My take: They're using the recession as an excuse
Posted By: to further lower MT pay, or to - SM on 2009-02-12
In Reply to: I was just rushing over here to post about this ... - sm
justify sending more work out to India. Just one more reason to convince our legislators to pull the plug on offshoring without some kind of monetary consequence for those companies that do it.
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We're in a recession. If you want jobs, you'd
nm
Oops..excuse me..before I get caught..not "your" but you're.. NM
Welcome to the recession everyone!
**
Recession proof job
In these uncertain times, just curious how everyone sees the outlook of an MT? With voice recognition, how do you see the job market in 10 years? I am an instructor at a local small community college that teaches basic transcription and this is a topic of discussion. Any help would be appreciated!
Recession proof .. ??
I think that you need to tell your students we are in a situation now that eludes all reason as tight money makes us all possible victims of this recession. If hospitals or businesses cannot borrow money in a fluid way then payrolls become a problem. Otherwise, MT is not going away, but it is changing and to stay relevant you have to change with the time and the technology, which drives the train. A dose of realism is often the best way to make a point.
As for recession proof sm
I feel pretty recession proof.
I have 2 jobs and will make more as an MT this year than I have ever have. I don't work as much or as hard as you might think. I am break taker and if I actually spent 8 hours a day physically typing I would be surprised, but I will still come up over $45K this year. It is my speed and accuracy that allows me to be the break taker I am. When I am at the keyboard, I AM ALL IN and when I break, I break.
I am also aware that MT is changing, but not going away. I don't feel taken advantage of and I don't feel I am underpaid. I don't think that corporations are squeezing me or that I have overseas competition. I feel that as MTs go, I am sitting right up there at the top of the heap. If either of my companies start reducing staffing levels, I will not be one of the ones they let go. In the one case, I know I would be the first on the list to be retained. I don't actually worry about having a job or finding a new one when needed. My problem is usually fielding offers and deciding which one to pick.
This is not most of us though and I understand that. I worry for those of you who are not at the top of this profession and will have to worry about where it is going a lot sooner than I shall.
Healthcare and recession
we have an aging population, I know I'm one of them. Many actually have health benefits and will have Medicare. Healthcare is pretty recessionproof. Some of your slowdown may be due to the economy, but there is undoubtedly some change in management reason also. If people wait to see the doctor, they will not necessarily get better. Clinic work, however, I think will stay busier than acute care until this medical neglect lands people in the hospital.
I don't think there is such a thing as a recession proof job... sm
but I sure can tell you this...I have been doing transcription for 13 years. I have done it in house and at home, at home since 1998. I have worked for so many companies I can't even remember most of them from Lanier to Medquist to Spheris to Cardioscribes to Transform. I could go on and on. My three children are young but not so young anymore that I can't leave them alone for a while during the day now. My oldest is in high school now and all I can say is that I have had enough with this transcription bullcrap business. When I tell people what these transcription companies have done to me, their eyes bug out of their heads. I had gone to work for Cardioscribes leaving a very good paying job only to have them tell me that they weren't going to pay me because, as a salaried account manager, they felt I didn't work enough the two weeks before. They decided to pay me for only five days of the pay period instead of 12, took their sweet time sending the check, and then fired me. Now I have a really pretty $400 phone bill from conference calls that I get to pay with no paycheck. I had one company tell me after working 90 hours in a 2-week period and after sending in my timesheet, Gee, quite frankly, we really just can't afford to pay you this kind of paycheck for QA so we are going to change your pay from hourly to a cents per line salary retroactive for the last two weeks. They took my paycheck from $1350 to $500 then fired me two days after I received my almost $800 short paycheck. MDI you ask??? I currently just got hired by them. My training was to start on Oct. 7 and you know what... they don't even have enough work on the account to get me through my DQA training, which lasts for two weeks where you can only type 20 minutes per day, and the liason went out of town so I was told not to bother to type until Monday!!!! However, when they hired me, they expected me to commit to so many lines per day and I had to commit to working at least 3 holidays and one day on the weekend, and this is all as an IC!!! The other company that I was just hired for took three weeks to get me hired and now has sent out 3, either broken or the wrong foot pedals. I have spent these years as an MT hanging around all day waiting for work (sometimes for weeks and months) and some, if not most days, getting no work at all. I worked for Focus Infomatics as a SWAT QA and watched them fire 50 people in a weeks time for absolutely no reason at all and most of those people were just hired within a week who left good jobs to go work for