I understand that you need to feel protective, but ...
Posted By: xox on 2008-06-19
In Reply to: TransTech - treehugger
Here's the deal. I'm a single mother with a very tight schedule. I was hired on at TT with a schedule I needed and managed to fit my life around with little flex room. I held up my part of the bargain. I had three accounts, all of which ran out of work for hours at a time in the morning (when I needed to do the bulk of my work). I was lucky to get in 800 lines a day (and that was trying to squeeze in extra hours at night after everyone went to bed, which left me with 4-5 hours a night of sleep) - I needed 1500 regularly just to live.
I left before I was asked to do VR. Actually, I had NO idea there was this push to move all accounts to VR at all. No one ever talked to me about it. I have no issues with VR. I'm a fast, capable Transcriptionist and I believe I could adapt and learn it and be fine with it in a short amount of time.
However, transcription is not my life. It is my job. I will not allow it to BE my life, because that would make me very angry and bitter. If I commit to giving 8 hours of my day to a company, I expect them to follow through on their commitment to have work for me during that time.
No other job in the world expects you to sit on your butt for hours a day, constantly grappling just to get a dollar in here and a dollar in there. All other jobs will pay you for that time you spend sitting on your butt, waiting for something to do.
Flexing my entire life (and the lives of my children) around a job just didn't work for me. I'm glad it does for you. I went IC with a company who has a truckload of work all the time, and I can do it when it makes sense in MY life, without sacrificing all the things that are important to me to keep me healthy, sane, and kind.
Let me reiterate - not only do I WANT to work (I have been typing between 1500-2500 lines a day for the last month and a half), I HAVE to work. I wanted to work with TT. I could not. With three accounts and scrambling always for a stray report, I could not work. My requests to the management for more was met with silence.
In addition, not long after I was hired, and just before my benefits kicked in, the benefits package changed pretty drastically - without prior warning when I was hired. I had to forgo insurance (my kids are covered by their father) for myself because it was too expensive, especially considering the meager line rate I was making.
And, just to be clear, while management was always kind when I could get them to communicate with me, I had a hard time getting that to happen very often. No response to emails was pretty status quo.
I have nothing against TT, really. They just weren't for me. And, frankly, I wish that before I hired on with them, other people would've given a little more feedback on this board about them. I went with them BECAUSE people on this forum sang their praises and held them up to be a perfect company in a sea of sweatshops.
The people are nice there. The pay rate and bonuses are pretty darn decent. This much is true. But, IMHO, they're not really all that different from any other national I've ever worked for. Joining them did not make me feel like I was part of a team, part of a forward movement in the transcription industry, or even part of a job most of the time.
Will things change with them? Absolutely. Will it be for the better? Maybe. But the feedback of people who have recent experience with them NOW is necessary for other people to make proper decisions as to whether or not they want to work for them. Your input (that is, your input regarding YOUR experience, not your input assuming MY experience) is included, mind you.
I would appreciate it if you would spend less time assuming and judging a person (and people) you know absolutely nothing about. Typically, people who do that turn out looking pretty bitter, angry, and clueless.
Take care.
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Understand how you feel and all I can say is....
 I think a lot of us thought what you posted, Kelly!
Completely understand how you feel
I have left two small nationals for this very reason. They claim it is for the good of the company, but I call favortism by its face name and I don't play that game. I want to pull work directly from the hospital and not have it assigned out by management. Put me in a pool where everyone else pulls from the same order of prioritized work and I'm happy. I don't suck face for anybody -- shouldn't have to in a *professional* setting. I symphathize with your humbug feeling and loss of wages. One way I dealt with it at one company was to change my hours that no one else wanted to cover. I started getting the *easy money* reports once again that were not being assigned to teacher's pets as the pets liked to work when they wanted...not when it was good for TAT. To me, if I have some ownership in taking care of the hospital, it helps the patients, the company, and ultimately myself. I don't understand why some MTSOs don't get that part. 
