thank you. I already knew but this validates that I made a wise decision last year.
Posted By: gacmt on 2007-01-09
In Reply to: This is ridiculous - Ima MT
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.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
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)
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!
Post QUICK reply
Name:
Subject:
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.
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.
my first year I made 16k. Doubled that second year. Going on year 6 with (sm)
two local accounts I earned 23,000.00 and a national I earned 35,400... 58,400 this year. Don't ask me how many hours, though, I really have no idea. I'm pretty motivated. (When people ask me how many hours I work a week I reply as many as it takes I'd say 40-50/week. I am also a fitness instructer and personal trainer, about 5 hours a week or so. Decent money (sometimes under the table!) but mostly I just do it for fun and to be social and wear cute work-out clothes.
that first year was a rough one... but I consider it part of my education.
I'm pretty motivated.
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.
I have ALWAYS made more than the year before as an MT sm
I thought I had topped out at $30K, but no, I made $33K, surely THAT was the top. No, then I turned around and made $36K. I thought...maybe $40K was reasonable? Will do better than that this year.
I keep waiting for it to stay the same or drop, but not yet, not in 15 years.
I'm not a psychologist and I made nearly that last year.
So... maybe don't believe everything you read works both ways.
By the way, I work for a national and do not have my own accounts so it is possible to make that much with a national.
My QA score has never been less than 99%.
It is possible but it takes a lot of hard work and getting organized.
I have more than 1 job, I am an editor, and I made 106,274 last year
xx
I made excellent money in my very first year but ...
... that was about 13 years ago, and it was with a local MT who needed help for all her own accounts, all easy family practice office visits. She paid 9 cents gross line, didn't use a counter, just said to manually count the lines on each page (!) but was always at least $5 a page. We didn't use expanders, had no platform, just used a dictaphone machine hooked up to their office and just typed as it came in, 24-hour turnaround time, and anything that came in after 5 p.m. that day was considered the following days' work. It was great. Too bad the big corporations spoiled it for all the little guys out there like me and my mentor. I haven't made anywhere near what I made that first year since because the big corps ate up all the local accounts around here and won't pay more than 8 cents a line for clinic work. Sucks.
HA! First year made $30,000, that is working six months SM
for hospital and the next six months for small MT office with a very big account. Oh, those were the days!
I only check on here once a day (was feeling like it was an addiction). Last year, I made sm
$52,468 on my 1099. I am at $1.25 per report. I do work 8 hours M-F and 4 on Sunday. I average 18-22 reports an hour. I know that they are hiring for 3-11:30 on a really good account right now and 2-10 on another. My lead emailed me this morning to ask if if I knew anyone who might be interested.
This is true..Put it this way. I made $45,000 this year but worked 3 jobs and at least 60
hours a week and sometimes up to 80. I have no desire to do that anymore. I'd be happy with $35,000 working 40 hours a week. What a dream job.
Go for it. I made the move a little over a year ago and have not looked back.
Plenty of work, nice people, decent pay. All in all, one of the best decisions I have made.
I "only" make $1.15 per report and have made over $62,000 this year so far. I only work 8 hou
5 days a week and pick up one 4-hour weekend shift a month. It depends on the account, your company, the report length, your expanders, normals, etc. I made $1.43 with Edix before I switched and even though I took a per report loss, I make more money in the past 2 years than ever with Edix. I rarely run out of work, which is a HUGE factor. I know that the company I work for is both praised and condemned on this board, but I am happy at KS.
wise
Thank goodness I am not the only one. I do not mind being on top of things, but it just seems anymore like you said that work is trickling in for UC versus where it used to be a good amount even with being up to date. I know we had President's Day last week, but even so we should be back up full steam already. I have a very hard time believing that they only have so much work considering what a huge facility they are.
you are wise to ask.
also, i think companies that have direct deposit are more generally more trustworthy.
You are VERY WISE, old owl.
nm
Wise of you.....
Was a joke when I was there. Got smart and got out!!!!!
you are wise! nm
x
Old and Wise
Thank you for understanding. Things were really crazy last week--lots of family trauma and drama, etc. Guess I was more tired than I thought. Anyway, I am praying that MTDays can find a good solution or catch a break. It makes me sad to see other MTs going through such difficulty. If she were in California, I could help.
Probably not too much different terminology wise, sm
but, as you know, differ from dictator to dictator. There wouldn't be any pediatrics in internal medicine.
I think it is also wise to keep in mind.....
You get what you pay for. Wouldn't you agree? Bottom line, if you want the best, you will have to pay for the best. I can't get a Porsche for the price of a Saturn, unless there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with it. I think if I were in charge I would definitely have to think, what are MY goals as a business owner.
I don't think its wise to be naming sm
your account on this board.
Okie dokie. You got it, old wise one!
Might want to come back down to the real world and have some fun. Enjoy life!!!
yes they do, everything you need computer wise they supply. sm
very friendly user platform, pay always on time and correct, great bosses, great benefits, great sound quality, great QA people, all around a great place to work. Come on over to Webmedx. You will be glad you did.
Well, it sounds good pay wise, but (sm)
if you are not used to working the night shift, you may have difficulty. It always sounds good, like, I'll go to bed when I get home, but in reality, do you go to bed now when you're done working? Probably not. It may take you several hours to unwind, if you are like me, and by that time, you would have to be up with your daughter. I have seen several people over the course of my MT career try to do nights when they are not night people and it always ended up badly. Not to say it won't work for you, but just keep this in mind.
I think that is great. Very wise choice.
xx
It can be a toss up money-wise...
I made great money as an MT, and then went to QA. When I left QAing I was at 20/hour. I used to make a lot more $$ MTing. The benefits of hourly are that you know what you are going to make, and $20 an hour was OK for me. However, I hated QAing. As the other poster stated, it was so not worth the horror of the entire job. No $$ can make up for the psychological damage of QAing when MTs are geared to hate you. I also could not stand fixing up other's work, etc., and listening to nothing but the bottom of the already slimy barrel. Maybe it was just the company I was with, but the MTs just didn't give a darn anymore, and QA got stuck with just a mess and mgmt didn't care. Very stressful job. Returned to MTing and $$ is about equal now, but I have the joy of MTing back again, which is priceless. I looked for other QA jobs for a while, but heard that most pay by the line now, which is totally not worth it in my experience. MTs most times are underpaid, and I think QA all the time are underpaid! LOL. Good luck in your search.
for your wise and sagely advice NM
NM
You are wise not to trust Transcend
Look where trusting MDI got all of us......
IC Status...is it worth it money wise?sm
If the company does not take out the taxes and you have to handle it yourself, do you find yourself making less than if you were employee status? I am trying to figure out if it would be worth my while to take an IC position or just look for a flexible part-time employee position. I need the flexibility of schedule but don't want a big portion of my pay going to taxes either. Any thoughts?
What are top 5 companies size-wise? MQ still largest? nm
,,
Until OUR government quits making it so lucratime tax wise to outsource...
these companies get great tax breaks to outsource. Google it, it will amaze you.
It still goes back to our government making it lucrative tax wise to outsource
NM
Would ya'll say that Medware's family ins coverage is relatively reasonable cost-wise? nm
xx
What speech/editing platform do you find the most profitable (money-wise for the MT, of course)?
What company uses it, please. Detest Dictaphone Exspeech. DQS was very user friendly. Any others?
Amphion hires part-time - they're very strict schedule-wise though
Since part time is so hard to find these days your options are limited, so if you don't mind working for a company that is a stickler for strict schedule adherence, I say try Amphion.
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!
|
