself as the AAMT employer of the year, not once or twice, they certainly do not treat their employees well. For MT week the lead MTs positions were eliminated. About 6 months ago the MTs who review the offshore work, listening to the reports word for word, fixing dosage errors, incorrect words, grammar, punctuation, and often fixing complete sentences which were creatively transcribed, found out that their hourly salary was about to be cut in half. They would now make $8.00 an hour plus an incentive bonus for editing over 2000 lines a day. Nothing changed for them, the same quality demands were still in place, the offshore work remained the same, not better, but suddenly they had to produce twice as much as work in the same amount of time in order to keep their salary at or close to the level it had been. Additionally, their vacation pay, which they had earned during the time when they made $14.00 or $15.00 an hour, was suddenly decreased to $12.00 an hour. And this is the company who wins the coveted employee of the year award?
This company looks out for number 1, themselves, and no one else. They deserve to lose their lead MTs and anyone else who is disgusted with the self-serving practices. Maybe if enough people leave, Medware will wake up and smell the coffee and remember that it takes management and employees working together to make a company productive.
Excellent post.
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Excellent post!!
Good luck in your nursing career - and that is something that cannot be outsourced! I have 25 years of MT experience, and I make a good deal less than I did 10 years ago. I think I am going to go door to door to local physician offices and see if I can steal back any work that has been lost to the big nationals. I also think I am going to charge hourly if I am successful. I am so tired of production. Too old for the stress.
EXCELLENT POST!
NM
Excellent post! sm
So many ICs on here feel it's THEIR own responsibility to find a replacement for when they are unavailable, and I've always scratched my head at that one.
Female guilt rears it's unly head!
Excellent post...
but I'll tell you where the SoftScript employee is. The Softscript employees that I know choose to use their time in a more productive manner and NOT post useless repsonses to worhtless accusations and rumors They have incredible work ethics and a true sense of organizational loyalty and support. They love their work, and they are good at it. They know if they screw off on wasteful sites like this, they risk losing a client and we risk losing business. They EARN their money, and they read the headlines everyday where they know how important it is to have a job and make good money in this economy. They don't want to risk that.They also love their bonuses, and extra perks that the company is only too happy to share. They do not have the time nor the inclination to be whining about this recruiter or this MT or whatever aimless, mind-numbing posts that get posted everyday. While some on this site choose to spread gossip, rumors and simply bitch about everyone and every place, in between a Twinkie or a pound cake or two, the Softscript employee is currently speaking to a large group of MT's that are coming over to us from yet another new client, preventing overseas outsourcing (100% American-based, baby!). They are training new grads and helping them become successful and productive employees. They are creating and contributing articles for the company newsletter. They are heading up fundraisers for our company's numerous charitable organizations. They are also taking up collections or baking cookies to send to one of their fellow employees who recently lost a loved one. That's what the SoftScript employee is doing. What have YOU done today that didn't sound like a whine, complaint or rumormongering?
Wow, very excellent post!
I'm tempted to print it out and hand it to anybody professing interest in this field, LOL!
I agree that some people have it, and some don't. Also, this is not a profession where you can just graduate, get a job and coast through your day, its always a challenge, always learning, and often a struggle, but some of us enjoy that. Its about challenging yourself and beating your personal best, and of course you have to have a professional work ethic.
Many people have a lousy work ethic, and it reflects on their paycheck. My boss actually told me that she has to call and nag/beg my teammates to work their scheduled shifts! Their loss is my gain, there's always work for me.
Personally, I never want to work a job that doesn't pay production again - because finally I now I get paid what I'm worth, I work hard and I have the paycheck to prove it. If I get lazy, down goes my paycheck. I've met many folks like you described, there's always envy, excuses, and a thousand reasons why they can't do what I do. Maybe they can't, but they have equal opportunity to do it. Its up to each of us to maximize those opportunities instead of wishing we could be better.
Excellent Post
The biting your hand analogy--perfect.
excellent post nm
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EXCELLENT POST!