I totally understand how you feel.
I can relate ot what the other says also about knowing what kind of day your having based on the first few reports. For me, I realize it is mostly psychological. Honestly, if the first report is crappy, I can deal with knowing that I cannot expect perfect dictators/reports 100% of the time. I can tell you after several of those with no end in sight it totally blows my mind and I feel worthless for the rest of the day. It's almost like instant burn out and I can't get in a good frame of mind to want to continue. The Monday-Friday jobs are few and far in between, but I'd keep looking. I'm discouraged now to the point where I did get another part-time job and when I log on, and if there is just garbage, I log right off and go to my other job, or I bounce back and forth so I get a break. It may not work for everyone but having two part-time jobs equals a FT job that I can tolerate. Needless to say, I work my second job a lot more. They can forget it if they think I'm spending my whole day doing junk..
I understand. I feel the same way today.
Feel like sitting by the highway with a sign that says, Will type for food. I keep looking at other jobs, and I did have another part time job, but when we got busy at MDI, it was too much to do both jobs. And have been elsewhere as an employee with no work, which was worse b/c you just sit and wait. At least here you can leave. I am tempted to go for the day today, and should be able to as an IC, but afraid if I don't get count, I will be given the lower line rate prn myself. I am with you. Saying the Serenity prayer today and will just keep notes as to times ran out of work, etc. Don't know what else to say except there are others here who feel the same way and really don't know what to do.
I feel the same way...I love working for Keystrokes and feel blessed that I have such a wonderful jo
nm
I feel the same way. I'm irritable because I feel
and that my years of experience overall, and past few years of busting my @$$ for them hasn't been appreciated or noticed in the least.
We're all just cogs in the wheel.
What I don't understand is this-
But I still don't understand
They never have anything positive to say, except about themselves. I guess we don't need to ask anymore questions after we come to that conclusion.
So, let me understand (sm)
That this is your first career/job out of high school and you are getting 8.5 cpl for clinics and they are mentoring you? Did you hire in at that? How long have you been there to be offered QA with such little background in MT? (no offense) I have 10 years experience and they are talking 8 cpl to me. Hmmm.....
I think we can all understand
The typo police don't have to come out every time. Get a life. We all work with words all day long and when you get on here, you might be a little tired. Give 'em a break.
I don't understand it, either. sm
It'd be great if MTs came here and supported each other. This is NOT a great field to be in, IMO. We should be banding together as sisters (and brothers) in the same boat.
I wish the monitors would institute a zero-tolerance policy toward people who deliberately harass someone here like this person or people were doing to Metrochick.
Don't understand
I couldn't afford to stay in business if I paid people for NOT working. I can understand if the computer is down or if there is a problem, but just because there is no work, a company would go broke. Can I bill the doctors if they do not dictate a day? How can I pay you if I cannot bill a customer for work? This work has always been up and down -- feast or famine my father used to say. But through the years -- now over 20 -- I have learned to save for the lean times. Like I said if the problem was on my end due to machinery malfunction but if docs don't send in the dication how can I pay you for something I cannot bill out to them?
I Understand more now
I understand more now of what you are saying. I agree with you more than when I first read your post. It is so hard to juggle in this job market. There are so many pieces that fit into the cpl you charge the client, the transcriptionist, supplies, QA time, software, etc. that is it very hard for an owner to make much and when an account is down for the day to pay those people that should be on it while it generates no income is double hard. It is really hard to strike that balance of being staffed correctly for both the busy and slow times of the year. A lot of it is out of my control. You are probably with a larger company that can afford to pay you for 8 hours of work and generating income from only one. They count that into their overhead. I have only 5 accounts of 2-3 docs, have 2 part-times and am the QA, owner, Transcriptionist also. But on those accounts that my gals type, I make only 25 to 30% max on what they type which a lot of times generates out to only $7 to $9 an hour for doing pick-up, pick-up, delivery, printing, etc. That is why in 2006 I am going to probably cut back to doing only what will keep me with a decent income to pay my bills and I do not have to worry about having enough work for the gals, doing the running, etc. My guilt is high when the docs are on vacation or it is a slow time and the gals have no work but I cannot cut myself short either. Enough rambling on, - I do understand more and I think that if your company is not paying you for the time, they know they have overstaffed themselves to cover those times when the need is heavy and thus I would probably look for another company that staffs more evenly. Sorry I rambled on so much.
