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Be prepared to give a schedule and stick to it.

Posted By: Former PS on 2009-09-27
In Reply to: Pay is low.... - Agree - Former PS

In my personal experirence, I was titled IC but let me tell you, if I was not signed on DURING THE SET HOURS I WAS ASKED TO PROVIDE, EMAILS AND CALLS ENSUED.

IC? Not so much. More like employee without employees, IMO.


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. . . and God forbid you don't stick STRINGENTLY to the schedule!
You know, this is very important! You're not getting paid by the hour, you're not getting paid salary, you're getting paid PRODUCTION only, so what the heck difference does it make if you're getting the same amount of lines while working the schedule or at 2:00 in the morning?????

Pay us by the hour if you want us on a schedule! You can't have it both ways, people.
If you give them a set schedule,
then you are now an employee, not an IC. 
No, you need to give a schedule
They are flexible though. No I don't want to spend my life looking at the computer screen, but find me a company that never runs out of work. I appreciate the fact that I can go back in later to get more lines...it works for me, but maybe not for others.
Also if you did not give a serious schedule when it was due
The place is a wonderful place to work, but you are expected to take your job very seriously. Not playtime. Jobtime.
and will the give us a schedule ? sm
according to the community page recording, for those NOT on Chart Matrix side, the rate will change as you are rolled over to this new wonderful save-the-world-you-are-still-giving-us-the-same-document-we-just-pay-you-a-heck-of-a-lot-less program.  So, are they going to share the schedule with us so we can break it to our budget (or find a new job!?)   Sure would be nice, but not holding my breath.
No, if they give YOU a set schedule you are an employee. sm
It would be the same as if I ran a retail store and hung my hours on the door so my clients would know when I am open and available. The same goes for MT work. All the company is asking is when is your sign open amd when are you closed. Now asking you to commit weekends is YOUR choice and you can obviously say no, but prepared for them to shop somewhere else if you are not convenient for them.
When you are hired you have to give them a schedule
Say you want to start at 8:00 a.m., then you have until 8:00 p.m. to get your lines in.   35 hours is considered FT, so you basically have 5 hours of play time in there.  You do have to clock in and out. 
Does anyone find it interesting how companies want ICs and then give you the schedule you are to
work.  I thought by law you are not allowed to set a schedule for an IC.  Seems to me they are getting the best of both worlds for a whole lot less because of benefits they are getting out of paying and all the things the government requires. 
Yes, pay on time. We give a 2-week schedule. Accounts pretty good

Prepared
You sound like one savvy person. I think any hope that either MDI or Transcend might have for getting trust from MTs would be evaporated with the way this merger was handled. It is obvious that MTs are only things like pieces of equipment. Who knows, someone will invent a faux human with a USB port and they can do away with us altogether. I am still disillusioned that America's most patriotic company could have done this.
They want you to keep your schedule for TAT purposes but will work with you to find a good schedule
I love working there.
Prepared to be bored and much more. sm

I did legal for 9 years. I even went on to get my paralegal degree too. I loved the research, client interviews, etc., but the transcription is boring with a capital B. Tons and tons of formatting and forms as everything is different for each area of law and has to be done just so.


I was good at it, but ended up moving and couldn't find legal. I love MT so much more than legal. So much more interesting and a lot more money.


If you think healthcare is a tough field, wait until you deal with lawyers. If you want to stay at home and If you're going to go legal, study court reporting. That's where the interesting stuff is and the big bucks. Most legal transcription is inhouse so that the lawyers can have you schedule, answer phones, greet clients, take care of their trailing dockets AND do the transcription which they generally crab about if it's not done in a timely fashion even though the phone rings off the hook all day.


And if you work for a lawyer inhouse, buy suits, nice shoes and a briefcase (with an extra pair of nylons in case you get a run) and make sure your car doesn't look bad next to their caddy. They generally don't like that. :)


I did have one really great lawyer I worked for that didn't really care about all of that, but he also didn't really care about paying all that much.


Good luck!


and p.s. be prepared to hear from
*supposed* employees who will tell you it isn't so. They are lying and they are getting paid to lie. They know that American MTs are getting wise to being used by them.
Don't accept anything less than $50K and be prepared

,,,


Be prepared to be let go if you don't comply.
/
How hard is it to be prepared if

your check isn't there for one day? Wow, payday is Monday; if you get it early, great; if not, maybe don't over extend yourself....flame away if you must, but if you are truly living that tightly, maybe another job or backup plan?


Be prepared to run out of work
a lot. Feast or famine. If you're planning to get that $1500 signon bonus, forget it. The indians get all the jobs at night, nary a report left for an American to do.
Be prepared to find
another job.  I don't believe this can be done anonymously, and it will probably also have tax implications for you on past tax returns.
I am prepared not to break the law
Among other things.

Will I need to file past taxes? Yeah. But I've only worked for this company for a year, so it's not that big of a deal for me.

