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Transcend pay cuts?

Posted By: MDI/Transcender on 2009-09-29
In Reply to: Transcend bought MDI for 16 million. sm - MDIer

At the time of the Transcend purchase of MDI, we MDI'ers were encouraged to ask questions, so I asked the Transcend president directly if my pay rate would stay the same, and her answer was yes. I have not yet heard anything from anyone at MDI or Transcend about any pay cuts. Could someone provide further information?? Thanks.


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Transcend Cuts Pay rates for All

Anyone else hear about the cross-the-board pay cuts for all at Transcend???  We started getting the calls today from our manangement team.  Starts October 1st.  This goes into effect whether you are brand new with the company, or if you've been with them 10 years.  Team leads are the only exceptions.  These cuts in rates are in the 30 - 35% range. There are no more shift/weekend differentials And of course, quota remains the same....you just now have to produce 35% in a night 5 nights a week to make it .  So for some....guess than means no more benefits.  This makes an overall pay rate cut for me of about 50% over the last 5 years.  (The first 20% cut came 4 years ago when they first took over the hospital where I worked --- and now this second one for approximately 35%).  Crazy, isn't ?  Where else can you work 5 years someplace and loose 55% of your pay?  I'm disgusted and discouraged.  Is MT even worth it any more?


And on top of that QA really cuts your pay
///
pay cuts

Unfortunately, she couldn't say who gave her the information so that person wouldn't get burned, but she did decide not to apply. That seems significant since I know with all her experience she would have easily passed the test and been hired. 


It seems interesting to me that you say the company has went down in the last 6 months to a year.  I've been there quite a few years and have seen the company take a drastic tail spin as soon as they hired their new chief of operations, formerly from Speris, he then hired some MQ buddies of his, and now they have systematically taken a really nice place to work and turned it into just another MTSO that thinks of its CEOs (and they seem to have added quite a few of those!) wallet before its MTs! 


So before the usual management/CEO posing as an MT comes on and tells me to quit, why should I? ... this is where all the transcription companies are headed, no need to change one devil for another.  But retirement will be coming for me sooner than later because I can't see things getting any better for us MTs.


no pay cuts!
I dislike VR but it took some reasearch for me to understand why the reports kept coming in filled with junk/errors. I never suggested any pay cuts--heaven forbid! I do about 50/50 where I work but more traditional whenever possible.
Pay cuts

Wonder when the CEOs of these companies will figure out it's the MTs that are keeping them in business....you get what you pay for. Outsourcing to India and then having to hire a US MT to QA their work seems rather ludicrous to me. I was always proud to say that MDI didn't outsource - although I realize everyone has to do what they have to do,  I have mixed feelings about this merger for that reason, whether it brings additional work in or not.


Pay cuts
I'm in nursing school at the moment and getting the heck out!   I have 20 years experience and remember when I was getting paid a nice 12 cpl WITH benefits.   Can't even seem to find anything, but contractor jobs at 8 cpl!  It's disgusting what they have done to the MT industry. 
Man, that makes me mad when it cuts off like that. sm
Bush actually supports offshoring and has implimented plenty of tax cuts to companies and hospitals alike for sending work offshore!
Webmedx pay cuts ?
I had a friend who was applying but later heard that there were going to be restructuring and pay cuts announced next week.  Any one else heard this?
Acusis Pay Cuts
True, true, true. Been there, experienced that. If you want to hear all about it, e-mail me.
Watch out, MT pay cuts are next

I know there was some trashing of someone who posted on the Company Board about Editor pay cuts, but I know someone who knows an editor, and all the editors except the new ones got at least a 30 percent pay cut. MTs are next, and we are going to have to get by on less.


If you love Spheris and the indian companies, you're gonna love Acusis.


