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Thinking about jumping ship

Posted By: Diskriter opinion on 2007-07-13
In Reply to:

MQ is making some poor decisions and I am debating whether to stay on for the ride and see if things are better once it is bought out, or just go somewhere else.  I was looking at Diskriter...does anybody have any experience with this company, and if so I would love some opinions on it.  TIA!!




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Jumping ship
I agree with you on the panic thing, just went to VR about 2 months ago and it is definitely not what was presented to me. I am looking into LPN courses, a year and a half, will make better money than I am now, and keep doing VR on the side. The VR money would qualify for pocket money for sure.
Not flaming you, but where would you ship to? Might be jumping
zz
From what Ive heard with everyone jumping ship
there of late, they must need MTs pretty badly. Don't ya think its time for them to regroup and make some changes for the better?
I'm not planning on jumping ship, either. sm
The stress of changing companies is far too much for me that the stress of working more to pay the added cost. Less strain on the nerves to stay and just put in some extra time.
I don't plan on jumping ship

I've been there long enough to know that there are ups and downs in work and it happens all over. VR is not bad, could be better, but I like it.


I'd rather be out of work for a week or two than 4 months like I was with my local hospital. There may be better jobs out there but I'm not looking.


FYI: I'm basically sole provider for us, too. It gets tough at times but I try to roll with the punches.


With everyone jumping ship to work for TransTech

I agree... is it worth panic and jumping ship?
From what I hear since around Christmas, different MT companies reported increase on open enrollment. This is why I got the job with TT. Now, I find that the rates have gone up and my husband does not have a job which offers insurance, so I have to provide it for the family. I just left a company where I worked pretty much for the insurance and had maybe 900 bucks left over for the month take home. TT's insurance rates are still lower than that was and they went up.
So, I say to myself today, is it worth the panic, stress, and jitters I am having today? How do I know if I go somewhere else it will be as good a company with the opportunity to make better money than anywhere I have been aside from a hospital. Even hospitals are not offering insurance they are taking per diem, if at all, probably IC etc. so they don't have to pay benefits.
I have been thinking about it all since yesterday. I decided I am going to have a mantra today to myself and I will say, hang in there to myself all day. I have resolved not to jump ship at all. This company does give us the ability to make more money, and I will work more time to make up for the difference in insurance costs because I know I can here. They have the work, they pay fair, and they give me the confidence to do so. Anywhere else well, fire to frying pan, you know.
So, I wish everyone luck and if you are stressed today you are not alone. I am making sure for myself and our security in my home, that I will not allow myself to make any rash decisions. Thanks for listening. And hang in there.
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.
Thanks. I definitely will. I just don't want to be jumping the gun.
But the posts are also right about getting or not getting riled up. No sense on coming here and worrying. Might easily just worry at home quietly. :)
I think we did stop a few, but on the whole, they are jumping at it!
:(
and I'm saying get facts before jumping, so what?
slow down, be smart, line something up in case and research the issue.

crap happends sometimes, sometimes not. make and educated decision.


and I'm saying get facts before jumping, so what?
slow down, be smart, line something up in case and research the issue. Things happends sometimes, sometimes not. make and educated decision. That is what I would do. you would up and quit. No problem.
Jumping up and down on my soapbox

Yes, doesn't it give you a warm and fuzzy feeling to see exactly how much our government protects its citizens. NOT!


Not only us MTs, but hundreds of other jobs have been outsourced so that CEOs and other parasites can make big profits even though the quality of service has taken a nosedive.  Anybody try to talk to people from Dell Computer, for example? I just say I can't understand a word you are saying and call me back when you find sonebody who can speak English. 


jumping jobs
Let me guess - you're trying to leave MQ? Look at the number of MTs they have now and the number they had a few years ago. That shows you that most MTs that left are not going back and are happy where they are. If you have an offer from a reputable company that has been around for a while I'd take it, jump in with both feet, and not look back. From your post it sounds like you have more to fear from your present situation than this unknown. There will be some adjustment as you get used to a new platform and new dictators and there will probably be times when you wish you hadn't changed, but just remember that once you were new at your current company and probably felt the same way before you got used to it. Pretty soon it will all be second nature again.
No jumping through hoops for me.

Hi PAM: 


Upon reading your post, my first thought was that is a very cynical way to look at our industry, but then I got to thinking about my paycheck for my present company and how little I make for how hard I work.  Then something clicked in my brain and now I totally agree with you.  You are right -- we are slave labor for the MTSO's who probably make tons of money from our hard work.  Well I am about retirment age and probably will not be working that much more.  I have warned people against this job.  You can no longer make a decent living as an MT and that is a fact.  fortunately for me, I have other sources for paying my bills.  Otherwise I am sure I would have been homeless a long time ago.   Someday there will be no good MT's around and then who will do their work?  Oh I am sure they will find somebody, not necessarily good quality and maybe not a dedicated worker with bad attitude, but that is probably what these companies deserve after all. 