The way I understand it . . .
they are instituting what they're calling a pilot program to sort of test the waters of offshoring work by starting to send a small percentage of work overseas in order to be competetive with their contract fees. No, I don't think they're doing it yet, but it is obviously going to happen at least to a small extent in the near future. We have to accept this as the trend of the future because it's happening everywhere, like it or not.
What does this mean for MTs? I don't understand.
?
Understand. Thank you!
x
I understand!
That is why I love it when they post unqualified applicants need not apply!
I can understand...
I worked for an Iranian doc in office and there was a woman there that'd worked for him for about 13 years. He would call her at 3 am because he thought of something he wanted to tell her (she was also an MT). He did this all the time. As far as I know she's still there because he pays so well.
I understand all that.
The point is that besides the tons of different work types there are VERY different account specifics from hospitals all over the country. I am well versed in different work types; that was not the issue. The issue was all the different account specifics that changed on a weekly basis to boot. It became where we had no primary account. How is that productive for them or for me?
I understand that...
That is my exact point that the PTO accrues so slowly that how do they expect you to use this for your maternity leave!! Actually right now I earn less than 4 hours every two weeks and I can't accrue any because I have to use it for holidays and when there is no work unless I want to work all through the night after I have just sat all day waiting for work!! Do this make more sense... I was just told I wanted to be a maternity rider when that is not the case. All I came on here to do was to try to find a better job with more PTO then maybe when I do have a baby I can take two weeks off with it at least...at this rate I will have to come right back to work like two days after I pop a kid out! I never wanted to get into a XXXX match with anyone over maternity leave, but that is what it has turned out to be!!!
I know, don't understand it either!
there really is no proofing while you type. Proofing is going back and proofreading a document after it's done. Doesn't everyone technically read the words as they type??? And with all that going on at once, you miss things. On the other hand, I do not blame MTs who do not proofread the documents at the end, definitely less production and hence less money. I'm going to tell you a secret...lol..I just started skimping a bit on that myself. If I have a small mistake, oh well. I need to make a living here! :)
No, you don't understand.
My account with them DID pay for headers and footers and I always randomly check my line count against the ESCRIPTION (not Editscript) metrics of the company. This week it is off consistently and in talking with the company was told the client does not want to pay for headers any longer ???? so without letting us know, we are suddenly not paid for completing demographics. I simply wanted to make sure others were aware of this as this evidently can happen anywhere at anytime and no one at the company may feel compelled to share this info with the MTs.
I understand what you are trying to say, or what
is bothering you. I have been in this industry my entire adult life - a LONG time - and I agree that most companies have changed in that they just don't share info that is really pertinent - like not getting paid for headers anymore. Its sneaky to me, or underhanded, and just breeds contempt or suspicion in the MTs. Or, the company can have an uppity attitude, like why on earth is it the MTs business what they are getting paid for or not? Which also makes me feel bitter. I remember the old days of honest communication - the news might not have been good, but I handled it well. They treated me with respect, and I felt like a professional. Gone are those days, and it is a shame. 
This is what I don't understand........
Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to everyone involved to sell the company rather than just let it die a painful death?
I don't understand...
why they yell at the MTs when it is not their fault? The MTs get blamed for everything!!!!!!!!! Grrrrr
I don't understand
how you can say they ALWAYS pay on time when just this past Friday they were late with direct deposit
I don't understand something sm
How do you have any contact with anyone in upper management? I work there; I never even hear from upper management. I talk to my manager and that's it. What morale problems are your referring to, because I couldn't be happier here?