them. I had one company tell me on a constant day-to-day basis that there just wasn't any work available. This went on for three months until they finally decided to put their work into a pool. When I got access to viewing the pool, you should have seen the work available but I sat for three months with no work at all and no paycheck either. I complained to the payroll person about the lack of work and she said she didn't understand because she was processing some really great paychecks and as far as she was concerned, nothing had changed within the company so she couldn't understand why I had no work. I was an IC for that company and everyone else was an employee. The owners knew everyone because they worked with everyone while in-house at a big hospital before the MT manager decided to open up his own MT company. All of the MTs at the hospital decided to go with him so he gave all the work went to them, although I was told by them that my work was excellent. They are now being investigated for cheating the MTs on their line counts, I believe. I have had QA people send screaming e-mails regarding work that I did telling me that the dictator was a truly horrible dictator but that I did a horrible job and that they don't get paid to fill in the words or phrases that I couldn't get. Last year, a month before Christmas, I got axed by CBay as a QA as they eventually ax everybody they hire. I couldn't even buy Christmas gifts, not even one. We had to purchase one gift for each one of our children and we had to put those three gifts on a credit card. I am now extremely overweight, smoke like a chimney because of massive financial stress and the stress of having no life, have absolutely no friends and absolutely ZERO social life, and I am virtually financially ruined (credit score is less than 500). I have had it with this field. It was ok to do this when my children were very young as I had no choice because I couldn't afford daycare for three kids. My husband works very hard but there is no way we could afford $400 a week for childcare back then. The key words here are I had no choice. I do now though I am getting the hell out of this crap before anyone else has the chance to screw me over. It seems to me that the ones who are making more and more money only make it because they are putting in more hours...not because their cents per line has increased. I have read on these boards that MTing is the only job where the salary goes down after years of experience instead of increasing and that is the absolute honest truth AND THAT IS JUST WRONG!!! I have interviews set up, one with a job just about a mile down the street from where I live, and I just can't wait! I can't wait to have a normal paycheck every single week. I can't wait to not be screwed over anymore! I can't wait to make friends again! I can't wait to be out of my house every day and be social every day with human beings and be glad to come home at the end of the day! Maybe this year I can even buy my kids some Christmas gifts. Every person who asks me about MTing I tell them, don't you dare go near MT work. It will ruin your life. As far as your questino about a recession proof job, there really is no job that is recession proof, but after reading my post and hopefully realizing that this can happen to you too as it does so many of us MTing, do you think that a recession is what you really need to be worrying about? YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE DECISION YOU MADE TO GET INTO THIS FIELD!
I don't thing depression or recession has anything to do with it. sm
I think it is because all the work is going overseas and since the companies have that option, they don't care anymore. In fact it is not just our professon but all of corporate America does not care about employees and then they wonder why the employees don't do a good job for them. It is a 2-way street. Just my 2 cents!
Excuse me.....what?
we need more details please.
Excuse me, but...
I would say 200 million in DEBT is pretty much going down the tubes. HS was a great place to work, but Spheris leaves much to be desired. I won't even dignify your last comment with a response. lol I was with HS since the very early days, so I am sure I was with the same company longer than you were, as I just recently left myself. Oh wait, every company I ever left? Let's see, 8 years at one and 7 years at the other one. I would say that was a pretty good track record, dear. Sorry you had to make it personal.
Excuse me? But where, exactly did
I simply expressed that radiology and pathology will always be around and need to be transcribed and that the school sounds like the cost is too much. Where am I missing the bullying/harass?
excuse me? you don't know me...sm
ooh - someone woke up nasty or stayed nasty all day, huh?
IF you are presuming to know me, you're coming out of left field...and you have a choice - you did not have to respond.......
Go enjoy your weekend - hope it doesn't rain anymore on your parade.......
        
Excuse me! Wow.
x
Excuse me? If I say they did, they did. I ought
to know. My start date was the 1st of the month. Actually my first payday was supposed to be in the bank the 15th of the next month. So do not tell me NEVER when it happened to me. I also know others it happened to also. I do not post things that are not true. I have all of that information and the emails that went with it saved so if you want to post an untruth and say it never happened, you don't know what you are talking about or your memory has lapsed...depending on which KS MT or mgmt person you are. You won't intimidate me dearie, not when my bank account is the best proof along with the documents that support it.
