The powers that be at JLG had unrealistic expectations.
Posted By: SM on 2008-09-17
In Reply to: So does that mean SR isn't all its cracked up to be? nm - Justme
May of 2008 is when they went live with their SR program. They hired a bunch of the QA people that were fired from Focus in their shake up in early May. They hired everyone in at hourly pay because the SR supervisor told mangement that there would be a learning curve for the SR engine. In other words, the QA people hired at the beginning would be teaching the SR engine by making corrections to the reports typed by the SR software. We were basically transcribing entire reports in an effort to teach the engine.
Within two weeks of starting the program, JLG management was crying about losing money because they were paying us hourly and we weren't producing where they thought we should be. The supervisor again tried to explain to them that as the SR engine began to learn, our production would increase significantly because we would need to make fewer corrections. This shut them up briefly. Then they began to cry again and said all SR people need to be paid on production even though they had contracts with each and every one of us stating we were to be paid hourly. So the decision was made to put everyone but the team leads on production.
Still JLG management wasn't satisfied because they weren't lining their pockets well enough or quick enough. They kept pushing and the SR supervisor turned in her resignation. They in turn told her she was terminated as of that day instead of letting her work her final two weeks. They then cut her off completely and told her to not have contact with any of us. Within a week of her departure, the team leads were then contacted and told they had to go on production as well.
Still not satisfied, management began to scrutinize each SR editor, putting some on 100% QA and bombarding them with email, making them feel as though every move they made was being watched. It was a very stressful situation. Management played games such as cutting off work so there was no work in the SR queue for anyone or putting in some phantom editor who was doing SR at a rate three times faster then the rest of the SR team.
Some of us were producing upwards of 3000 lines a day on SR and still were made to feel it was not enough and if we were producing enough, then our quality was called into question.
Now this. Now they just pull the plug. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into making SR work for JLG and they have had no intentions of letting work --> well at least one person specifically had no intentions of letting it work.
So there is the sad saga of the JLG SR fiasco.
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Why Wendy? She is only QA, right? I don't think she has the powers that you giving her.
Debbie or account manager would make more sense to contact -- not a QA person!!!!!!!
Dunno.... the powers that be spawned the likes of
I can think of some foreign countries that might harbor server-crashers.
Expectations
You are certainly entitled to your opinion and you do have one or two valid points. However, if you switched over to a QA position I think you’d soon realize it’s not quite the easy, money-making scenario you assume it is.
MTBucket wrote: we are forced to work like factory workers, with quotas and time constraints, all while maintaining perfect quality and never complaining or thinking ever or ourselves.
- True, however, if you went out there and contracted your own clients, chances are, you'd be experiencing the same types of demands and expectations from those clients. It's usually the client pressuring the services thus the services pressuring the MTs.
MTBucket wrote: ...we are constantly expected to just magically adapt to any and all changes made by the industry or employer, whether they have our best interest at heart or not, which is usually lets see, NEVER in our favor.
- True again, however, if you went out and contracted your own clients – they'd still make their demands, deadlines, quotas, changes, etc., and expect you to comply regardless. More times than not, the MT services are making changes due to their client's demands. It's usually the clients setting the bottom line thus forcing the service or employer to make accommodations.
MTBucket wrote: ...then to have someone go through our reports and pick apart grammar or style...
- Grammar and style are just as much a part of transcription as the terminology. It's part of being a quality, educated MT.
MTBucket wrote: Quality - HA! It is a tool used to keep MTs down mostly, even when it starts out as a tool to help MTs.
- Quite the opposite, in my opinion. There are many factors in this industry that keep the MTs down. However, MTs are not making it any better by producing poor quality. In my experience as an Editor and working with editors, editors want to see the MTs improve and definitely want to see LESS error-filled reports come through.
MTBucket wrote: In my opinion, the only reason QA has gotten so out of hand is to justify jobs.
- Sure, that's your opinion but if you saw what actually came through to QA, you would be quite shocked. QA has gotten out of hand because of more and more poor-quality or inexperienced MTs, not to mention overseas MTs when companies outsource.
MTBucket wrote: You are not fooling anybody. This is about money, it is about QA making more money than the MT who is doing all the actual work...
- I strongly disagree here. Many MTs I edit make quite a bit more than I do and I know this for a fact because I see their line count and know what they are making per line. In fact, I have a second job MT'ing and I make more money working as an MT than I do working as a full-time editor. Editor pay has definitely been on the decline for a few years now.
Expectations
I work for Synernet. One of the best gigs I've had in a long while. Having been on both sides of the MT fence (as owner and now as grunt), I appreciated their up-front manner- COMMUNICATION IS KEY. There are expectations on both sides, and yours are no less or more important than are theirs.
If you were fired for medical reasons, contact an attorney.
But just reading the list you ticked off, sounds like you have lots of issues that would preclude them being able to meet client TAT. And sorry kiddo, but that means you're not cutting it, even if your reasons sound valid.
There aren't a lot of businesses who will tell ya, go be sick, hospitalized, have earthquakes, and have an imperfect family and we'll just wait here patiently for your problems to compound ours.
Being an MT at home doesn't mean you don't have the rules that ALL employees for businesses have... and just saying, sounds like your situation is not a good fit.
Your expectations are low -
take a walk down the basement stairs to raise them.
expectations
The pay is variable and usually depends on your experience and what you can negotiate. You do set your schedule and tell them when you want to work and how many hours in the interview. This information is then sent back to you for you to sign in a new hire packet. If any of the information in that packet isn't what you wanted, then call them and have it redone.
