Not fair, but sadly how most places work
Posted By: nm on 2006-01-04
In Reply to: I was fired from Keystrokes today for errors. Are there any companies that pay well and understand - Frustrated
nm
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Really sad where people will readily list places they hated but not name places that are great.
What a wonderful, sharing group of people MTs are. :-(
places to work
Hey, just a shout out to all. Of these companies who are the best to work for. Transolutions, Webmedx, Axolotl or DSG. Anything you have to say about line rate, benefits and equipment provided would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Do any of these places have enough work any more?
Seems like all of the big companies are low on work any more. What gives? How are we supposed to make a living?
Do you work for these 2 places?
I feel ya...ESLs slow me way down once in awhile too!
I didn't complain, but got something from both the places I work sm
My PT job gave me a $30 gift card to target. My FT gave me $25 AMEX gift check. Both were sent in Christmas cards and both cards had been signed by everyone in the office.
No...not lots, but then I don't need lots. I really loved that ANYTHING was sent and the signed cards were a very nice touch.
Fair? Just curious, why does all the work in a pool go to
the same people and some don't get anything except what they can scrap up? Just curious about this
NO FAIR LEADS TAKING BEST WORK - sm
But I don't suppose this is a new issue, is it? Leads have to get in their lines, too, which I was surprised to learn - however, it shed light on a lot of things, like getting all crap/ESL, difficult work, this was before good work went VR and we actually did have some good dictators.
But as soon as one of the good jobs turned up in the MTs queue (after a while can often tell by MD ID#) - it disappeared just as fast, replaced by a piece of ----. Had asked lead a few times after this happened, who rudely answered that, what difference did it make to me - I hadn't started on the job yet, anyway.
In all fairness, work should flow naturally - first come, first serve, with the next available MT for the next available job. But as long as the Leads have control over this, they'll continue to get the best work. Lot of complaints also on this board re. Cherrypickers and blaming the MT (who get blamed for most everything, anyway) we need to look at WHO has control over work distributed and who benefits from having that control, and it's not the MT. 
NO FAIR-WORK SHOULD FLOW NATURALLY - sm
As bad as things were at the Q, we got 1 job at a time, detmined via automation, to whatever MT was free was the next to get that job - no one to pick the best work for herself and give MTs the garbage. All this BS about TAT - best work gets taken first, MTs get squat. And how many people do we have to answer to, anyhow? You have top supe, account supe, supe of transcription, and leads like Carter's has pills. No wonder we get all ESLs and garbage - done by those who have the power to dictate who does what work. In the next life, just make me a Lead -- they can even keep the hourly/weekly salary -- just let me have first grab at the available dictation! 
Sounds like several places I've been with! They can tweak the distribution of work any way they
s
I can do that as I expect a lot of places are holding off hiring now because work does tend to get a
little slow at this time of the year. I can manage with what I have until January.
Decent place to work - the owner is fair and reasonable.
I have known GG, the owner, for a long time. I worked for her as an IC and never had a problem, except for the no work syndrome, but that was about 5 years ago. Hope they are busier now.
If I had to go back and work for a company, JLG would be the place.
I am a remote employee directly for a hospital now, so no need to work for a company.
I can vouch for JLG anytime. Pay is always on time, their staff is friendly and professional, never had a problem with QA.
I agree. Just because we are running out of work, it is not fair to belittle or be unkind personall
to Dorothy or any of the staff. I agree they have most likely over hired as this is the first time I have ever run out of work at MDI, holiday notwithstanding and it has now been going on for a couple months now. I am frustrated to the point of tears myself and may be looking for another job. I have tried to address these issues with her to no avail. I do hope things will get better but this will be the last week I can afford to hang on. She said things will pick up this week and I am hoping she is right, if not I too will have to leave. At any rate, I have no complaints personally with Dorothy. She has always been very kind and fair to me. I will truly hate to leave but probably have no choice.
Oh, yeah, NOT fair to those TransTech MT's who are REQUIRED to work a certain # of hours per mont
on weekends! Tell us how you managed to talk TT mgmt into that favor for you! Oh, no, another TT fav !!!
If there's enough work and you work as an IC, many places will let you log in and do as much as y
b
Sadly...no.
Sounds like I may have to go back to the old way and type it all.
Sadly it seems
I think this has been brought up before in previous posts, and correct me/forgive me if I am wrong, but as an IC,you should be able to set your own schedule -- its a catch 22 though, because we have to remember in this business that hospitals NEVER close, therefore, the companies do need weekend coverage and coverage into the wee hours of the morning as well. The main service that I work for just asks their MTs to do a committment of between 400-500 lines on Saturday and Sunday and they offer a weekend bonus as well. For those of you that have children activity committments on the weekends or other things, maybe you could talk to your employer about doing a split shift of sorts. Sorry for the long post
Sadly, you are exactly right.