Acusis pay cuts
Your pay may not have been cut if you're a newer MT with them.  Its us MTs who have been there and know all the ropes who are getting the kick in the face.  If you're an old MT with them, I'm sure your pay is cut and they just haven't gotten around to calling you yet!
Notice it's always the MTs who get pay cuts, never
Feh.
BAD - ISR pay cuts in the near future :(
Some mumbo jumbo about how their fancy new ISR program will up our production, and thus we get pay cuts, since we have to be competative in the market. Funny how we are getting million dollar accounts, but yet they can't afford to pay us a decent amount. Knew it was coming, just was hoping to avoid it for another year until done with school.
Transend/MDI pay cuts
To all Transcend MTs, I am syaing without any form of hostility, welcome to our world. I am wondering if any of you have the answers to the questions us MDIers have been asking: Is IC still an option? Will be be limited to a 40-hour work week? Will our schedule include 1 weekend day EVERY weekend? What happens if we can't (because of lack of work) meet our commitments? Can we expect a cpl drop? Will we be forced to VR? Will we have a set schedule or can we work when we want? How is the current work flow, is there enough for everyone? What percentage of work is being outsourced and what are the projections for next year?

These are questions that us MDIers cannot get answered. Do you Transcend MTs have any REAL and credible answers?
Yikes - with the pay cuts and all? You can have 'em.
nm
Actually, a lot of careers have had wage cuts
Anything that can be offshored to India for under a penny on the dollar has seen their wages cut. Do we remember what happened not too long ago to all the software engineers that used to make really good money? They're probably making half of what they made 10 years ago. The few customer support people that remain stateside probably make at least $2 an hour less than they made 10 years ago. Heck, even the radiologists that used to make great night, weekend, and holiday pay took a beating when they discovered they could offshore that, too.

So the pain is spread around, but it doesn't make it less painful. They have to find a way to bring American jobs back to America. It doesn't do much good for the so-called global workforce to lower the price of a plasma TV if I can't even afford to buy Wonder Bread.
The only problem is, we were taking pay cuts
Do you think we'll all start getting raises from 7-8 cpl to 9-10 cpl when the times are good again? Nuh-uh. They'll just hire on more Indians, and buy more VR equipment.
better than Lanier - darn short-cuts! NM
q
Probably getting together to discuss line rate cuts. nm
x
The line cuts are happening across the board...sm
for VR. This is not just about individual MTs. I know there are a select few who roam the board thinking they are above everyone else and hence their wages will never be cut, but they are just a number in the end like everyone else.

Why is it when anyone objects to having their wages cut for VR or because India can to it cheaper, there are people like you who imply MTs deserve it? Anyone who says anything is told 'obviously you are not a good MT.' This isn't an original or compelling response. It's kind of stupid.
Short cuts go a long way with ortho. A good speed typing engine will
dd
Transcend bought MDI, so if Transcend sends work offshore, so does MDI. nm
nm
We heard Transcend is buying Keystrokes next. I'm not working for Transcend. No Way !
nm
If MDI-FL is owned by Transcend and Transcend admittingly offshores, sm
then doesn't that make MDI a company that offshores? That's like saying that one branch of a company offshores but another does not, so they are excluded from the offshore label. If MDI-FL is part of Transcend and Transcend offshores, that means that they do.
RE: If MDI-FL is owned by Transcend and Transcend admittingly offshores, sm
Your hypothesis is incorrect. MDI is a wholly independent subsidary of Transcend, therefore, they were not a part of the experiment to offshore to evaluate cost/benefit ratio that Transcend only tried for 90 days (I believe the evaluation process is not still ongoing).
It is not Transcend. Transcend has not had control of
the accounts long enough to make any changes to anything. Maybe your account just slowed down like a lot of others did over the last few weeks. Everything will run status quo for a few months before any major changes are implemented. And give Transcend a chance. It is a good place to work and you will finally have some benefits that you will enjoy.
Transcend
I just got an email from an MT who loves Transcend. She told me she gets 15,000 lines per pay period as she gets a lot of VR (voice recognition)reports.

She gets around 8 cents a line for a report she has to transcribe "from scratch," but if she gets a VR report, she only gets 5.5 cents a line.

However, she says even with the 5.5/line, she makes 15,000 lines a pay period as the VR reports are very quick and easy to do. She did not mention anything overall about Transcend; just that she really likes her job and the lines she's able to get each day. I am looking for an MT job, but it's really hard as you have no idea what you will end up with even if you do get hired.

