TransTech is not being loyal to their MT's, so you have made a great decision
Posted By: TT low/no work regular basis now on 2009-06-07
In Reply to: Thanks for your comments, yes this does help a lot. - The OP
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 !@!
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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
They have not had ICs in 5 years but the decision was just recently made to have PT employees. sm
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.
Also, if MTSOs want MTs who are loyal, hardworking, and take great pride in their jobs by truly ....
dedicating themselves to knowlegdge and producing correct, Grade A reports, then how about paying us as the highly-trained, skilled, hard-wokring, tecnical, workers we are....we are expected to always stay abreast of every medical procedure, drug, medical instrument, operatative procedure, and special procedures, in every specialty (especially for those of us doing acute care and surgical, also radiology/nuclear medicine), we must update references, computes, learn new platforms, train our ears to decipher the SLOPPIEST, LAZIEST, RUDEST dictating physicians, not to mention all the various dialects and accents from all over the world, have superior knowlegein grammar, punctuation, and style....there are highly-paid executives who cannot keep up with what we do, honestly. We have sold ourselves short for way too long, back when I first came home out of hospital, I was lucky to get 6.5cpl, back in 1994, doing all acute care, had 7 different hospitals, we were one of the first live systems. I was out of work, and after getting my associates, being a part of the AAMT (who never helped me personally), 28 years of in-house training, radiology, surgery, etc., it took me months to get someone to pay me what my knowlege/dedication/experience warranted, I still had MTSOs offering 6 and 7 cpl......what??? and I am an IC right now! I finally found an MTSO who is paying 12cpl, and I work my tail off for her, love the company, but I still believe by and large that we are being fed CRUMBS OFF THE TABLE. How do I know? I have a friend who has a company with 75 MTs, I see what she bills and what she pays, and I also know what other companies are making off our backs. Not all MTSOs, to be sure, but most. And remember MTSOs, a lot of us old-timers who were trained in hospital and college, are going to retire, if you want to attract really good young MTs for your company, you had better take a better look at your bottom line and what you are investing in...IMHO!
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.
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 made some great points here.
MTs do not have to work all night just to have a job. There's nothing wrong with wanting to work certain hours or certain shifts. Besides, my favorite shift is 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., which translates to 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the MTSO I work for. There's no need to work 12-15 hour shifts if I can get my required lines plus bonus done in 6-8 hours.
I think the OP is just unhappy and trying to feel superior by dogging other people.
WMX is a great company to work for. Made
nm
Is there good money to be made at Transtech? nm
nm
Doing great! Made more money in one week at TT than I did in a whole month
at previous job!
You made a good choice. The staff is great, program simple. Welcome! nm
x
TransTech sounds great
It sounds like I'm getting a good deal then. I've been working for Cymed for the past 9 or 10 months and have pretty much been happy, but I heard that Transtech was one of the better companies out there, so I decided to apply yesterday, and this morning I had an email telling me to call them, and they offered me a position right away. I didn't even have to take the test.
TransTech is great to its employees like that
I had the same experience working with TT. They are really great to their MTs because they make it clear there (my supervisors especially :) that the happier we are the better we do for us, the company, and the hospital and patients.
If we worry or get upset, our production goes down then we worry more and onward.
They have been around the block and are very wise I believe in treating each and every MT as important...and in return they have our loyalty and our hard work! I love working with them... and am grateful to have found such a great company and people. Glad you are not worrying anymore and congrats on relaxing!
TransTech is a great company. I don't find that they have any more ESL's than any other
company. The pay is good (not great, not bad), the benefits are affordable. For me, the best thing is that I feel I am treated with respect. They are great people who care about us. Overall, this is the best jobs I have had in years. I would highly recommend them.
Transtech has great people but work has been low for 5 months...nm
nm
it is one thing to be loyal, but ..
you have bills that cannot wait and probably a family to feed.
And you will stay loyal to them while they RIP YOU OFF???
What kind of loyalty does such a business deserve from you? That's the kind of attitude that allows management to rip off its workers in the first place. Don't complain, be loyal to us, be nice, take those pay cuts and LIKE THEM!! If you don't, well, you are DISLOYAL!!! What nonsense.
And trying to convince folks like you that there are some companies (many, actually), that don't deserve your misplaced loyalty is like teaching a pig to sing: It is totally useless and really pisses off the pig.
Take those rose-colored spectacles off and look at the world around you. Just a suggestion, of course.
Loyal to HTS - they've treated me well
I have no concern as to your credentials. I speak solely of my experience with HTS.
