Glad it works for you... but I think you need to raise your rate and at least do a dime! nm
Posted By: cali girl on 2007-02-05
In Reply to: great motivational tool - wizenmt
nm
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- great motivational tool - wizenmt
- Glad it works for you... but I think you need to raise your rate and at least do a dime! nm - cali girl
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Rate raise
I am going to do mine. Have not done so for the past 3 - 4 years and so going to try to do 1 cent raise per mine. Hopefully they won't complain too much but I still pick up and deliver and so it hits me hard as my paper has also gone up. So we will see. Usually when I do this they back off a little and don't dictate so much for a month or so but then it goes back to normal. Let me know what you are doing. I am in Oregon. Been doing this for 16 years and I think I started out at 8 and now at 11 to 12.
Patti
RATE RAISE
Since you are working for him as an IC and have informed him of the rate increase, just bill him for it. That is what I do. If they didn't accept it they probably would have spoken to you by now. Smile!
As IC, dont ask for raise. Tell him what your new rate
2
Easy. Raise your rate.
x
If IC - just raise your line rate
I have been around a while and have never heard of a small MTSO making that much off of an IC -- larger companies that have to pay benefits, for computers, QA and so on, perhaps but not a small MTSO Sounds like one I did work for a little while and then decided I was doing everything and being paid nothing, but she only got 4 cpl off of me. When she decided not to invoice out on time and I did not get my checks, that is when I left. But again, you are the boss. Also if you have no contract you can contact them directly -- after you quit -- and see if they wish to have you continue with the work or stay with her and start over with someone new. Also you must either be getting paid next to nothing or she is charging an arm and a leg and either way, whatever you bid on the account you will be making a profit.
I have not had a raise since 1994, should I blame Clinton or Bush? At any rate, see inside...
Musky Income Myths
by Alan Reynolds
Alan Reynolds is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute and a nationally syndicated columnist.
Democratic presidential candidates advocating really humungous tax increases -- Howard Dean and Wesley Clark (until he withdrew on Feb. 11) -- appear to have lost ground to two favoring merely enormous tax increases, John Kerry and John Edwards. It would seem to follow the latter two should rethink their plans before challenging the only candidate who thinks tax rates are plenty high enough, George W. Bush. Amazingly, however, the Democrats are pulling out the old "income inequality" card. It worked so well for George McGovern and Walter Mondale.
Business Week says Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards "believe a Democrat can repeal top-tier Bush tax cuts with impunity because income inequality has widened under Bush." Taking a less partisan and more statistically defensible line, the Socialist Equality Party says, "Until the Bush administration, the Clinton years saw the greatest growth in social inequality in American history."
Such claims suggest the top 20 percent, or 5 percent of families, have been collecting a rising share of "our" personal income -- hence "income inequality has widened under Bush." Any candidate who says that has to be lying. The latest available data on income shares is for 2001, and they show no increase in inequality.
The recession was no picnic for top earners: There were 690,000 fewer managerial jobs in 2002 than in 2000. If these cash income figures included capital losses, they would reveal ample pain among "the rich" in 2001-2002. The poverty rate did rise from 9.2 percent to 9.6 percent in 2002, but that was still lower than the poverty rate in any year from 1980 to 1998.
To defend President Clinton from socialist egalitarians, prolonged increases in real output per worker (like 1996-2000) translate into increases in real income per worker. Since there are typically two workers in top income groups and less than one full-time worker in the bottom income group, it is mathematically unavoidable that the gap between two-earner families and no-earner families must grow wider whenever the economy is doing well. Real median income among families with two full-time workers was 43.6 percent higher in 2001 than it had been in 1991 -- an annual increase of nearly 4.4 percent a year. Families with no full-time workers did not do that well.
Most important, it is simply a statistical hoax to make long-term comparisons between the average (mean) income in any top income group with averages in lower groups. That is partly because the upper threshold on the group just below the top rises over time whenever real incomes in general are rising. As a result, increases in general prosperity mean incomes that once would have been large enough to make it into the top 5 percent no longer qualify.