You might get terrible dictation, no VR reports, templates, etc. Or some of them require you to have your own equipment which I would prefer to use their equipment.

Does anyone know who is hiring?
Enough about Transcend.
I know, let's pick on another company for S&G's!
x-transcend
Webmedx and Amphion.
transcend
The forum at transcend is full of people angry and complaining bitterly about the new platform and the horrible sound quality. Someone said she had worked on an account for 10 years and now cannot understand the people she has always transcribed. And as for getting ahead, there are a select group of people who are taken care of at Transcend and newbies are part of that, they get raises because they get the easiest work picked out for them. You wont see them with foreign doctors or short reports or the same crappy work day after long day. If it is so wonderful why did a person that left another large company to be a supervisor only stay about 4 weeks and she is already gone??? Probably because once she was in her position, she had morals and could not believe the unfairness with which work is "doled out" and saved and while others never get a break. there is not one thing fair about assigning work and there never will be!!! This is a voice recognition company that has no regard for people as human beings.
transcend
how can anyone think that a company that is going to voice recognition and cutting pay in half, from 8 cents to 5.5 to edit, how can that be good for transcriptionists anywhere. this is all about them making a profit off of your back. For years transcriptionists have been underpaid, 6 cents, 7 cents, while owners of services make 25 cents or more a line and never share it. voice recognition just puts more in their pockets!!! It is just a new way to rip us off. Transcriptionists are the modern day factory workers, sweat shop laborers with no voice, no union, and we just keep taking it and they take our jobs away from us with voice recognition or cut our pay in half to have a job. If you call that fair, they you are in the right position. Nothing in our society goes backwards in price - except the pay of the transcriptionist!!!
transcend/mdi
I was just hired by them, starting training today. However, I'm only doing radiology-hope that is better. Anyone else out there with an opinion???
Transcend

Hi,


I hope you enjoy your training.  It is kinda rough the first day.  I don't know much about the radiology accounts at Transcend, but I do know that the people are very nice.  I had 2 weeks of a slow period, which was frustrating.  However, this happens at all companies from time to time.  Especially in the summer.  I know this because I have worked at other companies and have had the same slow time.  At Transcend, I never had to ask for another account, a secondary, one was offerred to me and I started right away on it.  I have a very good line count and make good money. 


I may have to take on other accounts in the future, I don't know.  If I do, then I will.  Transcend is not the only company that this happens at.  It is all in how you look at it also.  The more you can do, the more valuable you are to your company.  This will only benefit you.  Of course it is not ideal, but sometimes unavoidable.  Yes, it does slow you down but this is just at first.  You eventually become accustomed to your secondary, or whatever number account that it is for you, just like you did on your primary when first starting at Transcend.  I have found in my experience that the less flexible I am, the more limited I am.  In this line of work, that is not good. 


You will also hear about Transcend using VR.  I am getting ready to train on that.  I hear horror stories about the whole thing and I am sure that it is everything that everyone says it is.  But the thing is, a lot of companies are going to be using it.  Maybe not all of them, but a lot.  It is a step towards the future and we have to learn to accept that.  I am not worried about doing it.  If I have to work longer hours for a while to get used to it and get my $$ back where it was, then so be it.  I believe that this too will be something that an MT can get used to and become good at, just like having multiple accounts. 


All I know is, at Transcend, I have always been paid on time, paid well, never had a check bounce, and I have not ever been lied to or mislead.  This is my experience and my opinion.  Good luck to you!