another excuse
I worked for a company that said they maile dchecks Tuesday but it was postmarked friday, and the best excuse was that their bank had an error and they had to wait to send checks, and when they went out - they bounced, so another week or two before the money actually came - anybody ever have dealings with a bank that in themiddle of having the account they began holding your checks for mor etime - usually that is beacuse you bounced to many outgoing, so they hold your deposits - but as MT we are stupid and must believe the hype. I say if a check bounces, press charges, show them we mean business, and if oay is late - tack on surcharges, after all you are contracted for work and pay date is part of the contract. there should be no ecuses, we are not allowed any room for our TAT, we work very hard for the money
There is no excuse for this
The company I work for I don't have to rely on the dictaphone website for my line count where I work now, I look under the sessions stats which are DISABLED on your system. Even if there is a lag there is no excuse for the awful line count, the line count lag has nothing to do with your production. You can put all the shortcuts you want in but your're still gonna work your fingers to the bone. I do about 270 lines/hr now, where I used to do about 150 there if that and that was really struggling. When there is that much descrepancy then I have to wonder what the difference is. Headers and footers are not counted on the account I work on either. Hope things have changed for your sake, if so, thats just great and i wish you luck!
Excuse me but...
I am not the one calling someone small minded. I do fit in at DSG. It is a great place to work if you are a dedicated hardworking MT, so thanks for the compliment and good luck with your job hopping. Hope company #26 will be able to please you.
Well, excuse me!!!!
make roughly $15 an hour? But you REFUSE to do high ESL's. I am glad to know that you can find a job and be able to REFUSE work and make your coworkers pull the load. HEY, KSMT2, how does that make you feel? LMAO. You two are a joke!!!!!!
That's always the excuse
You must not have met their standards. No, they are just a lousy, disorganized company. They did not meet my standards, and I am not the only one. There are many MTs who have had the same exact experience. This is not new information.
To Excuse me?
Well stated!
Excuse me????
Who do you think you are to say this has never happened to me? I have been an MT for 20 years!! Aren't you doing the same thing as the cherry pickers by whining about the crappy report you got? You guys actually look up the job to see if someone dumped it? Are you that pathetic as well that you can't handle transcribing the thing either? It boils down to this - If you are good, not a single report will slow you down. If you are a terrible MT who only can do easy reports, well, I could care less what you throw back in the pile. If my child happened to see a doc who was ESL and an MT started whining about getting the crappy report and spent even a second trying to see if someone was cherry picking - well, I would fire their lazy butt!! All I'm saying is do the darn reports and quit worrying about people who cheat, they aren't any good anyway! You guys call yourself MTs? Please! More like a bunch of babies! This is why being an MT is no longer considered a profession. There was a day when we cared about doing our part for the physicians and the patients. Now we have a bunch of typists complaining and whining. We actually used to get paid very well! I can see why rates have gone down - there aren't any real MTs out there anymore.
Excuse me?
You guys are such a joke!
Excuse me?
When did I defend anyone? No wonder you get so upset about having to do the lousy reports, you can't even read! This is a waste of time. Have fun being paranoid....wah...wah...everyone else is getting the good reports....poor us! Sheesh!
Excuse me?
I say again - you can't read nor do you understand the definition of words. Ignore means refusing to take notice of or to reject. if does not mean to defend. MyGosh! Please tell me you are not an MT? You are just making it worse for yourself. Give up now, ok?
Excuse me? sm
I don't work for TT but, in my opinion, if your statement rings true that lead MTs take/get work when others don't have any, that's gross mismanagement and should be delt with somehow, through emails to upper management. It's bad everywhere, low work, ASR lower wages, but there is no excuse for such behavior.
Always an excuse
Sounds my company. Raises are as rare as hens teeth. I know that the economy is bad but they always try to find an excuse not to give us a decent raise.
Excuse me mis Desertflour, but unless you have my name - sm
I suggest you shut your trap. I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. And as a matter of fact, Miss knowitall, you do not know who I am whatsoever. And if you do have my name, I suggest you go ahead and type it on this board. Because I can bet your pathetic paycheck that you do not know who I am.
Excuse me.... but I beg to differ!
MDI MA is a great company, pay 10 cpl, and I am assuming the software depends on the particular account, as I work in BayScribe and it is very user-friendly and productive, everything right at your fingertips. Everything is on one page, i.e. your demographics and transcription page, one click and you have your physician roster, one click spell check, one click to bring up a previous report. I am loving it.
Excuse me??? Just because my experience with them was different than yours was
doesn't give you the right to be so rude. Don't tell me what I have or have not experienced. Don't tell me what I did or did not receive from them as far as software or packages. YOU DON'T KNOW! Man, you are the pathetic one, you egotistical BLOWHARD. If people don't agree with you, you insult them personally. I feel sorry for your family, that's what!! Having to live with you. I'm glad I left MW because I don't work at the same company as an offshore-supporting know-it-all like YOU!!! Has it ever occurred to you that I'm not wrong? That my experience with them was nothing like yours? No, because you are omnipotent and think you know everything.