Will it mean I have to pay MORE in taxes? VERY HIGHLY unlikely. However, even if I do, it's worth it to me.

Why? Because I would prefer to stay inside the law.

There are several reasons why it's a Very Bad Thing for companies to willfully misclassify employees as independent contractors. The least of which is that misclassification - on average - costs taxpayers money.

Second, and most importantly, because so many companies are willing to dramatically uneven the playing field ILLEGALLY, it leaves VERY little room for success for an honest company willing to provide quality service and pay their employees accordingly.

Being complicit in the cheating of one company SCREWS the majority of all other transcriptionists.

Are you really so selfish to be a cog in this machine? For what cannot be much more than a few dollars a paycheck, when you start figuring in the tax issue and the lack of benefits?

If we're going to have rules, EVERYONE should have to play by them. Or we should get rid of the rules ... and then see what happens.
Be prepared to go on welfare. (SM)
Most of the regions for Transcend are fairly good but there are a couple that the managers consistently overhire and leave us with no work. My manager and team leads do not care whether I eat or not or whether I have insurance because we have no work, but some of my friends tell me they have more work than they can do, so I guess it is just the luck of the draw. Too bad they keep a couple of bad eggs to make things stinky for some of us. One thing I learned a long time ago - do not complain or you get labeled as a complainer and then the next step is out the door. They are heartless.
If you go to the docs, be prepared to lose your job.

Although how much can that matter if you are not being paid anyway!!!  I personally have never had this happen to me, but I can see where it could cause major problems on many levels (especially if you have automatic bank withdrawals).  I would have to consider - Is it the client's fault?  Is the company not managing money correctly?  Does this happen often? 


It is your employer's place to investigate this problem with the client, not you. I would strongly suggest that you not go directly to the client unless you have reached your limit with the company and no longer wish to be employed by them.  Have they actually broken their contract agreement with you.  If so, then I say it is every man for himself so to speak. 


Sincerely, I do hope you're prepared to work for 8 cpl now
Apparently MDI was one of the companies that paid their experienced MTs pretty well.

With the merge, you'll be making less eventually. If you quit and look for a new job, you'll be making less, way less, than you were making at MDI.

I'm another one who's BTDT, too. I went from making 11 cpl to now making 8 cpl. I tried HARD to find any company, obscure to well known, that will start off more than that. Couldn't find 'em. Probably won't ever go up, either.

Just sayin' that you should be prepared to budget your living costs for the amount of money you'll be missing each month compared to what you were making at MDI. It's awful, I know, been through it. Going to school now to do something else, getting out.
I actually switched from a M-F schedule to a S-T schedule...sm
because of the financial situation.  I was offered a lot better money to work this schedule on a particularly picky account.  I can live with working on Sunday evenings because that is when my 2 teenage kids, also very active in sports, band, church, driving, dating, social life, etc., etc., are vegging on the couch, relaxing for the evening before it all starts again.  It was worth the sacrifice to me to be able to afford all the activities, and it really is not much different than working the M-F shift.  I do have Fridays off to kind of catch my breath while the kids are at school or go and take care of business.  I do not feel I have given up any of my life to work on Sundays.  Most companies will be flexible on the schedule for Sunday because of church, family dinner, whatever.  The way I look at it is later on, I may be able to switch to a M-F schedule if I am willing to give a little now.  Even if I don't, to me it was worth it for the extra money and mommy time I get on Fridays.  I am widowed so I do put a lot of time into my kids.  This is just what works for me.  On the other hand, it is ok to only want to work M-F, there is nothing wrong with that.  You have to do what is best for you. 
I stick to it
While others simply disappear during the day. Its very easy to work a management job and take on another typing job at the same time, or even another management job for another company all within the same hours!!! Dang double dippers, guess they'll be having a wonderful Christmas while I sit here having to put everything on charge cards. I have absolutely no respect for these people and I do know quite a few. I don't talk to them unless I absolutely have to.
Don't quite know where to stick this, but
does anyone know if there are different legalities on this sort of thing depending on who owns the computer that was used; such as, personally owned PC or one owned by the company that has a problem with what was said on it?
Exactly..please stick to the truth.
nm
don't stick by their words
There is way too much of that in this industry.
Of course you stick it out with a smile. Really. That's what I would do. sm
Remember, she probably won't last long and then you one day may have her job. Don't let one person out of other really good ones spoil your new position. If it continues longer than a month or so, go above her head and speak your concerns. She's probably just testing you. You know if you are doing a good job or not, and if you KNOW you are doing a good job, then just take her comments with a grain of salt and continue working. Don't make a huge deal out of QA people who are rude. I swear, if I did that, I would have had over 50 jobs by now! Each and every single company I've worked for (3) have had at least one Grinch of a QA person and at first I would get all upset and then I grew up and realized that they are just grinches and the kind of people who probably really, really dislike themselves, so how can they like anyone else????


