I agree - don't want to be an unpaid IT liason

I've been put in that position quite a few times.  I get stuck in the middle between both help desks, ours and the client's.  One platform I have has ongoing issues, and neither side wants to own the issues and deal with them.  What bugs me is our IT desk expects MTs to call the client's IT desk and try to pursuade them to fix it, IMHO that's an issue for the suits to deal with!  It doesn't help that our IT desk is secretive and elitist, and won't explain to the MTs the inner workings of our programs - yet the client wants technical explanations in order to understand the problem, and when I have been kept in the dark its pretty hard to tell them!  So I get asked technical questions I can't answer, and am forced to call back our IT desk, and have to pry the answer out of them, and call the client back - and of course, you get to go through all this again each time there is a problem, you'll never get the same tech twice.  Then after all that malarky, the client tells me to call back my own IT desk as its our responsibilty to make the fix, so I do, and they say to me Yeah, I figured they would say that and wouldn't do anything about it, but it was worth a try!  Worth it to WHO?  Certainly not me - I just wasted hours at your demand and ended up where I started!  Its ridiculous and unfair they expect us to do IT's job with no information and no pay!

I'm in the same boat - I don't even call our IT anymore because I know they're not going to do anything, and I've flat out told them that and my supe as well.  I'd rather wait for the problem to resolve itself - if I'm forced to sit around and lose money I'd rather be doing something I enjoy instead of IT's job!

• Where should tech support come from? - -sm
  • I agree - don't want to be an unpaid IT liason - sky
  • My company has tech support 24/7. We NEVER - contact the client. (NM)

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I think by now it's pretty much understood by both sides re. engaged to work & requiring MT to be at desk even if no work, etc. 

But what about all the GRATIS, UNPAID and UNAPPRECIATED work we're required to do in exchange for the privilege of typing for what is already substandard pay.  Note, I said REQUIRED - MTSOs not asking you to attend to occasional CC's, check docs, research, e-mail, I mean full-fledged exploitation requiring us to do their record keeping, told to Do an EXHAUSTIVE search if something cannot be found in database, all ON OUR TIME, filling in endless demographic info - could go on and on - and is very profitable for the MTSOs, who probably use it as a selling point to their clients (but who knows, they might also actually be billing the client for work they REQUIRE us to do for nothing. 

Any law on this? 

on the phone dealing with computer problems almost every day and then make less per hour while doing it. 

I was thinking that maybe they would up the pay after a period of time and then it could be a decent place to work as far as editing compensation goes.  Like I said before, I think MQ has the right idea.  They are paying 80%, which would equal 6 cpl if Transcend went with 80% instead of the current 55%, which equals around 4 cpl.  I wouldn't be on here fussing if that were the case.  Hopefully, management will come to understand that the cut was just too much for a lot of us, especially the higher producers.  And you are right, there are a lot of people making the same amount or more editing than they did typing, but these are the people who were slower to begin with.  THAT IS A PROVEN FACT!!  I believe they will love the new editing and compensation.  I do, however, feel that it is not a fit for the higher producers, plain and simple.  So what more do I want, I want to paid a fair wage for my experience and the work that I produce.  That is what I want, and I don't think that is too much to ask.  I am not trying to break the company, just make a decent living.  I want the company to profit along with the employees.  That is what I would want if it were a perfect world. 

Since the 8 hour part-timers can't earn PTO, can they take UNPAID time off? 

New one to me.  Never heard of it unless ofcourse you have used up your PTO and need to take off unexpectedly.  As far as using your PTO when there is no work, I think that is totally unfair.  That should be your OPTION, not a requirement.  Suppose you had plans for that PTO?  I also do not believe you should have to clock out when there is no work, unless you want to work outside of your shift.  I mean your shift is your shift.  It should be up to the company to supply you with work during your shift and if they can not do that, then THEY should be the one with the problem. 

I worked in-house for many years by the hour.  When there was no work, I left the office.  To tell you the truth, when I started working at home I worked longer and harder than I ever did in the office.  Ofcourse since I was more productive, I made more money.  I think our jobs should be considered just as valuable as any inhouse employee, maybe even more so, and should include the same benefits if we are more productive and cost inefficient.  I mean, can they really have it both ways?

Practice and training time:

                As you begin with DIT, we will send you detailed instructions along with some practice files.

Please note that you are not paid for the practice files. 

Your practice files must score 98% accuracy before we move you to real work.           

and xeroxing as if you were sitting there with no work.

I agree also.  I do think that each company has its MTs that have not one thing good to say about the company and on the flip side, there are many that love it.  I have worked at a few different companies in my time and find through experience on this forum to be true.  I absolutely love Transcend.  There are a few things that aren't perfect in my book, but the good far outweighs the bad.  The thing that I hate, though, is if you have anything good at all to say about your company, you are either management, lying, or a cheerleader.  I think that people love to believe the worst. 

I also have found out through my travels that things can vary greatly from one employee to another even though they may work at the same company.  There may be a rule for you that does not apply to another, example - below one says Spheris would not allow someone to work at MQ also but there is an MT who is doing it with permission.  An MT can get on here and argue all day long that this or that doesn't happen at their company but it may very well happen for another MT.  It is so humerous to me to see that we believe that being employed at a company, in our remote homes, that we think we know everything about that company and how it operates with the other remote MTs - MTs that more than likely we don't even know. 

When offshore outsourcing first began many clients began jumping on that bandwagon thinking they were going to be able to save money.  That resulted in a great number of clinics and hospitals eliminating their in-house transcription departments because of 1) reduction in overhead expense by outsourcing a whole department and 2) realizing an even greater reduction in expenses by using foreign labor at less cost than domestic transcription wages.  The trend is beginning to come full circle now and because of quality issues and the higher cost of risk management more clients are demanding that their medical records information stay in the United States.  A lot of MTSOs now advertising are stating right in their ads NO OFFSHORE MTs NEED APPLY.  Clients are beginning to see that it wasn't as cost effective as they thought it would be because it actually ends up costing more in the long run either in quality or risk management. Some hospitals and clinics are actually bringing work back in house again and only using domestic vendors for overflow work.  I think sooner or later unless the quality of VR improves it will have the same result. 

Thank you for posting this!  I am also very happy with Amphion.  It is nice to hear a positive experience for a change.  I hope your post will help other MTs searching for work realize that there really are some good companies out there!

Definately the meanest on this board.  Always has something to say, whether it pertains or not...