BTW, I made $60 so far this morning in less than two hours on MY OWN account. You can keep MW. I know how much, or rather how little, they pay.
Oh excuse me but I DO work there
You say that just because someone has great things to say about a company, this does not make them a cheerleader. Okay, I can give you that. However, just because someone posts negatives about a company, this in turn does not make them a liar, troublemaker or a troll. Why are people so blind? YOU may very well have a great experience there but that does NOT mean that everyone there does. We do not always get treated the same and if we don't, it doesn't always mean that it is because of a poor job or work ethic. I am sick of people acting like they know everything about their company.
excuse me, why do you care? NM
nm
Im sorry did you FAIL? LOL what an excuse.
x
Please excuse the typo - buy for by! (duh on me)
(nm)
Please excuse the typos...been up since 4 a.m.!
nm
excuse my type, their AD .. nm
x
No excuse for their behavior.
I have also worked as an MT and as a manager. I worked in QA for DSG. Those ladies are the rudest individuals that I have ever encountered. All managers at all MT companies are under lots of pressure. Each company, until DSG, did not take out their frustrations on the MTs. There is no excuse for their behavior. Period.
Sure, there are emails that are not urgent. How about the emails that they NEVER answer? Huh? Most emails that I sent to any of them were NEVER answered. They obviously do not know what they are doing. They kept piling new accounts into the same work pool instead of creating a separate work pool - to avoid MTs having to keep up with specifics on several different accounts. The messages that they included in the backlog reports were also rude most of the time. I marvel at the fact that they are still in business.
Well excuse me. I AM a KS employee and
you don't know my situation. The communication has been horrible all the way around. I've had several other KS MTs e-mail and say the same thing, some who have been there 3 to 4 years.
I prefer to be left alone too and work very well independently, which is a good thing, but if I need help I want it and not 2 days from now.
Excuse me...Axolotl nm
x
ummm excuse me...
First of all, a company is a company, no matter what size it is. Next, there are a lot of people who want to keep their company small for many reasons. For one, they have so much less on overhead and therefore more money to make their employees happy! None of the mom and pop companies I worked for EVER had serious issues (stayed in business for years), and had plenty of potential for growth just by word of mouth. Where do you get off?? As far as being turned away when sick, etc., the opposite of what you say is true. Mom and pop love your work and need you, know you as a person, and will treat you well as long as you are a good MT. The dog knows the hand that feeds it.
The rest of your post is babble...you are defending your love of TT and what a great MT you are, not afraid to work on more than one account, etc. Has absolutely nothing to do with my post. BTW, I am not complaining about the company I am with, and I make twice what you state for 2 weeks, even after all deductions. Maybe tomorrow you will be in a better mood. I was simply stating MY opinion about a topic I have been thinking about and don't appreciate your B****y post. Take a chill pill. I've been reading your posts and you definitely need one. Good day mate.
EXCUSE ME - I AM NOT A RECRUITER!
Are you insane? You don't even know me! I work a 3pm-3am window, typing radiology. I've never worked in HR in my life!
That excuse is why they get away with paying us
Excuse my bad grammar, there are
Excuse me, so you are saying that in order to (sm)
get a raise in this business and be compensated correctly for years of knowledge and medical terminology, that we have to increase our speed?
Ummm...NO! In 12 years of doing this profession (and I choose to so someone else is not raising my kids - and don't you dare call that a benefit either because it is harder) I have NEVER gotten a raise.
I should be compensated for the 12 years of knowledge that I have, not told be work faster and harder. Every other profession does that - REWARDS THEIR WORKERS FOR THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE.
It is not a matter of being selfish and want, want, want. It is a matter of what is right and wrong.
It is the BS excuse to offshore. There are too
xx
Excuse me, but what does TTD INC stand for? nm
nm
Correction **4.5-5.5 cpl VR** not MR. Please excuse
Ty.
Excuse me, but we are required to use
zzzzz
excuse me Ms. perfect MT who knows it sm
all. Did your acknowledgement of MT week make you feel wonderful? I hope it just made your day, week, month, year since obviously you have to be pampered to feel worthy.
Isn't doing a good job for a company and getting a paycheck enough?
Excuse me, I LOVE VR
Dang, having a bad day?
I never said I DIDN'T like VR; I do VR and love it.
I also used to work at LandMark and was told just a month ago that they were converting a couple of accounts to VR in the 'very near future.'
Just warning the OP ahead of time.
Pop a couple of Midol and get over yourself. *eye roll*
Excuse the typos please
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