They have not had ICs in 5 years but the decision was just recently made to have PT employees. sm
Posted By: KS MT2 on 2009-01-29
In Reply to: Keystrokes question - litewithfingers
There are pretty strict guidelines they are adhering to with regard to part-timers. They must have a set schedule of 8 hours one weekend day or 8 hours both weekend days and 4 hours at least 3 evenings per week. The days have to be the same every week.
So if you are looking for say MWF 6-10p and all day Saturday, it would work well for you. If you are looking to work whenever you want, it would not.
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- Keystrokes question - litewithfingers
- They have not had ICs in 5 years but the decision was just recently made to have PT employees. sm - KS MT2
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Decision made on who to pick!
After reading all the feedback, I decided to go with Keystrokes. MQ just seems to iffy with work compared to Keystrokes, who certainly has some good feedback from fellow MTs. 
You made a good decision to go with KS
I find them to be a very honest company, and hard to find one of those these days. And... by the way I am not a recruiter, or manager or company official, just an MT.
Made decision; Friday last day
Whew! Glad that's over! :)
Thanks folks.
FOLLOW-UP - Made a decision about best company
Thanks for everyone's answers. I have chosen Company 4 in the QA or Editing area, as the problem nitpickers are being weeded out. I don't want a lot of baggage or to work with a company that frequently runs out of work. Here's my original post, and I hope it is helpful to others. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
I have 15 years inhouse, but we are being outsourced. Several coworkers have gone to work for different nationals, and I am weighing working as an MT vs. QA or editor. I would like advice on what would be best to do or to expect. I have learned the following about several companies, none of which is consistent:
Company 1: QA manager has a BA in Political Science. She runs the department as a manager only. The QA people who are chosen have at least 10 years of experience and appear to be very knowledgeable. Most of them are very helpful and are available around the clock. Most accounts have plenty of work, but a lot of ESL.
Company 2: QA manager has many years in the field and supervises QA people with also many years of experience. They have a separate Document Completion department that does nothing but fill in blanks, but it is managed by a nurse with a Bachelor's degree. They have virtual round-the-clock coverage, and you can call them for an answer or to listen to the job you are working on. They are very helpful and friendly. I hear that MTs frequently run out of work.
Company 3: Not impressed because of favoritism here. A highly qualified QA manager with years of experience, including teaching, was moved to a lateral position after a few days by a power seeker with only 2 years' experience as an MT. After that, most of the QA department either quit or was fired. The new QA director does actual QA herself but does not get along well with everyone. Some of the QA department is helpful and some are not. They also promote some after only a few months with the company regardless of experience, which creates hard feelings among those with more longevity and experience. Very poor coverage at night and on the weekend. Plenty of work on most accounts.
Company 4: Editing and QA is separate. They require 10 years' experience as an Editor and 15 years' experience in QA. The QA and editing managers distribute the work and work as managers only but they are very approachable. The QA people are knowledgeable but most of them feel superior to the MTs. Most of the editors are fine but get frustrated if easy blanks are left and also seem to be too glad to report it, almost like tattling beyond necessity. Plenty of work.
As you can see, these are all very different, and I wonder if I would be better off to just remain an MT. However, I don't want my work screened by someone who is "just starting out" as an MT. I cannot figure out why the standards are so different. If you work for these companies, you know who they are. I just don't know where to turn. Help!
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I just started with them also...trying to make sure I made the right decision...nm
nm
I checked archives. Thanks. I almost made a bad decision.
No way will I work for them.
That was a really bad decision! Did you not see that a hedge fund has made an offer to
purchase many of their outstanding shares. Hedge funds are notorious for slashing costs through whatever means necessary (i.e., sending your job to Sanjiv in Bangalore). Good luck with that.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070813/20070813006137.html?.v=1
TransTech is not being loyal to their MT's, so you have made a great decision
The pay is always on time, but the paycheck continues to dwindle, so makes it easier for TT to pay their MT's, for sure.