I feel for you all. My company is a small one, having financial difficulty, lost some accounts - one to Transcend - and I am sure we will be one of the next companies to be sold to a large MTSO. When that day comes, I am done. I WILL NOT work for a company who will screw American workers all over the almighty dollar.
And I hope these clients enjoy the half-ass work the Indians are giving them. You get what you pay for.
Here! Here! Excellent Post
Very well thought out and well stated.
Truly an excellent post, but with
You're assuming they want to reduce hiring and improve employee retention. I don't believe that's the case, unfortunately.
While I wish the WMX executives would take what you've said to heart, I think the whole reason they won't is that overhiring is a deliberate WMX strategy.
Hire an MT with little professional experience, perhaps straight out of MT school, and you can pay her a lower line rate.
You don't have to pay her benefits for the first 90 days of employment.
You do get to charge her installments on the equipment you send out. And with brand-new netbook computers retailing around $350, I very much doubt refurbished no-frills desktops really cost the company $250 each.
You don't have to budget for sick time or vacation time.
You do have to pay him or her a training rate for the first (15? 30?) days, but this is more than made up for by not having to pay medical, vision, or dental.
If s/he quits in frustration somewhere around the 90-day mark, you can just fill that vacancy with another warm body to whom you don't have to pay benefits and from whom you will be pocketing $250 in equipment fees, less the actual cost of said equipment, which I expect is much lower.
Finally, overhiring helps WMX by reducing the amount they spend paying employee bonuses (with so many MTs chasing work, it's become increasingly difficult to reach the upper bonus tiers). Overhiring can even bump full-time employees out of the minimum bracket, at which point they, too, become employees for whom WMX does not have to pay benefits.
Anyone working on Enterprise will see this happening just by accessing e-chart: The names of the transcriptionists change constantly now. There are always new names, but they don't stay long. Enterprise MTs have probably also noticed the decrease in the quality of reports they find in e-chart, or at least I have. More and more I see newbie errors, errors I made myself back when I was just starting out, errors that would be understandable coming from a newbie MT but unforgivable coming from one with any significant experience. There are errors now that a truly professional MTSO should be horrified to send out to clients.
I would even imagine that such low-quality reports are then used to persuade clients to adopt voice recognition. You'll see fewer errors with voice recognition, because the software transcribes EXACTLY what you say!
Maintaining executive profits by decreasing worker costs is a deliberate strategy on the part of WMX, and likely on the part of most other MTSOs. They do not care about quality, so long as they can maintain it just slightly above the level at which clients start to complain. They do not care about employee retention, since employee retention costs them more than accelerated hiring & firing does. They do not care about anyone but themselves, period.
I hope some other organization implements your excellent suggestions, though. That would be an organization for which I'd be PROUD to work.
Webmedx is not that organization.
Excellent post...
Let's see anyone who tries to claim it is merely ''typing'' actually sit down and produce -- from dictation-- an accurate medical document (that could potentially be used in court).
Excellent post MTness
I'm with you all the way. Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me.
Excellent post -- thanks Amber!!!! - nm
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Excellent post! Congrats to you!
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Good job...Excellent Post!!!
You could not have said it better or more straight forward.
An excellent post and ditto, right there with you. nm
nm
excellent for you to take time to post. sm
It does not apply to me but it WILL inform many I am sure.
Thanks for helping other MTs find their way through a difficult process. Why should anyone need to accept that term, MISCONDUCT if innocent as you and many others have clearly been. GOOD JOB reporting.
Excellent post. Agree wholeheartedly. sm
The dictator must take responsibility for what is dictated. In addition, today's MTs aren't as adept at editing as those of us who had proper training, use the appropriate resources, and do not use Google as our exclusive resource.
If you frequent the word boards, you will see what I mean. A couple of days ago, an MT posed a question that her ESL doc said that the patient worked in a laundry. She wanted to change it to laundramat. The MT admitted she did not know that a laundry was a place! These new MTs don't even own an English dictionary.