Census figures say the top 5 percent collected 21 percent of all personal income in 2001, up from 20.3 percent in 1993. Measured in constant 2001 dollars, however, a family needed more than $164,104 to be counted among the top 5 percent in 2001, while anything above $136,539 would have qualified in 1993.
So long as that threshold kept rising, the share at the top was almost certain to rise, too. After all, an average of all income above $164,104 is almost certain to be larger than an average of all income above $136,539 simply because all incomes between those two figures were included in the top average in 1993 but excluded in 2001.
For the same reason, it makes no sense to compare long-term growth of average income in any top income group with growth below. Only the top group has no income ceiling, and the lower threshold defining membership in that top group rises whenever incomes in general are rising.
Because only the top group has no ceiling, increases in a small number of very high incomes (e.g., trial lawyers) can make the mean average in the top group rise much more than the incomes of typical members of that group. This is why it is considered misleading to refer to mean rather than median income as "average" in every other case, and why it is particularly misleading in this case.
Rising real income also raised the definition of the "middle class." The lower and upper limits defining the middle three-fifths were $20,262 to $64,241 in 1975 (in 2001 dollars) and $24,000 to $94,150 in 2001. Periodic fables about the "vanishing middle class" miss the obvious: Those who "vanished" moved up.
The main reasons some families earn more than others are not as shocking as politicians would have you believe. Consider these horribly shocking Census Bureau facts about inequality:
Families with two people have incomes at least 3 times larger than families in which nobody works. Median family income in 2001 was $51,407. But that figure combines median income of $21,958 among families with no workers and $66,151 among families with two earners. Among married couples where both work full-time, median income was even higher -- $76,150.
Mature, experienced employees earn at least 3 times as much as they did when they were young apprentices and trainees. Average family income was $16,014 among families in which the household head was younger than 24, but $45,978 when the household head was 45 to 54.
College grads earn at least 3 times as much as middle-school dropouts. For family heads with a bachelor's degree, median income was $78,518; for those with less than a ninth-grade education, median income was $25,077.
If all this rampant inequality strikes you as grossly unfair, you should indeed consider electing politicians promising to do something about it. But they can't really do much unless they promise to take money from two-earner families and give it to no-earner families, to take money from those who go to college and give it to those who didn't bother attending a free high school, and to take money from those who are at an age where they're trying to put the kids through college and give it to those in their early 20s.
The taking half of that policy is a reasonably precise description of who indeed would have their pockets picked under the tax plans of Messrs. Kerry, Edwards (and Clark). In whose pockets the expected booty would actually end up, however, is apt to prove as mysterious as figuring out what Mr. Dean did with all those millions he collected with Internet spam
I'm glad it works for you now
Yea!!!
Oh I see, I'm glad you found a combination that works for you! nm
x
It's the only place I have ever lived.. Great place to retire or raise a family. Low crime rate e
living is pretty easy here. Low stress..
I have friend who works as editor, gets hourly rate and does
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This has not always been the case, hence it hurts more. Merit raise/cost of living raise
dd
The raise you're describing is a merit-raise, - (SM)
and I agree that a worker has to go above and beyond in order to get them. But what doesn't seem to happen in this industry is COST-OF-LIVING raises, which should automatically come to workers either in small increments yearly, or in larger increments every 2-3 years. Without wages that are at least somewhat *realistic* (and modern-day MT wages are a pathetic joke), it's no wonder quality workers are harder and harder to come by, and much harder to retain. An MT should not have to work sweatshop hours for 7 days a week just to keep their head above water financially.
Gross line, also including blank lines because my line rate is so low. It all works out in the wash.
x
I most certainly never docked an MT a single dime SM
for errors or blanks. That is completely insane (I know companies do it, and my hospital used to do it till I took the helm).
Anybody can anonymously 'drop a dime'
on anyone in this type of situation - relatives, nosy (possibly vindictive) neighbors, a nurse in the ER who doesn't think the doc is doing his duty, store security, people in a public parking lot who only get a license plate number. Obviously the more detailed and specific the information, the more seriously the report will be taken.