Let me address some of your facts. You state: Not enough tech support (not available evenings or weekends My experience: They have been available to me 24/7 for ten years. You state: No raises. My experience: Frequent raises. You state: ..their hands are tied. My experience: What does this even mean? I have never experienced anything along these lines. If there is a problem, they resolve it. Period. You state: Many people in this organization are related to the current owner (red flag). My experience: Again, what?? I know many of them, and of those I know none are related to one another, let alone the owner. Spare us your red flag. You state: The current owner makes it a habit to bash the prior owner, tell you all sorts of dirty laundry, goes on and on about how she cannot afford to give raises, yet she's managed to dwindle down this pay off mighty quick. It's an attitude thing. My experience: One of the nicest women I have every worked with/for. Very considerate of her MTs and their personal needs as well as professional. It IS an attitude thing. On both sides of the equation. You state: There is not always work. My experience: Never, ever have I not been able to work in ten years. Never. They accommodate me around every turn. If my main account is low, I can request another account and that request is fulfilled immediately. You state: (re: tech guys)..their hands are tied based on minimal programs and/or education. My experience: I should be so lucky as to have a fraction of their knowledge. You state: The owner wanted me to stay. My response: Why? No MT is indispensible. You state: The problems with HyperType are solely due to how the company is run. My experience: No clue what this refers to - not enough work? not enough money earned? tech? no embroidered golf shirts? To posters Looking and Leigh - I wish you the same success I have had with HTS. There are many MT companies out there, obviously, offering many different packages that may or may not suit your needs. Hypertype is a well-run company that has never come up short in any regard in my experience. Rest assured that if you chose to work with HTS and keep up your end of the deal in terms of providing quality transcription, you will be appropriately compensated and have the pleasure of dealing with some really great people.
Loyal Transcend employee
Everything Liz is saying is true. I have worked for just about every transcription company out there and Transcend is the best by far. Please don't be worried about outsourcing of work to India...that hasn't impacted my ability to get enough work at all. A very small % is sent overseas, and this happens in almost all of the national transcription services. They mostly provide us with 3rd shift coverage when there aren't enough American MLS to meet turn-around times. The only thing that will keep you from getting enough work is not being willing to work on all work types and all accounts, or not wanting to adjust your shift/days to accommodat workflow. Please try to keep an open mind and positive attitude about Transcend. I wouldn't still be here after 8 years if this wasn't the best transcription company out there.
I'm an IC, I adhere to a close to set schedule, am loyal and the first day that I
hear employees get preferential treatment over ICs, I'll jump ship. I am an IC because my husband has better health benefits and they are cheaper than my company. We still have line counts to make just like employees and bills to pay, etc, plus we don't get vacation, etc, so need to work steadily just to keep up if we do need to take a day off or are off sick.
What do you mean not loyal to their employees? please give details
I would not want to work for a company that is not loyal, but in what way are they not loyal?
I agree 100%. People should know better, but those of us are who loyal will remain so.
nm
Loyal to scammers & sweatshop labor?
We all know they aren't the slightest bit loyal/appreciative/aware of, any of their employees. To believe that is to be REALLY naiive.
I do believe your loyalty is displaced. No MTSO or national are loyal to MTs
even though they claim to be. Loyalty is earned just like respect. This is a business just like any other business. If one company cuts pay, takes away health insurance, etc, why should any person or MT be loyal to that company? If promises are made and then broken or lies are told, why should any MT be loyal to that MTSO or company?
On the other hand, yes, if the MTSO or national and their people take care of the MT and provide her/him continuous work flow, as promised, pay on time, and work together with an honest and respectful relationship, then, yes loyalty should be mutual and reciprocating.
For you to just come on here and claim MTs should be loyal to company is very improper of you!
Ok, those are my cents worth! Have a good night!
MTSO not loyal friend, relative. Best not to treat
ms
lots of office problems, not loyal to empls, unworkable
.
I've been loyal to MDI for 13 years and planned to finish my career here. I
can't even begin to express my dismay, disappointment, and feeling completely blind-sided and slapped across the face by this after a decade plus of Dorothy always saying she had too much integrity to EVER offshore, and now she's going to be in charge of sales and marketing TO offshore. My mind is still reeling. So not sure what you mean by loyal. The MDI I've known and been loyal to for over a decade no longer exists. Now I've just been left sitting here stunned wondering how she could do such a 180, or if it was just a facade all along.
Webmedx fits that bill, great company, great benefits, great pay and always on time. 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.
Great company, great boss, great account!!!nm
x
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!
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