As for the management, it all depends on what area you get put in and how is the CCM. Basically, you are left alone to do your job. You have 3 months of training and they aren't too tough on you. After that, however, you are expected to meet the company standards. Anybody who doesn't work their schedule, doesn't get their lines in, or has too many QA submissions, will be performance managed. This is all explained during your new hire training session.
MQ is a 24/7 company and never closes. If a holiday fall on a normal workday, you are expected to work it and will get holiday for the major ones. You can ask for the time off but are not guaranteed to get it. The holidays are usually fairly slow, as well as the next few days after.
They do have PTO based upon your full-time/part-time classification and you start accumulating it as soon as you start working.
As for experience, MQ is a very large company and you will be exposed to a lot more working for them than at a smaller company. There will be more dictators, more ESL, more report types, etc. You can tier up levels and get even more variety added into your work pool.
If you don't want to leave your present company, you could always try MQ part-time and see how you like it.
expectations
The pay is variable and usually depends on your experience and what you can negotiate. You do set your schedule and tell them when you want to work and how many hours in the interview. This information is then sent back to you for you to sign in a new hire packet. If any of the information in that packet isn't what you wanted, then call them and have it redone.
As for the management, it all depends on what area you get put in and how is the CCM. Basically, you are left alone to do your job. You have 3 months of training and they aren't too tough on you. After that, however, you are expected to meet the company standards. Anybody who doesn't work their schedule, doesn't get their lines in, or has too many QA submissions, will be performance managed. This is all explained during your new hire training session.
MQ is a 24/7 company and never closes. If a holiday fall on a normal workday, you are expected to work it and will get holiday for the major ones. You can ask for the time off but are not guaranteed to get it. The holidays are usually fairly slow, as well as the next few days after.
They do have PTO based upon your full-time/part-time classification and you start accumulating it as soon as you start working.
As for experience, MQ is a very large company and you will be exposed to a lot more working for them than at a smaller company. There will be more dictators, more ESL, more report types, etc. You can tier up levels and get even more variety added into your work pool.
If you don't want to leave your present company, you could always try MQ part-time and see how you like it.
Monrovia meets all my needs and expectations.
.
How is that unrealistic?
If you had any other job and didn't meet the expectations of your employer you would be terminated. What makes this job any different?
But very unrealistic!
;*
How unrealistic to say they are not going to get
This is just not true and such a blanket pessimistic statement. Of course they can do better. MDI was not the end all of end alls, and to have your attitude, well, of course they will have no options. Might as well just throw in the towel according to you, and give up. What a terrible way to look at life and how sad for you.Of course, you'll reply that you are just fine and dandy, which is BS. Why come on here then and spread your doom and gloom. Say something encouraging, why not?? As I said, I've worked for MDI before and they were OK. They were very nice and very accommodating, but they had no work. No work equals no work. This was not just one time, either, but over a period of several years. They treated me like gold, but were always short of work. Before you bash me, I am a top notch MT who types anything and everything, can handle any number of accounts, so it was not me. I can still write to staff today and they are friendly and would give me a job, but truly MDI was not the best game in town and certainly not the only game.Now why not encourage the MDI MTs some more?? any more doom to toss at them?
I don't think it is unrealistic at all and I am a very
were, for the most part, top notch MTs. But if you haven't noticed, MT has been on a downhill slide for a while now. The writing is on the wall, and that writing just got so big a blind man could see it with the aquisition of MDI. If I am wrong, I'll come back someday and say so. But even with my own accounts and within 20 years of retirement, I am preparing for another my exit from MT.
Yes, sad reality we have here. Again, I saw broken promises and expectations. That's the name of
this game. How I wish it were different. If someone is luckily enough to have a decent job, it is either good pay, expensive insurance or bad pay, cheap insurance. You just cant wish. The only way to get 12 cpl is to get your own accounts, which is sometimes a pain too.
That's so true. It's unrealistic to think otherwise.
x
Whoa, please be very careful. Their ad is very unrealistic
nm
Unrealistic view that a lot of MTs do not understand. The offshore companies sm
have very deep pockets and make it attractive for companies here to use them. Even if every smaller MTSO refused to do it, do you think we would be able to compete with Spheris and C-Bay just to name two of the bigger companies that use the offshore transcriptionists?
Hospitals, unfortuneately, often care more about the bottom line than the perfection we expect from ourselves. Many doctors do not read the reports (most from what I understand) and just care that they have satisfied JACHO requirements by having a record in the charts.
Offshore transcription is not going anywhere. Sad but true. I do not support it but I am a small tree in a very, very, very big forest.
Totally unrealistic as long as Indians make it worth their while.
nm
At first I was thinking that you were being unrealistic, not thinking about taxes, benefits, etc. bu
surprised to find that you are not asking the moon. Let me clarify a few things: Rates charged are not as high as 0.25 per line, but no one that has U.S. employees goes as low as 0.115 or they would not be able to pay their bills. A more realistic range is 0.125-0.165, and that top end is hard to find, most falling at 0.14-0.15 per line.
The rates of pay you propose are very reasonable IF the following is true: These are seasoned MTs who do not need a lot of hand-holding, QA or blanks filled in, unless a very difficult/impossible doctor.
How about a scale based on experience and accuracy of 0.09 - 0.105 per line (acute care), and $1.15-$1.30 per report (radiology)?
The VR one is tough as everyone, MTs and MTSOs and facilities are still feeling their way on this. As an MTSO who was an MT, I feel that VR editing is as difficult to do as regular transcription. I don't think that it should be substantially less pay or charged less as the end product is still the same.
Funny thing here? My company already follows that scale. We should work together, not at odds, to reinforce this industry and bring it back to where it should be, right here in the U.S.A. with a decent paycheck.
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