Thinking about IC status

I've been thinking about finding a company that offers IC status. My current situation is this  - I'm currently an employee for a service and have asked to be moved to a part time schedule soon as I'm expecting another baby and have realized there just aren't enough hours in the day to work full time and take care of my family (this will be my third child, fourth if you count hubby :-) ). So far my supervisor has barely acknowledged my request. I have also read here that people who once worked for my current company had asked for a schedule change and were refused. This is not an option for me, I need to go part time and I need flexibility in the schedule (something I know my current company does not offer).

A couple of years ago I interviewed with Oracle Transcription and the lady who talked to me seemed very nice. I was a little put off by the IC status (I don't need bennies - hubby's are fine) mostly because it's not familiar territory. The tax thing makes me a little nervous and I wouldn't know where to begin as far as transcription software. This company seemed to be very flexible in schedules. I also liked that this company was very anti sending work overseas. But, this was 2 years ago and I doubt that position would still be available.

So, how do you go about making an easy transition from employee status to IC status and which companies offer IC positions without treating you like an employee?

Thanks  

• Thinking about IC status - Curious
  • Oracle sm - OTI
  • Recent Oracle contact said it was atrocious for several reasons, and you pay your own LD. Would - keep looking. nm
    • Oracle - MT

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I am caught between a rock and a hard place and figure this is the place to get the best advice from those in the know.  I have been an IC for the past 5 years and love the flexibility but was interested in a job with benefits.  I started a new job about a month ago with good pay (2 lph more than I was making) and benefits......very happy with company but as an employee, obviously have a schedule.  I am working both jobs currently and starting to burn out.  On the new job, I am struggling to get the 1200 lines per day required but on my old.... I can easily get 150-400 lph depending on the dictator but again, it is IC and less lph than the new job.  Obviously, the platform is different and not paid for template headers/footers wheras the old one, I am paid for those.  Now to my question.  Is it just me?  Is it because I really enjoyed the freedom of ic status and therfore seem to be struggling?   Anyone else experienced this before?  Tempted to go back told job and lose benefits/more pay because in the end, maybe it works out be the same pay because of amount of time I spend getting the job done?   Not sure if this makes sense but hoping you can all offer some advice!!  TIA

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I've been an MT for about 20 years - 7 years with MQ.  I used to do on average about 300+ lines per hour on my primary and made a pretty decent living.  With ASR, I've gone down to an average of about 239 lines per hour.  Plus, they pay us about a penny a line less on ASR after you do a 60-day trial.  I tried quitting the ASR, but if you do that, all you get is the really crappy dictation, so the ASR becomes the lesser of two evils. 

My theory is that, since the ASR system apparently learns as we make corrections, that MQ is going to keeping sending it to us while we teach the system.  Then, when the ASR system has learned all it can and is doing perfect work, they'll ship all the work to India and pay them (the Indian ME's) 2 cents a line to edit it. 

If I were you and I were making a decent living doing regular transcription with a high line rate, I would not consider ASR.  I think the only ones who make any money at the MT's who did not produce huge amounts to begin with!! 

I would NEVER recommend MQ.  They're all about the bottom line and I guarantee, MQ ASR will be going to India -- just give the machine enough time to learn. 

I heard back from a position I applied for.  The person is asking me about what I want in an MTSO & I thought I'd share: 

No micromanagement.  I will work the hours I say I will work and if I’m doing so, leave me alone.

I don’t want to hear about everyone else’s mistakes in a nasty e-mail where you threaten to dock everyone’s pay.  Address the issue with the individual.

No demanding I work overtime & then being unwilling to pay extra.  If you ask me in a civilized manner I will see what I can do to help.

No new and creative ways to rip the MT off.  I don’t care about your VBCs.  I want to be paid for my time and typing – including templates and spaces.

A company which pays on time.

Low ESL, while I can do ESL it doesn’t mean I should have to do so continuously because everyone else has cherry-picked or they just can’t do it – they need the practice, I don’t.  While it’s true I can make money on ESLs because they tend to say the same thing over and over, when they don’t, they are a royal pain in the @ss.

Pay equal to my experience level.

State of the art equipment – No DOS!  No cumbersome software wasting MY time looking up patient demographics.

I think I might prefer ER or clinic, I can make more money with those than with op notes, even though they pay less per line.

A company that DOES send positive e-mails and keeps its MTs up-to-date with feedback from the accounts and abreast of latest terms.

It's really difficult to move from one platform to another at this company.  It's almost impossible, actually.  There must be a lot more to it than we know.  Maybe their profit is somehow connected to all MTs on one platform staying on that platform regardless of whether or not they have work?  I know it sounds really stupid, though.

Since everyone is an employee, and US Labor laws should still apply, I wonder if any of the MTs who lost work on EditScript, who they won't move to Dictaphone, have bothered to file with unemployment for reduction of work.  I think the unemployment office calls this partial unemployment or something like that.

Just don't.  If you think you are bored out of your gourd, treated like a factory worker and unappreciated now while you're doing MT, becoming a QA person is worse.

The QA jobs are production-based in some form also, even the hourly jobs.  You are expected to do XX amount of jobs per hour or per day and be on the system at XX:XX and off at XX:XX.  Believe me.  You'll see the same people sending their work to you to fix or do EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  It's really a thankless job and at least with MT, you are the master of your own ship, you are responsible for your own work, lines and jobs.  It's just something to think about.

Do they hire only employees or are there IC/SE possibilities as well?

What platform do they use?  Did you get to set your own hours/days?

You said they started you at a decent line rate, was it more than 9 cpl and are you an employee or IC/SE?  I know that the line rate is affected by this.

Thanks.

I am an IC with Medquist and my base requirement is 4000 lines per pay period (paid twice monthly).  This is also required to qualify for reimbursement of a second phone line.  An important thing to remember with MQ, however, they are very office-oriented, meaning that each office sets many of their own policies. 

Been running out of work and looking for something to make up for the lost income.  Does anyone know which companies are hiring PT or PT/IC status?  Any info would be greatly appreciated. 

Does anyone know of a company who is hiring PT status where you don't have to work as an IC? The taxes are just a pain to take care of and I would like to continue a PT job but just havent found a company offering anything but IC status.