I really don't understand all of what you just said
but I do know that not everyone has had a bad experience with OSi. I never run out of work, have great coordinators, am always paid on time, am making more than I did when I first started, and have expanded my abilities greatly. All of the things that are important to me in a company, I have at OSi, and I've had them for the past 3 years. I understand some people didn't have a good experience there, and that this is their place to hang out and vent. I just think it's too bad when OSi has been a good fit for many people, and then there are these people who hang out at this board who have made it their life's mission to carp on OSi. It doesn't really affect me at all...it's just very, very tiring.
Don't really understand what she is doing.
I tested for her last year and was hired for this account. Immediately she wanted me on a psych account that I was not interested in. She then tried to give me ANOTHER account. I explained that I would be more than happy to take on the other account AFTER I was established on the one I was hired for. She came back and told me they shifted things around internally and had it covered now. Not sure what kind of game that was but I know it is one I want no parts of. Hope this helps.
What I don't understand is (sm)
If a company does not pay for headers and footers, fine. I get that. But what advantage is it for them to disable the feature so that we can't see the counts of individual reports? I have worked at places not on Ex-Text where some reports just mysteriously never made it to the hospital. No one was cheating, it was just a software glitch. Had to send again and it counted. So what would prevent that from happening with this? I agree, we should be able to verify that every single report is counting, if for no other reason than this one.
I just can't understand why you are saying you need
You can go to whatever school you like and still be considered a newbie in a lot of company's eyes. It all depends on what you want to do as far as your career. Whatever floats your boat. 
What I really don't understand...
is that the account I'm supposed to do has a ton of work, and they are giving incentives.
Seems to me they are really, really disorganized.
Sorry you are facing this. My other job has run out of work this weekend too. All the companies want full-time, but when you do that, you end up short on pay. I'm on my own. Can't afford that.
Lord, I just depressed myself....didn't mean to do that to you too....
As I understand it, it's
because they can only make money if they can get work, and a lot of American companies won't subcontract work to them. Therefore the Indians have to come here to set up their own shop to be able to say they are an American company and be able to get their own work. So then they are based here but can still send all or most of their work back home. Now you would think at least America is getting some tax money for the business, but no. They are probably here on one of those special visas and they get huge tax breaks. Uncle Sam is paying them to come here and do this to us.
Grrr.
i don't understand that...
WHY doesn't control I work? I've used ExText before with different companies, each time using control I to monitor my production accurately. The last report takes a minute or two to be counted, but, sheesh, that's nothing. I KNOW there's nothing fishy going on, btw. I just would like to know WHY control I doesn't work at TT. Is it just program goblins? Now, THAT I understand. LOL! But, as expensive as Dictaphone is, I would think they'd make it right, no matter how they have to do it. I'm just not getting that part of it.
I understand
I feel for all of you, as I said. A paycheck is a paycheck for me. The company was the best company that I have ever worked for, and I am truly sorry things turned out the way they did for so many. I will just look at the cup half full on the positive side and hope that maybe they can be again. I wish you both well and I hope you find another greener pasture. They are out there. Take care.
I Understand
So, you're actually working 7.5 hours during your 8-hour shift, but your company is basing your benefit rate on how much you did during the 8 hours instead of during the actual 7.5 hours worked. Right?
i understand
I'm glad they are going to fix the problem. I wasn't suggesting that running out of work was your fault by any means, I was just wondering if you had crosstrained. I completely understand that others shouldn't take work because they run out, it is par for the course. I am trying to get as much in as I can right now because I'm sure with the holidays things will slow down, (it happened on columbus day, no more work left) and I don't feel right taking from others unless it is simply to help out if it is backlogged. I hope you aren't offended, I wasn't trying to start an argument :)
I understand that, but....
isn't it management's job to manage their MTs? I am not talking about little questions about account specifics or things like that. That is what we have the IM group for. I research before I IM a fellow MT and I IM them before I bother a supervisor. I have emailed about things that could affect patient safety without receiving an answer and there is no provision in the system to make sure that QA is going to pick up on the same problem that I do by listening to the whole report. Also, when you answer an email or IM, how long does it take to type, Thank you for bringing this to my attention or Have a good day? Most of the time I prefer to be left alone, and I understand the volume they deal with, but it is the little things that make us feel valued and not isolated.