Time was when a good MT could pretty much write her own ticket. Alas, those days are LONG gone. I'm just hoping to eke out some kind of a living until I can retire.
Sadly, none are the best - still trying to find it myself. nm
x
Sadly yes :( - what info do you need? - nm
sss
You are sadly misinformed. sm
AAMT is certifying OFFSHORE MTs and allowing them to join the organization, thus, the name AMERICAN needs to be removed from the name. Anyone in this industry who does not understand and acknowledge the negative impacting offshoring has had on our profession has their head in the sand.
Sadly it seems more and more that the better companies...
expect ICs to sign on with the commitment to work a Tues - Sat or Sun - Th. Does that seem flexible to you? Personally I think it's unrealistic to expect a person to want to work either every Sat. or Sun. I couldn't do it if I wanted to. Soccer on Sat. and church on Sun. It's tough.
DEVENTURE IS NOT UNIQUE, SADLY.
I never worked for Deventure. But, I did apply there. During the application process, there were red flags that alerted me to the fact that I did not want to work for them. It seemed to me that they were either extremely disorganized or downright dishonest. Sadly, I don't think they are unique. I've had similar experiences with many other companies during my search for the best job, which still has not been found.
But, you know what? I've also observed that many of these companies totally rely on the fact that they can manipulate MTs to the Nth degree. What was that word of wisdom that was once spoken by one of my favorite TV psychologists? You teach people how to treat you. Never was this as true as it is in the MT work world. Of course, you can go bankrupt while searching for those who will treat you as a human being and not expect you to perform as a tireless, inhuman robot.
Even if Deventure WINS this case, I praise the lady who is allowing her case to be heard.
I do skip over them because sadly it is the same thing.
Wrong line count and no work. It is just hard because once it gets going it takes over the whole page and it is hard to find anything else someone has posted. I have nothing against TT or its MTs, it just seems like they have some legitimate concerns and they want to be heard. I figured we just must have a lot of TT employees on here and they should be able to discuss things in their own forum.
Sadly, its one of the oldest tricks in this business.
Always has happened to me, whatever mode of delivery for the work. In the days of tapes, I would get double or triple what I requested. Now its the same thing, thus why I don't take any jobs on the side now. I would always, always ask for a minimum amount of work, which the owner gladly agreed to, only to be bombed. Then the whole guilt game would start...Not for me anymore! Its so counterproductive in the long run - makes us resentful, right? Why not just give the MTs what they agreed to, right? Oh well!
Another thing.. sadly, at 5 cpl, I think I am on the high end of what is being paid.
I cant tell you how many companies with ES offered me like 2-3 cpl..and to that I had to respond GET REAL!!!
With respect, the real irony sadly is
that if you've followed these boards for at least 2 years, you already had an idea of what was going to happen. Several MTs made an effort here to warn as many as possible about the future loss of jobs. Many of the posts were ultimately deleted. I agree there is nothing gained from rehashing the past other than we must learn from it.
QT made a business decision. They built a company, made a profit, saw more/better/different profit elsewhere, designed a plan to get from point A to point B and moved on - happens every day in the business world. From all appearances, they did everything right for a while - had they not, there would not be this group of really great MTs struggling to deal with the loss of a job and the stress of starting anew. QT had an option - they could let their dedicated MTs know what was going to happen and ask them to ride things out as long as possible or they could just squeeze every last drop from each MT and each account. Too bad for the MTs but, after all, it's only business. If there were lies, deception, half-truths, etc., this too is a part of the profit/loss bottom line.
The real irony - and this is public knowledge - is that former QT owners have started new businesses and are bragging far and wide (see internet blogging) about their new employees.
Of course, finding a new scrapbooking job will probably be a little easier than finding and securing a new MT account.
You think?
I have a prediction (purely for entertainment purposes, of course) - Profits will not sustain the new venture/old lifestyle for very long and that within, oh 24 months or so, there will be a foot dipped into a new MT venture, since the old one was soooo profitable, and old habits are hard to break.
Sadly, most newer computers do not have the 9-pin port.
I have had to buy USB adapter to which some do and do not work correctly with this footpedal. Is this by chance an Escription account? Thus far, this is the only software that I have found which requires such an obsolete port. I bought a laptop assuming it would have the 9-pin port but it did not so I tried at least four adapter until I found one that works.