This is true - the IRS can stick it to them
Contact an accountant or the IRS directly (slow time of year anyway). Ask them - there are 21 points companies have to comply with for independent contractors - find out what those are. I know they cannot tell you when to work, discuss how you work, ask about working for others, etc. - there MUST be something in there about the pay issues, as well. DO NOT LET ANYONE GET AWAY WITH THIS. They will push it as far as they can, and will only stop when they are threatened with trouble with IRS - so make sure they are not violating IRS guidelines for working with ICs.
Why do ppl have to stick OSI on every post
nm
I am in the same boat. Trying to stick it out
Glad that we have 2 incomes here. When I was a single mom could not have afforded to do this. What a shame!
I would try to stick it out as long sm
as you have your foot in there.  Most companies won't even consider you for acute care if all they see is clinic - you might actually like acute care once you get past the learning curve.  Good luck!
Perhaps you might stick to citing the law instead of SM
psychotic-like ramblings.
Not to be a stick in the mud but what new account? sm
I know we were supposed to get 3 new accounts before November, but what is the rest of the story? Please e-mail me if you cannot post because I had no idea there was something going live.
I have to stick up for angry.
I am happy but I get unhappy when someone tries to push something off that is simply not true. She started her post with an untruth by saying she was in the trenches when it was pointed out in several posts that she is a team lead which is far from the trenches if you read the position open ads from Transcend - it is a lower management position that is used as a stepping stool.

She does not even give the same information about outsourcing that is given by the higher levels of management.

And her worry about offshoring or outsourcing or whatever word you want to use for sending our work to foreigners so they can take our jobs away is a croc - since the company was with before had a school in offshore.

If these positive thinkers would just post the truth it would be a lot better. When you start reading management posts that are not true, you wonder how much more is being hidden that you will uncover the longer you work for them.

You cannot say that any company is without problems. All you can say is how much effort is being made to correct what is wrong and let people make up their minds from that.





All we get is the short end of the stick. - nm

glad I didn't stick
around too long at TT.  I thought it was bad organization myself.  Just my little input from experience!
Stick up lke they did to DMV outsourcing to Mexico
Everybody was outraged when they found out DMV was sending work and private info to Mexico. Wake up people! I have access to more information than DMV on the health records, yet nobody cares that transcription is being outsourced every where outside the US. You should see my medical records from my treating physicians that are transcribed overseas. i have never seen such a mess. It is no wonder that I flatlined on my last surgery. Somebody typed the wrong doses of medication, and the anesthesiologist gave me too much sedation.
I chose to stick with Clinic.....sm
because, in my experience, they are almost always closed or at least very, very slow on holidays.

So, over the years I decided I wanted a M-F schedule with holidays off. That's why I stick with Clinic notes.

Good luck!
New accts. Can I beat myself with a stick now? A-G-G-H
nm
Why do you guys stick around to be treated like this? sm
How awful! Come to Webmedx where people are nice and answer your questions!
LOL. Perhaps I should stick with MQ--easier to spell...sm

 


Thank you, me, for the info in your previous posts. 


There is no way in HE double hockey stick that I would EVER take that job
You say you need the job, but I can guarantee you with that account you'd make more at McDonald's. So, think hard before you step into that. They'd have to offer me 40 cpl to do that job, and it still wouldnt be worth having to buy wigs and Tylenol when I yanked out all of my own hair and banged my head on the desk all day LOL...keep us posted..
Stick figure artist
These folks who throw stones at the high producers remind me of the story of Robert Fulton and his steamboat. When he was about to launch it on its first trip down the river, the naysayers said very loudly You'll never get it started. He did, of course, get it started. The naysayers they began to chant You'll never get it stopped! The moral being that there is no pleasing some people. It is ever so much easier to embrace negativity as an excuse for one's own failure to produce that it is to work on one's own areas that need work. I have always been amazed that such folks did not use these opportunities to learn how to improve their productivity. When I was beginning, many, many years ago, I was grateful for people who would mentor me and give me suggestions. Come to think of it, I still am. I have a friend who has been an MT as long as I have and she at one point was making 100K per year. I have never made 100K per year. Was I jealous? Did I put her down? No, I asked her for some suggestions, which she was kind enough to give. I learned from her and it helped my own productivity. Jealous bashing would not have helped me at all. Learning from her did. Nuff said.
I think they stick their head in the sand
because they only think about their own well-being for the present minute. Wow! Golly Geez! Some company will hire me! They don't realize that by going with a company that offshores, they are participating in their own destruction. I am always amazed at how many people lack critical thinking skills.
They can take their idiotic 'CMT' and stick it
REPEATEDLY!
I'd tell em to stick that offer in their CT scanner,
...Nuke it REAL good.
So why don't you LEAVE already? I don't understand MTs who stick sm
around someplace they obviously don't want to be. Or do you just like bad-mouthing?
Thanks so much, will stick with my .08 cpl and American doctors.

"warned" by someone who won't give facts or sign her name. Give me a break! nm
x
Nationals give at least a week to learn program. Give
xx