It is so depressing that TT mgmt/lead/sups/tech/in-house clerks, etc. have absolutely no LOW PAYCHECKS.
They have VERY MUCH OVERHIRED; however, they are losing MT's at about the same rate, but they don't care, because there are newbies that will work for practically nothing to get a start, and all they have to do is make a phone call to TT and they are hired !@!
Not anymore. I was talking to my lead yesterday and she has made a decision to not come here. sm
I for one would not want to be an MTSO. I know that they have to be thick-skinned, but it has to be horrible to be called out by name and have horrible things said about you.
I think that there are too many small companies out there with many more problems than Keystrokes has ever had except maybe in the beginning but as they are not known, you do not hear about them.
I know that she wants Keystrokes to be a personal service and her transcriptionists and clients appreciate this, but it is a fine line to walk. In the 4 years that I have worked for the company, I have had a lot of personal contact with her because I call her. We all have her phone number and she makes time if you need her. When you talk to her, she makes time and does not rush you and really listens to suggestions.
I am afraid that with all the negative all the time, that Keystrokes will become like the other services, and that is not what I want to see. Lee is a wonderful person to work for, and unless you have walked in her shoes, you should not criticize. She is obviously doing something right with the growth and the happy employees but it is impossible to please everyone all of the time.
The biggest criticism that I can make about Keystrokes is that she hangs on to people too long, always listening to the sob story and feeling sorry for everyone that comes to her with a problem. There are plenty of employees that stayed past their usefulness, including both of the last two HR managers and a few cherry-pickers on my account.
I, for one, would rather work for someone that is caring and involved, than be a number somewhere. If there are growing pains and changes, I just ride them out. As long as any company continues to grow, they will have changes, otherwise they would not grow and improve. I really think the major bumps in the road are behind Keystrokes, and having talked to Lee in the past, I am in for the long haul.
thank you. I already knew but this validates that I made a wise decision last year.
I was being paid 3.5 cpl, and I always did 100% proof to voice because if MY name is on the report, then it WILL be without errors, and quite honestly we did not have even one MT that I trusted enough to not do a complete proof to voice, which is actually very sad. I provided feedback on errors, for which I was not compensated since I was on straight production. We had tons of new MTs constantly, many of them abysmally bad.
My supervisor loved my work. She said I was the best QA Editor they had, and boy howdy I was because I also worked QC for a bit and got to witness the handiwork of my fellow editors. Nice that they paid their best 3.5 cpl, huh? I stuck it out for as long as I could because I genuinely loved my job, but there comes a time when you just have enough of being taken advantage of. They had wanted to promote me to something that was akin to a QA lead that would also involve training new MTs as well as continuing QA and QC. I would be paid salary, so that's good, but they arrived at the number by basing it on what I had made the previous year (at the lowly 3.5 cpl, mind you), so basically I would have been doing MORE work for the same money. Right. They obviously think we can't do math...lol.
I have gone back to MT. It's harder on my body, but at least I'm not being screwed.
Some not too flattering comments made about this company recently if you search. nm
s
Maybe QA made the decision, not the company, and the company managers are not aware of it. sm
I started with a company that did the same thing. When I went to the manager outside of QA, she fixed it right away. Turns out that the QA manager had made a decision to do that and had not told anyone else.
It does make sense to do that though. Find out if it is a few days or longer and base your decision on that.
Can we ask which company or at least which state they're out of?
Unfortunately, I am going to be looking AGAIN due to offshore.
You are too much...I made almost 60k five years ago
working in a similar recruiting/QA position for a small company. It varies widely. And it is a whole lot nicer position than MTing..well just about anything is IMO. Stop being so envious.
I made upper 40s with them 6 years.
My insurance was around $350 a month family coverage. I have been gone from them about a year.
I made $13/hour 14 years ago
nm
I made 20.00 an hour 3 years ago -
Even that was not enough money for all the garbage I had to correct. I went back to straight typing. Make more money now with lots less stress!
