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.

• Needing advice - Need some advice
  • Definitely stay IC with your hectic schedule - it's the only way you can do it right now... - Good Luck!
  • wow...you definitely have your hands full... - MtMommyof2
  • Been there - mtmomma
  • I was in your shoes not that long ago - remembering well -- sm
    • NEITHER STATUTORY NOR EMPLOYEE STATUS FAIR..SM - Bayou MT
      • WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL MALE MTs.. - sm
      • AGREE - ALICE
        • Couple More Thoughts - t
        • love/hate MT, mostly love it :) - t
        • MT & EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN..SM - Bayou MT
          • I so agree with you. There's a lot of ANGER in many - US industries these days, but all pales in compari
          • Victims? - lk
            • I agree 100%...you don't like it, leave... - MtMommyof2
              • That's exactly what the boss says. I think they - WANT us to leave, so they'll be justified
            • Yes - Alice
              • You're RIGHT! Just because we need our incomes is - no excuse for exploitation.
              • Exploitation - lk
                • Exploited - Alice
                  • So right! Just because a job doesn't require a college - education doesn't mean it's not worth doing.
          • Disagree 100%. - sm
            • There's not much of a "choice" anymore in the MT field - - since most of the work is at-home. -sm
            • also, the original poster asked how to stay production with small children... - MtMommyof2
              • I misread what you wrote and apologize. - sm
              • I wasn't responding to the original poster. - sm
            • Includes - Alice
        • Does anyone actually report this - cj
          • I've just about reached that boiling point I talk about - in a post above. For now, I'm -sm

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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~

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 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. 

after submitting your resume before you heard from them? 

but I started no later than 2 weeks after all my paperwork was signed and sent in.  So I don't know if they finished the background check before I started or not.  About a month later, I got a notice from the DOT notifying me that they checked my driver's license records, but that's the only info I got back.

I also have to agree with several posts above about the comments about being a hospital employee.  I also was hired as an employee of the hospital, and yes, the process is a little more involved, but it was no more involved than when I was hired for an inhouse position at a local hospital.  It is just the hospital's requirements.  Diskriter did pay for everything and I have no indictation whatsoever they they sold my info to telemarketers. 

The pay is average, but I also agree with the poster above that it is offset by the fact that you are working on only one account, plus the benefits are better than any national out there.   I  am making more $$ than in my 15 years of MTing than I ever have (45K+).    

Oh, another plus is that they do pay an hourly wage for downtime (system problems, no work).  This is also a big plus in my opinion.

Good Luck.        

I need to find a new IC job.  To make a long story short, I work for a very small local company as an IC (just 3 transcriptionists).  I guess the reason why I stay is because it's so flexible.  I can work in the morning, have the afternoons off and then work again in the late evening when my daughters are asleep.  I have 24 hour TAT.   I'm supposed to be paid on the 1st and 15th of every month.  For the last two months instead of the 1st and 15th, I've been getting my paycheck on the 13th and 28th if I'm lucky.  Right now I'm still waiting for my check from the 1st. 

Again, I know I'm crazy to stay, so you don't have to say it for me,  but this is my first IC job and I'm a little scared to leave. 

I guess what I'm asking is do you know of a good company that hires IC that use lines rather than hours or is flexible with hours so I can try to keep my same schedule?  I know there have been a lot of posts in the past about this, but I was hoping for some recent information from someone who works for a good company.

I'm just so frustrated at this point.

Can anyone who works for Transtech tell me how long it took to get your test results? I tested last night and I'm wondering how long before I hear from someone at the company.

Thanks.