 


Call me totally disillusioned with being an MT.    


Same here, another day spent jumping from one..sm
account to another trying to get my lines.  My primary does not have enough crumbs to keep a mouse alive!  I keep on keeping on but am actively looking for another job now. 
Better companies out there. Lot of acct jumping. Low pay. nm

Congress is jumping in (finally)
Claiming the FDA has been slow to act on this CRISIS!

People criticize activists like PETA all the time, but they have been warning about this issue for a long time.

Apparently people only start to pay attention to (activists) when an issue hits home...
Spheris interview, not jumping up and down

Just had an interview with Spheris. I currently work for MQ, so am naturally looking at what other options are out there currently. I've read some of the posts on Spheris and I have to say a few things stike me a little funny. I guess you know a recruiter is good at her job if she is good at working her way around the questions instead of answering the questions! I asked about work flow and running out of work. She basically didn't say the work flow runs low but it's not that it NEVER happens and that there is no downtime pay for lack of work. Sort of evasive if posts stating running out of work is a problem anymore. I wanted to know the line rates, high/low anything, and she said she could not give me that information!! Ok, you want me to consider you as an employer without all the info but you want me to fess up anything? Why is this a big secret? The wage that low that they have to try to sucker you in before they will tell you it sucks? If you think you might try to start me at 6 cents/line let me know, we can save a lot of time! She wants to start me on a clinic account because I havn't done operative reports. So lets waste all your other acute care experience? I'd rather hoped to be moving forward in my experience base than moving backward. On top of that, you can't even be considered for any changes for 6 months! If you hire on part time, you can't go full time for 6 months either. Many downfalls it would seem.


I've had a couple other interviews in the past few weeks. The outlook just doesn't seem very appealing.Why is it there is no medical Transcriptionist labor union and/or why one can't be started? I would think it would help stop a lot of mistreatment and outsourcing and protect our interests as we need someone to help out in this department since we are all home, alone.


where i live, everybody is jumping in front of
trains right and left, at an average of about 1-2 per day. that sure tells you where our heads are at in this country, huh? at least here, they cover you up afterward and dont go publishing the gory details. but maybe if we all hadnt been so screwed these past few years, it wouldnt be coming down to this.

and now the commuter trains are always late.
jumping in front of trains
and now the commuter trains are always late.

you are hilarious! i nearly choked on my coffee when i read this!
If by flex, you mean jumping through hoops,
yes, I flex.  I wouldn't have any work otherwise.  It is all on their terms if I want to get a paycheck. 
Are we in the same skinking ship?
x
You will "jump ship"... ???
That's the chance you take for IC status.  There is no loyalty.. it's a CONTRACT position with no gaurantees.  You aren't required to commit to a schedule, they can't ASK you for a schedule - if you don't feel like working, you don't have to.  That's the perks.  An employee can't do that.  On the flip side, the perk of being an employee is that they come first.  They have to comply with a schedule, they are REQUIRED to work even if they don't feel like it.  You might want to do your homework on IC status.  If a company doesn't give the full time employees the work when it's slow, then there is a problem.  If you are worried about special treatment - you should then become employee status.  You don't have to take the benefits.  Some companies will even pay better if you don't take the insurance. 
Jump ship
Their pay plan is horrible to work with. The bonus is based on your QA score, if I'm not mistaken from the month previous and that goes through the whole next month. So if you have a bad month, it will haunt you for the next month!
I jumped ship too. (nm)
.
I jumped ship

glad I did. 