I have been doing this for over 30 years .. I made more in 1983 than I do now . sm
However, I still make a decent living. What burns me is when I see these cheesy ads telling women they can take their course (and spend $$$$) and instantly make $50,000 .... you know that doesn't happen.
I was lucky and had the advantage of being trained on the job when I was a junior in high school (my mom was a lab tech and friends with the director of Medical Records). No matter how good the at-home course is (or is not), to me, you just can't beat the hands on experience of having the benefit of someone else's ears .. but I guess those days are gone like the wind.
I don't know much about painting gourds, but I thought about sitting on a beach in the carribbean and selling cheap crap to tourists .. care to join me? 
I made in the low 50s at Spheris 4 years ago.
Yes, you can.
Sorry, but I made more than that as a grocery cashier 7 years ago (nm)
x
I've made in the upper 40s and low 50s for several years now.
From 2 top nationals. Yes, it is possible.
Can everyone do it? No. Some people are better at it than others. Some can put their headset on, hit that pedal and keep on until it's all done. Others cannot sit still, don't have a very good skill set, are easily distracted or listen to too many complaints by others. Never let others help you decide how to feel about YOUR job.
Some of it will rely on your skill set, your mindset and your self-discipline. Some of it will depend on working for a company that you are comfortable with - comfortable with their set up, how work is divided, their base and incentive pay, etc. If you're upset, you'll not perform as well. If you're unhappy, you'll spend more time being upset than working and being productive.
Are they kidding, made $1.25 per report over 20 years ago. nm
x
I've made $35,000 for the years I worked there. SM
I would have to kill myself for $50,000 and I don't choose to do that. I give you credit if you were able to achieve it.
The pay rate has been lowered there now, due to SR. The rate of pay at MQ has always been higher, but this field is dying out where ever one goes.
What about those who made 12 cents a line only a few years ago
you have no problem with reduction in pay, are you serious? making less money is truly okay with you because you sympathize with those poor administors and owners of the companies who should have the money instead.
I respect your talking about bad work habits but what type of transcription to you do, what percent ESL may I ask? You do realize it is not humanly possible to jump through all the hoops just right now to make that kind of money, not unless you are lucky enough to work on 'good accounts' which are usually saved for those who also do QA, and for new people or whoever gets or however they get it I have no idea.
you must type so many lines a day, but your quality better be 98-100% or you lose benefits and pay and also you must never complain or speak up about anything or you will get the worst dictation on the system only to have your work gone over with people who are paid hourly so they can pretend quality is what matters when we all know what really matters is the hospital saving money for the CEOs and their families.
if anyone cared about the patients, I mean truly cared about the patients as we are expected to do, the whole system would not have gone to capitation and nonprofit to a for-profit business. Halls in hospitals would not be filled with patients who have no one to help them and who lie there moaning and groaning while the nursing staff is cut back to less than skeleton crew, or any kind of ancillary service is outsourced and moved out of the hospital to save money, no matter that elderly people suffer because they may not be able to drive all over.
I could go on and on but it no doubt will be lost on where you are at.
This country seems to be becoming more 'sadistic' and less compassionate day by sorry day.
where were people like you when the money was flowing freely, were you protesting for lower pay - do you want to take lower pay right now because I am sure your boss will oblige...
Yikes, I guess that says it all for this field....I made that over 15 years ago!
Guess it's time to move on :(
Yikes. I made 8 an hour 9 years ago starting. nm
x
I made 8 cpl when I worked for them 3 years ago. The ESLs were really horrendous, though.
Even the English speaking docs were bad. I just couldn't make any money with those accounts. Maybe things have changed in 3 years, but it was not a pleasant experience for me. It was my very first MT job.
Why should I go back to making 9 cpl when I make 11 cpl now?? I made 8 cpl over 12 years ago.
nm
I worked there for abour 4-1/2 years and made excellent money.
I hated to leave but I was only scheduled PT but allowed to work up to 40 hours a week as I wanted. Certain family obligations made me have to choose between FT at Spheris or my local accounts and I chose my local accounts.