Doctors are obligated to report if they suspect abuse and if what the doc dictated led you to suspect abuse, the doc probably did as well. There's just no telling if he actually did follow through on this. Generally, when I have transcribed such a report the doc has actually said that a report would be made to the proper agency. It's right in the report.
The doctor's account of the situation would carry far more weight than yours, especially as you would be unable to give many details. If you decide to make the call, don't forget to block caller ID on it. If you don't subscribe to that feature for all your calls, dial *67 before dialing the number. That way nothing should come back to bite you. It's only self-protection.
The reason I don't tip is because I NEVER have a dime on me. I don't carry cash, ever! I don&#
debit card and it's been like that for 4 years. I use a check or credit card for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!
MTSOs are a dime a dozen, but your kids are not. - sm
I'd have no problem at all postponing the training time with THEM, since they had already done it to ME! The kids are only kids for so long, and I think it would be more important to honor a promise made to them for swimming night, than to be further strung along by the company. The people at your new job are perfect examples of what happens if people grow up not learning to honor their promises & commitments. So in your same shoes, I'd keep my promise to the kids, which will help them to learn to keep theirs, as well. And I'd tell the MTSO what time is convenient for ME to have them train me. They deserve nothing more until they've earned it.
My DH paid every dime of his bachelor's degree working....
36 hours a week and going to school. How did he do it? He didn't get involved in serious relationships because knee he would get sidetracked and wouldn't have the time to devote to school. It also helped that he lived in California where state college tuition is reasonable. For his master's degree, he borrowed the money from his father (only about 4,000) and paid every cent back right away (this was after we were married and had 2 kids).
Nickel and dime accounts/misc charges
I do not nickel and dime my accounts to death. What I charge per line covers my time of delivery, printing, cutting apart chart notes, reruns when needed, etc. If you hit them with this charge and that charge they very well could look elsewhere that just gives one price for everything, all included. Simplicity. Sure just like now I scanned a tape to do a STAT H&P for surgery but the doctor did it on the hospital line and did not write it down as he usually does, yes it took me 10 to 15 minutes but will I charge them NO. WHY because yesterday I made $130 in less than two hours on their account and I received my checks one day after invoicing. I invoice on the 25th, receive check today and it was due until the 1st. And also they treat me like one of the team and appreciate what I do. But you do what you need to do but if you keep it simple without all the extra charges, they will like you better. You have to figure your nonbillable time into your rate. Good luck. Patti
Given their track record, I woudn't give them a dime
They had their chance, and all they did was take advantage of the people they claim to 'represent'.
Charge him an hourly rate. The current rate is
between $15-21/hr. according to your location. If he had to use an independent secretarial service, he would be charged much more. You can look in the Yellow Pages in your area under Secretarial Service and ask them what they charge, then charge accordingly knowing you can back it up.
Full Word is in the Works "Suite," not plain Works.
Works saves files in a different format, but you can open them in Word if you have the correct filter installed.
RIGHT!!! Someone who works 16 hours and someone who works 60 will have a HUGE difference. NM
.
Glad I could help and glad you got your setup going. nm
``
glad to help, glad it worked!
x
MQ raise
My last raise was in 1998. When I asked for one last year, I got one quarter of a cent. Then three quarters of a cent were taken away from me when I started DocQscribe, as I was told I was gonna make so much more money with DQS.
raise
May want to follow up with a phone call, sometimes if they get a lot of email it is easy to overlook them. That's what I do if they don't get back to me as soon as I think they should, anyway :)
getting a raise
How does one go about getting a raise as an independent contractor? I am not even in the same state. Shoud I e-mail or phone and how long should I wait before asking? In the past, I could always ask a co-worker, but my kids are my co-workers now. Does anyone know the correct protocol?
anyone with DSG ever get a raise?
d
Raise
I've been with MQ for a good while and I'm happy (just because my office is awesome), but I'm an intrigued with their production comparisons (ASR vs non-ASR) and interpreting polls (after the first one I sent that they "interpreted," I never sent another).