I initially had a hard time dealing with the verbatim concept. After seeing several reasons for its initiation, I've happily resigned myself to light editing as client allows. I got over it. Look around you and you will also see how this industry has changed in the last 10 years. It ain't what it used to be. Time to roll with the changes.
Bravo!!!!! Excellent post. 30 years here.
I just wanted to be left alone so I could do my work. I came in on most calls to help out. Quality meant everything as did TAT. Did that matter to management? That I was not talkative on the telephone (Small talk eludes me for some reason) during chats with these people has cost me a fortune. And pretending to be someone I am not is just not something I am capable of though I must say I wish I could be a talkative person just so my personality would be more obvious in this so often unfair telecommunation job, where after all I have given, I am treated no better than a newbie, even with disrepect, biting e-mails by moody unprofessional management.
Excellent post with great insight. (NM)
dd
Problem resolved. Was a post office issue apparently. nm
nm
Excellent post, Tech Support. You nailed it. nm.
Sigh.
EXCELLENT post. Thank you for a balanced point of view. nm
see message this post is excellent a fair representation of KS..I copied it from below.
You know who I am. I'm the one who hooked up the Foley at the beginning of my shift. I'm the one who worked extra each and every time I was asked. I'm the one who went into the office to transcribe when it was needed. I'm the one who went on site to help with a new account (and this account actually wanted me to work for them!). I'm the one who transcribed tapes when asked. I'm the one who did the 3-page reports and the docs that no one else wanted when you cut our pay. And I'm the one who worked an 8-hour shift when my air conditioning broke down last summer during one of the hottest days of the year. No one just handed me that huge paycheck, I worked for it.
And now I'm the one who works on two accounts that consider my transcription excellent. As a matter of fact, one account doesn't want anyone BUT me. During my career I was told by one manager and one MTSO that they wished they had 10 of me. I also came highly recommended to you. That speaks volumes about my reliability, stability, flexibility, and quality.
You offer some flexibility. Zero tolerance would be more like it. I had to take three days off for jury duty, my electricity went out twice, and workers cut my cable line, all of which were out of my control. I took five days off in a row once in two years for a very good reason and it was not a vacation. If I had to take time off during my shift, I made up my time that same day. Unfortunately my dentist doesn't have hours on Sunday. I also worked when I was sick. Is that what you mean by not a good fit? I was an IC not an employee.
The kicker for me was when I found out that your coordinator went to the client to find out if I was skipping reports. I have never skipped a report in my entire career. I don't have to. I love what I do and I love a challenge. She also told another employee that no one can do that many specials. I could and I did until she made certain that I didn't.
This field is stressful enough. I certainly don't want to work for someone who places more stress on me, especially when I'm already giving 110%.
When it was all over, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. It was then that I decided I would rather be appreciated than used and abused.
Amen Sister, Amen! Excellent post. (nm)
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You misunderstood me.
I meant that the company sounds strange because they did not get back to me on my mistakes of what I did on their test. A good company with a good style of quality should let the Transcriptionist know their mistakes, so that we will know better the next time if had to test again!
I am sorry if you misunderstood,
this was not an attack. I have worked for the government in the past. I have also worked for different Big companies that required new skills for each job. There are no employers who you will not feel dissatisfied with at one point or another during your employment. For me, the reason I chose to be a MT was to be home. You take the good with the bad. You either enjoy the work or you do not. Soon enough, if your only interest was in the pay, you will leave MTing and venture into other avenues of employment. I sincerely hope you get the answer you are searching for on this board. Maybe, we may convince you to join the wonderful world of the MT.
May have misunderstood, but I think OP is still there at TT.
That's probably why she is happy.
you misunderstood
She charges clients 9-12 cpl and pays her ICs usually 7 cpl, which I agree is too low (and hence I don't work for her). I think she'd be better off working for a national and not have the headaches of running a business, but she's determined to make it work.