I was pulling in about $40,000 a year.
If you made a graph of all the things taken away by Edix/Speris in the last 5 years.....
You would be shocked, although it has been 6 years since it started.....
first charging for errors, about 6 years ago (they stopped that), then insurance changed for the worst, regrading hospitals to their advantage so you would make at least 200. to 300 less a pay period, the list is long, long, long. I can go back 6 years up to 2 years ago when I finally left.
In REPLY TO: What do you call 6.5 cents?? - Geeze, when I started out 15 years ago, I made 8 c
6.5 was the offer for one place and the second offer was 9 cents. I chose the second offer :). Rough out there indeed! There are even places paying per report now... I saw 75 cents, $1.10, $1.15 and $1.25. Ain't good for Rad.
Made 1200-1600 per week paid on a gross line for 5 years!
It CAN be done. The key is either a really high line rate or canned text over and over again with very small accounts. I had a little of both and then some harder stuff thrown in. It also helps if you work like you are on fire most of the day. Needless to say, that gravy train ran out of juice and now I am back to *normal* pay of around $750 per week at another company. SO many variables out there with the *how much do you make?* question.
Isn't Wal-Mart the company that lied/replaced labels several years back with Made in USA? nm
,,
Decision
I hope you don't actually base your decision on this board. Use your own intellengence and if you can actually talk to someone who has worked for both companies, I wouldn't just believe someone who says "hands down."
Weigh the pros and cons from both companies and then make your decision.
Decision
WebMedX - Medware offshores work BIG TIME and they will have no qualms about pulling your account out from under you and sending it over to have Raj and Nashira do it. At least 1/3 of their work is done in India and they are constantly expanding their volume over there. WebMedX does not off shore and they have better, more affordable benefits than Medware. Also, their QA people are level headed, not egocentric jerks like Medware.
decision
I'm glad you admit to being a egocentric jerk because that's exactly my opinion of QA in general.
decision
Why would you choose one over the other. Do you know anything about Transtech or Archivus from a personal experience?
Job decision - sm
After reading your post and replies from 11/17/2007, and seeing you are still undecided today, as a bystander, I just get the feeling that you are more than just apprehensive of learning a new platform, etc. Personally, if I was this unsure of making a change and that the new company doesn't appear to be a good fit, I would stay where I am. It's natural to be apprehensive, but the new job offer should make you feel more comfortable about the switch..but, if you are this undecided there must be an underlying reason? I say go with your gut feeling on this one. Good luck.
Right decision?
I accepted a new position with TT for 0.085 per line! I currently have a position for 0.10 per line, but struggle to get 1200-1300 lines per day! I have been able to easily get 2000 lines a day with other positions and I really need to get 2000 lines a day. Is this possible at TT?
The incentives and differentials at TT are much, much better than my current position. The PTO deal is also better by being paid your average hourly wage instead of a flat hourly rate which is really low! Insurance, thankfully, is not an issue for me due to my husband having coverage. Both places do not pay headers or footers.
Do you think I made the right decision? I am just a little worried that I will only be able to get that same line count at TT and with a lower wage, actually be making less! Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Big Decision
I have to choose between two job offers (both employee positions). One company I know a lot about. The other is Keystrokes. Have been offered one account, a hospital, at .08 cpl on a Chartscript platform that I've never used. Have been told that there are no normals or templates either. While the people seem nice, the benefits do not seem so great. For example, only 5 days of PTO after one year. Do they give paid holidays (and if so how many)?. Also, was told there were no line incentives (over the required 1200 minimum), and if you were allowed to work beyond the eight hours it would probably be at the same line rate (no incentives, no OT). It does not sound like they are offering anything that great and yet so many people say they love Keystrokes. I would like to understand: 1. Why so many Keystrokes employees love the company. 2. Is Chartscript a good platform to use. 3. Can I use the ShortHand word Expander with Chartscript? 4. When people say they make good money at Keystrokes, what is considered good? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
decision
Sounds strange but I tend to listen to myself, the gut feeling that tells me where I need to go. Works every time.