My theory on raises: Since the ASR rate will be reduced, you already have a "built-in" raise by not doing ASR. This is not to say they won't give raises eventually, but if you ask for one because you are doing the scum, they will say, "Well, the ones who do ASR don't get paid as much."
My advice to you would be to do ASR. Or get a different job because with MQ, this is the future. At least if you can master it and as the ASR improves (you'll get faster), you won't have a continuous diet of bottom-feeder material. That would absolutely drive me crazy. They probably eventually will eliminate all non-ASR'ers anyhow once the system is more refined.
Just total speculation on my part.
raise?
I hope whatever they gave you in the form of a raise compensates for what you have to go through, day in, day out, without any reprieve, and without even a good doc thrown in for good measure. Does it? Was it at least a buck an hour, and preferably two bucks? Or was it two bits? Keep your eyes open, MQGuy. It won't be long before you are OUTTA THERE! (Will the 0.050 cents per line, or whatever paltry sum it was, pay for your psychologist to keep you as sane as you are now?) I wish you luck, and I mean it sincerely. They got you hook, line and sinker.
Do ICs ever get a raise? -sm
I work as an IC for a great company. I have been with them almost 2 years now. I would like a pay raise. As an IC, do I ask for it? If so, how is this approached? I have worked as an IC for almost 10 years for various companies. Some give you a raise, most do not. I would stay with this company either way. TIA
Have been there over 4 yrs and no raise other than
across the board raises that everyone gets, latest being $0.002/line. (No that wasn't a typo, it was actually a very insulting .002cpl). Was told upon hire there would be merit raises. Asked about one after a year of exemplary service with 100% QA and was pretty much laughed at.
pay raise
I was wondering when it is appropriate to ask for a raise? I was thinking around my first year anniversary. Also, how much is usually given? Do they up .5 cpl or 1 CPL? Just curious.
MQ raise?
and how might I ask did you accomplishment the acievement of 2 raises in the past 3 months for MQ?
Wow, I need to ask for a raise! I am 1:2
5 min of dication takes me 10 min to transcribe. If I have to re-listen to something, or look up, it may take 11 minutes.
to ask for a raise?
To make a long story short, I've had this account for 4 years, and am on a salary. At first I didn't think I would make any money since it was a salaried accout, but as it turns out, some days there is much to do and other days there is not as much, so it rather evens itself out, but then there are days when I'm working from daylight until dawn, but those days are rare. Four years ago this was great money. However, the COST OF LIVING has gone up exponentially! I love this account, but it's my sole income; I have no other accounts. Thus far I've been able to make it on this account and prefer to not take on anymore work because, as I previously mentioned, some days there is more work than I want, but it has to be done. It would just make life much more difficult to take on more work for the days that they slam me, which outweigh the light days. My problem is this: I really want to ask for a raise, but afraid to rock the boat. I realize all they can do is say no, but then, once I've mentioned wanting a raise it might plant the seed that I might be moving on if they don't give me a raise, which I have no intention of doing, but how do I tell them that? I can't just say when asking for a raise: "Can I have a raise?" (them) No, you cannot. Me: Okay, just thought I'd ask. I am at a loss as to what to do about this situation. Any advice would be so much appreciated from anyone with experience in such a predicament as this. Thank you very much.
to ask for a raise?
I own the account personally. It is not through an MTSO.
Wow, sounds like you've gotten the really short end of the stick, and I feel so bad for you. I hope you'll get what sounds like a well-deserved raise, or be able to find another company who will appreciate you for what you really do. Good luck to YOU.
Are you asking for a raise or trying to get an
s
What's a raise?
I'll take the one dictator. I haven't gotten a raise the entire time I've been at the company I work at right now (several years) and I never know what will land in my workpool. One dictator by choice? I'd give my pinkie finger for an account like that and gladly look up everything! What a fool.
we will never get a raise
they will just crack the whip harder...work faster, longer, all day long, all night long so you can make more money more money more money. it is a vicious (brain freeze, is that how you spell it)?