From what I understand not enough MTs
are interested in getting insurance through KS, which limits their options for a more affordable plan.
I'm new enough that I don't have insurance so can't speak for the details. Fortunately we are able to get a decent insurance through my husband's work, but I personally wouldn't want to be tied into insurance through a transcription company and would rather have my own policy so that I can take any job I want without having to consider their insurance coverage.
still do not understand
okay, I found the box where it asks for User ID and Set Key - what I do have is a password, so I assume that may go into the Set Key spot, but how do I get the User ID? Am I the User or is it the dictator? I type for about 5 docs in one clinic. What do I do from here?
Also, will I need to go to this box for each individual dictation that I receive and enter these codes?
A bit confused yet.
I understand that, thanks. nm
xxx
I understand you having nothing better to do
I understand you having nothing better to do with your time other than going back a searching for posts. Do you not have any kind of a life??
The way I understand the law
Is you cannot have lapse of insurance coverage for longer than the 45 days (I actually thought it was 61) period or anyting pre-existing will not be covered. The insurances can not apply the pre-existing rule if there was not a lapse in insurance coverage longer than the XX amount of days.
I understand....sm
Back when all the changes were being made, I was told I had to be trained on ASR, but it was cancelled. When ASR was introduced...I told myself that if I had to do it I would quit. I will not train a computer to do my job that took me years to learn. That is just the way I feel and I will stick to my plan if forced to do so. I guess everyone thought or thinks that if you don't learn ASR you will be without a job...not so. I have interviewed with other companies and I feel confident in saying that I will do fine without having to learn ASR. I must say, though, working for MQ has definitely taught me more than I think any other MT company out there could have. So, if I quit because of ASR, it really doesn't matter to me. I just have to remember that the past is the past and making $40.00 to $50.00 an hour is almost impossible to do anymore unless you have tons of good dictators with normals to go with them. I am just biding my time, because you never know :)
So, if I understand you, because you are an
IC, you should be allowed to work whenever you want. Granted, you can, but only if there is a need for that particular time slot. If a MTSO is short-handed for a particular time, then they have every right to say you can work these hours, but we do not need you for xxx hours. That is within their right, as well as it is within your right to say sorry, I can't work the hours requested. That is the privilege of being an IC and having IC workers.
I work when I can. There have been plenty of times there has been no work, therefore they don't send me any as they do have FT employees. There have also been times they have asked me to work when I cannot because I also have a FT job.
I understand. I just don't think they should
be ALLOWED to because of security and privacy, and many other reasons.
Oh, I can understand that
My husband's self-employed and having to work a little later in the evening to get more loads of logs out each week, and I'm seriously thinking about getting something part time on my days off.
And I will never understand this....sm
They want employees, 40 hours a week, BUT.......they also want the 1200 lines or whatever they require. That will NEVER make a damned bit of sense to me. What if you cannot get 1200 lines or meet the 40 hours for lack of work, etc.....then you lose your benefits. IMO, all of these national companies suck!
I understand what you are asking.
Some other boards have an option where you can click to see all other posts from the person whose post you are reading. This board does not seem to have that feature, unfortunately.
I never did understand why MTs pay to
work for their employers by using the company's computer.
I understand what you are saying...
I work part-time. I would like to work some weekends. However, there is rarely anything in the pool on the weekends. I thought this would be my time to add extra lines to my part-time pay. I give a schedule of part-time evenings, but I would really like to add to that some days working in the morning too. On days that I can.
The holdiays are coming up so I am sure they will have work in the pool then.
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