Which one do you feel more comfortable taking?
Job decision....
 Hi, I have been offered a position with a company doing acute care. This is a 60% voice recognition account and the remaining straight typing. The pay is 5 cpl for the editing and 10 cpl for typing. I have been an MT for 16 years, doing straight typing. How much of a learning curve does this voice recognition require and am I set in my ways too much to even consider it? It seems the industry is moving more in that direction, so I guess I need to get my feet wet at some point. She said they use EScription. Anything you can tell me about this would be very helpful as I have yet to sign contracts and all that. Thanks for your time.
thanks, you have helped me with my decision
I applaud your decision
In the beginning it looked like AAMT was going to be a good thing but I don't believe anyone can name one thing they have done to better the lives of MTs. They sold us out years ago, about the time they started taking corporate members. Doesn't the fact they have corporations in their membership tell anyone ANYTHING. Who has more money the huge MT companies or the MTs? Yep, greed took them over too. And as for the CMT exam, most physicians never even heard of it!!! I for one, have never had any prospective employer even ASK if I was a CMT or not, even those companies who advertise a premium for CMTs. I WAS a CMT, am not a CMT now and refuse to ever consider having ANYTHING to do with AAMT ever again. They are a big root in the evil in the world of MTs.
Faced with a decision right now!
I have been working hourly for QA since last year and it's nice, but the hours dropped from 40 hours to 20 hours so having to look elsewhere. Now faced with a rough decision, offered VR at a better than average rate and when I did that part time, I did around 4000 lines per day, but I get awfully weary doing total read throughs. Offered hourly at another place for only editing and no total read throughs, BUT it's a shift I don't like to work and straight hours instead of a split shift (my legs get awfully tired). I have to make this decision pretty quickly and I'm down to flipping a coin!!!
I definitely prefer QA to MT because my hands just can't take it anymore, not after nearly 20 years.
Hard decision.......
My heart would be heavy, but if it is inside information you probably are thought to keep it confidential NO MATTER WHAT, just like if you typed a report on your neighbor and found out they had HIV----IT IS CONFIDENTIAL. I think you should keep quiet about it, even though it will hurt your heart.
Did you try other job before making decision? SM
I'm waiting for a good reason to quit, like them stopping offering health insurance. Anything is possible.
Good luck to you.
Smart decision. Believe me, I know. nm
How do you make the big decision
on which company to go with when there are good and bad points about each? I'm wavering between Global Info Systems (also known as GIS) and SoftScript and have gotten an offer from both. I got an offer from Opti-Script but turned it down. Need some solid reliable advice before next Tuesday. Any of these 3 companies worth trying? HELP!
DSG or KS? Have to make decision
on which company I should go with by Monday! HELP! I'm looking for long-term work, have over 14 years in the acute care, do not want to make a mistake like I did with MQ, no shuffling around to 15 different different places a day!
Thanks so much for your Honest opinions!
I think that is a wise decision pls r/o
Like I said above, they are nice people, but nice doesn't pay the bills. I had glitch after glitch with Dictaphone TransNet. It was always MY FAULT somehow. LOL It was pretty archaic. One day I couldn't work for almost a whole day because the TransNet would not load up any jobs, but they kept saying it was MY computer and not theirs. Then they wanted to know how late I would be staying up to make it up! (BTW- lo and behold, it was THEIR SERVER at fault! LOL)
I would not base my decision on
what this board has to say. These boards are used as a place to vent. It doesn'the matter where you work, some people will be unhappy. I have worked for Transend for over 2 years and the only complaint I have is that the insurance is not what I would like to see. It is quite high and the deductibles are quite high.
Use your own judgement. If you would rather do E-Bay, by all means that is what you should do. Personally I do not like the packaging, mailing, posting, leaving feedback and everything that goes with each transaction. Too much to keep track of.
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