Sadly, they gave up on quality a long
The original CEO said in a meeting one time that the doctors won't care if a report has a few mistakes in it as long as it is back on time. That was a big red flag to me. Apparently it has come to be that way.
Sadly, I make $300 too much to get Food Stamps
I was going to bite the bullet and get them. So obviously I'm overpaid. Time to switch companies.
I agree. Sadly, it is absolutely true, nm
.
Sadly (or not, lol) UP. Gonna make more, gotta
y
Sadly, it is ALL the employees of this one particular account and we have no backup accts.
Apparently, the hospital obviously wants the work first to go to the employees and we get whatever is left, which is slim to none some days. Very frustrating.
I think most places pay for spaces. I work for TransTech and they pay for both spaces
as well as punctuation. I would never work for an MTSO that doesn't.
Been both places
I would say you won't better yourself. Of the 2, I'd choose Spheris but I'm not still there either. 
Could you tell me the better places?
What companies are there, if you don't mind, in case I have to look. THANKS!
Most places like you to have in the mid-90s at least. Sorry. nm
s
Some places will let you do Fri., Sat., Sun. Never saw
s
There are other places that pay well.....
I'm SE and 9.5 cpl with 6.5 years of experience.
I have done it several places sm
I love TransTech, I MEAN I REALLY LOVE IT. I am IN love with MT again.
places to go
I know several of us have gone to Encompass, Keystrokes, Webmedx, to memtion a few.
places, places
sorry i got kids screaming at me right now. Thought I better correct it before one of the high and mighties say something.
no more than other places
and it would depend on the account. As in most cases, I have found that after doing the account for a while and getting used to the dictators, there will only be a handful that really continue to be difficult each time you get them, when you sigh because you know it's going to lower your line count.
Maybe you should look other places for
companies rather than just ONE single board. There are MANY companies out there who don't post ads here, and many who don't post ads at all.
Not fair!
I have been working with them for 7 years now and have NEVER been offered a shift differential! I too, often work in the evenings. I find it a tad unfair how they offer such good incentives for one office and not the other. I have been extremely happy for all this time until I started reading these posts where the truth comes out! I now realize how I have been neglected as a transcriber for them.
To be fair.....sm
....I was on an account with this company. And it was the hospital itself that was trying to cut their own costs, and jimmied the lines counts to a way where the MT and the MT company got less. Taking spaces out of the header, cutting some spaces out of the doc's signature line, etc. I know, because I was told right away, and I know the email went out to others on the account. So in that particular instance (last year), Focus did inform the MTs, and it was all the customer, trying to cut their own costs, not Focus.
Just my 2 cents on that account at that time.
Yes its more fair
but not many companies pay by the minute (that I know of). If the rate is fair, then its a fair method - but then that goes for all the computations... by the character, line, report, etc.
How do you even know? Maybe it's all bad. I think they are very fair. I get both
nm
Yes, it is fair.
They are being charged fair rates for their economic environment, just as we are.
Do you think every tax payer in the US should pay the exact same tax? Probably not, eh?! Think of it: If everyone in the US had to just pay $5000 in taxes every year, we will have a huge number of people unable to do so while the wealthy get off paying just $5K from their hundreds of millions. It is rated against their income.
Same thing with India. India's economic environment is no where near the wealth of the United States. So, to be fair the AAMT has rated their testing rates compatible with their economy.
It is fair.
Now, if you just don't like other countries doing work for the US, that's a little different topic.
Then again, considering that we sure as heck want to do business in their countries, maybe it really takes on a little different perspective.
It is fair ......sm
So, do you think the MT with 25 years experience and excellent work ethic who is reliable should make the same cpl as the MT with 2 years experience with the same work ethic. I think not. We should be paid for experience.
I can tell you that it really ticks me off when I hear of the MT with 2 years experience making cpl for clinic work and do all acute care with the 25 years experience. That really pisses me off.
I have learned to become quite the negotiator when it comes to line rates and pay.
Fair Enough...
You make a good point, since you're up against those very obtacles. I always find myself tending to try to sway to the side of the MT.
Maybe the OP will check back in at some point and offer more info to clarify things.
Have a great day!!!
Fair enough...
You can come back to this board in 1 year. I will be here. I have been posting here for years. I have also been an MT for many years. I do not need a union contract. I make a great living without one. As for working for the Q, I did many, many years ago. I used them to get my foot in the MT door. Once I had enough experience to find something better suited for me, I gave my notice and moved on. It was really quite easy, actually.
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