Sorry...I misunderstood what you were saying
nm
you misunderstood what she said -
she said the company would not use the Book of Style because AAMT changes the rules so they can always sell new books and make money off the books. She was not talking about her employer working off the books.
Maybe I misunderstood but...
On Friday she told me she liked me a lot and definitely had a position open for me on a Vista platform, and would contact me over the weekend or on Monday about hours, etc. The date came and went..I was disappointed because the company has such an awesome reputation, I was feeling lucky to be offered a position!
Anyway, about 10 days later I got a note in my email thanking me for my interest in Keystrokes, and that they did not have any Vista positions available at that time. *frown*
Not sure what happened...certain it was not on purpose. Probably just overloaded and what have you...I'll keep my fingers crossed that they will contact me when something on Vista opens up! *smiles*
I might have misunderstood, but --
I thought when he said aging population he meant in general the population was aging and that it would require more and more MTs to keep up with the dictation that would be generated as these people needed medical care.
Did I misunderstand? Was he talking about the aging population of transcriptionists?
think I was misunderstood SM
Judging by a couple of comments below, I think it was misunderstood about the name I used in my post. The name had nothing to do with the post itself, just the screenname I use for a lot of things, the reasoning being a VERY long story
I think you misunderstood
I am not exactly sure which company you are talking about, but it sounds like the one I am with. I too received an email yesterday along this line....what my email said was the primary account that I work on was changing platforms and that it could not differentiate between speech and traditional, so you would be getting both. Therefore, that means you will be forced to do some speech....and it made me furious. FORCED is what I am PO'd about. How the heck can you go along in your day calculating this traditional report at one rate and this speech at another...I don't see how I could possibly know where the heck I am at any given time. IMO, this is just another tactic to force those who have refused to do speech into it. 
I think you misunderstood............ sm
She, and I am assuming you are referring to GP, said that AAMT was supposed to advocate for the MTs and that in the beginning they did, but that she no longer supported them.
I certainly hope others treat you better than you have treated Gourdpainter.
Well, I guess I misunderstood.
It seemed to me that you were trying to say that what I was saying was not true, and that was offensive to me because I have not reason to lie about anything. I TRULY hope you will be okay in the future with the cut in pay, but I just am not happy about it. I think it was too much. Anyway--good luck to you and no hard feelings or anything. I just wanted the truth to come out for all to see so that people know what they are POSSIBLY getting into. Later--leaving for real this time.
Sorry friend, you misunderstood a bit
I don't have any problem with a premium rate paid to scribes for harder dictators, but don't penalize the rest of the team by *lowering* their rate.
That means the client pays more for more difficult dictations, allowing the premium to be paid to the scribe.
No matter what type of dictation, easy, medium, or difficulty, transcriptionists are highly skilled, and should be paid accordingly.
Sounds like you misunderstood to me. No one from any
company would have told you to get Vista as it is incompatible with at least the majority of platforms.
Honestly, you have misunderstood something
I have no employees, beloved or otherwise. I just think that this person, whoever he or she is, has turned this whole thing into an online version of the Jerry Springer show. It belittles the dignity of our profession to settle disagreements in the public square. If she didn't like her place of employment, there are plenty of others out there. And integrity demands that she handle internal matters internally, that is, with whomever she feels wronged her. The people on this board have no power whatsoever to help her. I truly hope she can find another position that meets her needs. Perhaps if she spent as much time looking for one as she has slinging the hash here, she would find something good for herself. I hope she does, and can.
you misunderstood my posting:...sm
I meant, if somebody has no other obligations in the US, namely being married, having children, having to take care of elderly parents, etc.... then this person is 'free like a bird' to go over to Saudi Arabia and make a very good salary doing MTing.
Where did you get this information? You must have misunderstood. Besides, in radiology, we all mak
excellent money, so there is no reason to not be able to afford $200 for a cphone. I found one on ebay for $50 for a back up in case theirs needs repairs.
No problem. I guess I misunderstood what you were saying.
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