Asking for a raise sm
Speaking from experience, this is not time to rock the boat, so to speak. With the economy the way it is, perhaps they will pretend to go along with you and start searching elsewhere. Been there, done it, think it over very carefully!!! Everyone is replaceable, I found that out the hard way after 20 years of faithful service, and they told me I was the best in the state! Be very, very careful unless you think someone else will pick you up right away. Under-bid by 1/4 of a CPL!
can an IC ask for a raise? nm
nm
No, no raise here, either.
I still make the same rate with my local doctors that I did when I started in 2000. With the company I am an IC, I actually make 4 cents a line less, but the work is abundant so I am still thrilled.
It sounds like you are lucky to still have a job where you are. I wouldn't push it. If you are not happy, start looking for other doctors. If you are content where you are, don't rock the boat.
As ICs, no, we never get raises. If I need more money coming in, I raise my production 100 or 200 lines extra a day, improve my shortcuts, push my speed to the limit. There's always room for improvement. If there is not work sufficient enough for you to do more, then take on another local doctor, if you can.
I try to keep myself thinking of the blessings that come with my job, what it allows me to do for and with my family. This is not a profession where we can dwell on what we are not getting, cause we'd all quit, even the employee status MTs.
Ask for the raise
You should ask for a raise...if you have been working there for two years with no raise, no bonuses, and of course, I'm sure you don't get any insurance or anything like that, you definitely deserve a raise...don't short change yourself, you can bet the office raises their office visits, procedures, etc. when things get tough on their end...you deserve a raise, and besides, if you don't ask, you will never know...the worst that could happen is they say no....but at least you asked. I recently asked for a raise, and got it...I work from home as an IC and type for a local doc...I pick up tapes and deliver the transcription, etc., but I got the raise. Even if I worked in the office, I would have asked for a raise.
We as MTs need to get the idea out of our head that we don't deserve a raise...if you're doing a good job, have experience, and do the work that they expect from you...ask for that raise!
no raise??
Cost of living??? Who gets a cost of living raise as an MT? I want that job!!! I have done this for 35 years and no cost of living raise for me. Raises when I was working in a hospital and was a supervisor in the early 1980s and still transcribing and only got raise because my line count increased within a certain period of time. And believe me I was making much more THEN than I can possibly get now, due to no work, and the amount we get paid per line is going down and we still have to work more hours to get that. But I still hang in there. What is to do at 56??
A raise!?!
Heck, I've been taking regular pay CUTS for the last 10 years! They laugh in your face when you ask for/expect a raise.
pay raise - not
Not only are we NOT getting well-deserved raises, but per-line wages are being cut!
You definitely need a raise....sm
I was a Transcriptionist for about 7 months when I got my first raise. I started out at .065 cpl almost 2 years ago. Then 7 months into it I got .075 cpl without even asking. Then when I had been an MT for 1-1/2 years I asked for another raise and got 8 cpl. I am supposed to get another one in June I believe to .085 cpl. I have a very nice boss.
I would ask for a raise and if they wouldn't give one I would look elsewhere for work.
When was your last raise?
Do you get bonuses? Look, I work weekends, and also don't work when I don't feel like it and I still make a decent wage. As an IC, I can pick and choose and who is to say that just because someone doesn't work weekends they aren't going to make any money.
The only thing open on weekends are facilities and hospitals; no clinics. There is a skeleton crew. You are working nights because India has taken the days. So, please come down to Earth a little here. We've all done our time especially the oldies when life wasn't so easy for an MT.
We need to work together and not belittle each other for someone who would like to have weekends off, etc. Some like it hot and some like it cold. There's no real difference there. Some like working weekends, and some like working during the week. There's no harm done, really. It's all the same.
ME rate 80% of baseline MT rate
are you happy with the 20% cut to do ME work or are you going to just do MT work (which will be those dictators that ASR can't do) at your baseline rate?
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