jump ship now
you won't be sorry. 
Yay! Here's to hanging onto the ship!
nm
Sinking ship?
Noticing where I work several accounts no longer sending work...very few new accts also this year.  It's a medium sized company, not huge, so this worries me.  Anyone who has worked for a co that has fell apart, I wonder what some signs were?  A little nervous here!!!! 
sinking ship
Could be that they are sending offshore instead......I am hearing that more and more companies are doing this (especially the medium to smaller ones) because of lower rates.    Not a rumor but just a thought.  
More info on the ship
No, it's not that company.  I do QA and haven't seen anything that looks like offshore work, and I worked for another company previously where I did do QA for offshore - you can tell that stuff a mile away.  There's been a shift in mgmt and I just wonder if clients aren't as happy, sales maybe not as strong???  I don't know. I have a job now and it's a good one but I would also like information about what's going on other than what everyone is doing wrong, you know what I mean! :)  I was just hoping people who have experienced this might have some other things to look for.......
Yes! Working for CyMed and quite happy. No jumping
from account to account.  The rare times I run out of work, there is other work available, but that's the only account jumping.  Platform wonderful! People great! Tech support fantastic!  I made more money years ago, but I have found that is a universal problem with MTing.  Overall, I'm very pleased. 
Going from MQ at this point in time to Spheris is like jumping from the sm
frying pain into the fire.  Don't go there!!!!!!!
jumping boards making trouble now?
get off before I tell the moderator on you LOL
I know, but it's hard to leave. I'm afraid of jumping
out of the frying pan and into the fire.
You are very fortunate. As I say, my days of jumping are over. I agree with you 100% but some
people need to do that to keep their jobs or good standing.  I am at a point now I dont need to do that but if you think companies dont love that you are wrong.  They love the MTs that marry their jobs, work holidays, work weekends, work on a second notice, jump into backup accounts that you dont know to help out bla bla.  They love it.
Couldn't you just ship it back yourself?
Fedex or UPS could probably ship it back for $30-40, is my guess.
Interesting opinion, Ship... sm
You say you've never used a C-phone but you know all about them! I've been using a C-phone for 15 years and LOVE IT! The other posters are correct: Sound quality is excellent. Easy to adjust speed, volume and tone. My hospital provides a toll-free call-in number so it costs me NADA to work. I have only one phone line to begin with but it's not a problem. If anyone needs to reach me, they call my cell #.
Why did so many MQ employees jump ship? sm
I have heard made mention on here numerous times about the exodus of transcriptionists from Medquist..  Am curious why it happened?  Medquist from what I remember from years ago used to be THE place to work.  What happened?  Did they start sending work overseas or something?
Might as well rock the sinking ship.
nm
I think you are right, but if us Americans jumped ship as soon as
it gets rocky, they would sink, but we hang on and on and wait for it to get better and then it doe not!
Just wondering if people are jumping in to work extra sm
since it is the last pay period before Christmas? Just a thought.
they don't tell you because many will jump ship and they will be short-staffed. SM
Maybe not all, but the majority of companies will not tell their employees when they lose accounts, outsource, etc. They are a little bit smarter than to chance losing a large number of employee. But they won't hesitate to dump you without notice. Unfortunately, it's called corporate business.
They will use the hospital MTs for samples, then ship account
@
Needing reasons not to jump ship

It is hard to get a sense of things working at home... just want to know if there are any MTs at Transtech who do not plan to jump ship, or if I need to start worrying and go too?  I am also wondering who the TT people went to after they jumped ship.  I have sent numerous inquiries out and no answer.. could it be the market is flooded right now with resumes because of the recent VR situation?


Another reason I ask is that I believe TT is a strong company and I have been very happy there.  Yes, I have had to be very flexible, but I have not yet run out of work and still make good money, benefits, etc.  Why, however, are TT MTs any different than the more than 60 percent of MTs who have already gone to some type of VR at their company such as the people at Webmedx who are still happy, and others. It would be nice to get different viewpoints here... my instinct is to say keep with the TT, and work it all out because the company is strong... and most other companies if not are with VR will go there too someday!  I am the only source of income for my family and need to know what is going on out there in the world! Thanks in advance for your opinions. 


Quit jumping on people who make that statement. Doubt she is
xx
Waiting for "new pay plan" to come out to see if I need to jump ship (sm)

I am VERY disappointed with the Docuscribe program.  Making about 75-100 lines less per hour than I did before (on the same account).  From what everyone else is posting, it doesn't get much better.  They should easily be able to pay their legal fees for the lawsuits out of what they are saving on our wages. 


 


Have been checking into other options, but am hoping this new pay plan and more practice with this program might make me want to stay.  Been there so many years now I hate to change, but money is money. 


We didn't all jump ship, some just talk louder
and more frequently than others. They do offshore, but not much. I can transcribe 200 lines per hours and about 325 per hour with speech recognition. I am not a fast typist. I started a job with a different company recently to see if it would be better, and it's horrible. The new job is one of the companies that some MTs rave about. Medquist is a lot better. Some people had a bad experience at Medquist and don't want anyone else to do well. It justifies their leaving if we're all miserable. Well, I'm not miserable and refuse to let a job define my happiness. I make a very good paycheck at Medquist, and when my shift is over, I put the job aside and focus on other things.
Softscript ALWAYS has ads for people -- that ship will sail again if you miss this one. sm
I think the clinic job sounds great -- congrats to you on finding something good.
uh, and you did a little throat jumping yourself there - mail-order bride? broom closed?
.