transcend/mdi
I was hired for Fri-Mon. Was told they have little coverage at that time. Not true???
MDI/Transcend
Wre they the same company or 2 different companies?  They are being lumped together a lot in posts.
MDI/Transcend
MDI was bought out by Transcend, but they work as a separate entity. It's like Time Warner and AOL.
Transcend/MDI
All the posts are too far down.  I can't keep up with all the drama way down there, so I thought we could bring it up here where it's easier to find! 
Which one MDI or Transcend?
nm
MDI/TRANSCEND
And if MDI/Transcend do become one company, I'm out the door....Transcend was a horrible place to work, and I would hate to see that happen to MDI. While it's not the perfect place, it beats Transcend all to he@@...
TRANSCEND
I do not work for Transcend, but have done my research!.  Has anyone stopped to look up info on Transcend?  Note that all upper management is comprised of men, and their salaries are all over $200K a year and then there's one AM who's salary is $200+K a year plus something like $10K bonuses every quarter, yeah, and they aren't making any money!  And here we all sit typing our fingers to the bone, barely ekking out a living while some CEO of a company, who by the way is not an MT, and has never transcribed, literally forgets that we are the back bone of his company, while upper management collects their 6 figure incomes, and forgets to recognize that without US he would have no 6 figure income!  Gee, how many lines is 200K????? It's all pubic information!  The good side is offshore!
Okay first it was MDI-FL, Transcend, MQ, SS
and now KS! The post below me is starting it now with Spheris. What is up with all of this? We all know that each and every company has their issues. We get it already. People are bashed on here if they say something good about a company, because they must be management, or if they say something bad, because they must be disgruntled. We all will not have the same experiences. Different strokes for different folks! I have worked for 4 of the companies listed above and have had a different experience with all of them. A few I would not go back to at all and 1 I have; however, just because Joe Blow had a better experience than I did doesn't mean I get on here to bash that person and INSIST they must be lying about their experience.

Can we all just agree to disagree on certain issues?
Transcend

To the questions about 20,000 lines per pay period, I noticed that the poster(s) are not saying whether that is post escription lines or preescription lines.  Beyond Text, or the other platforms that Transcend has.  In order to answer, these questions have to be more specific as to what platform someone is working on.


I get 20,000 lines per pay period, however, that's after they do the conversion rate on my account and take 20% of those total lines. Standard = transcribed.  Edited = VR lines.  And that puts me in the incentive.  The incentive Transcend has it the BEST in the business, and it is attainable. And they pay a shift diff for both weekend days, which I work to get the shif diff.


There's lots of questions of what to do when work is low, well work is not always low, and you have to go with the flow and work as hard as you can and  keep your butt in the chair, and not do dishes, laundry, clean, watch TV, play with the kids, visit with your husband, boyfriend, significant other, or any other activity that takes away from truly being productive.  Then when work is slow, there is less headache of worrying about whether to get your lines or not.  And NO I am not one of those people who works "off the clock" that only hurts all MTs in the long run.  I work my 8 hours, no more no less on the days I am scheduled.  However, if I missed some hours because of running out of work or slow work, I will get prior approval BEFORE I come on to make up the time, or wait until late when no one wants to work, which is usually between 6p and 9p.  Always with prior approval!


What I do is email my supervisor and ask her if it is alright to adjust my hours to accommodate the the flow of work.  There is also a tool on the internet with Transcend to see when everyone's schedule and to be fair what I do is work when there is very little coverage, or hours when there is a break in coverage, that ensures that there is work, but you have to be flexible.  I have found that many of the MTs that work and complain about not getting their lines want banking hours, and this is not a 9-5 job, M-F.  I work BOTH weekend days and ALWAYS have plenty of work.  In the few months that I have been with Transcend work was slow on one weekend day, otherwise I can manage to get usually about 3000 lines per day on the weekends, now that's VR and transcribed lines combined, and NO I am not typing 3000 lines, but remember there's a conversion formula.  I usually work a split shift on the weekends, there's work in there in the a.m. and then I start up in the afternoon (when NO ONE is around) on the weekends, and I have plenty of lines on the weekend evenings. That's how you get your lines, you work the hours no one wants. 


And a comment to the posters down further on the board.  Everyone is correct about speaking up.  So few people do that, and chose to fly "under the radar" because of fear of "making waves."  Well, there are those of us who make the waves, and do not fly under the radar, and we are the people that help make it better for those who want to sit back and put negative posts on these boards, but do nothing to make it better.  It's like the people who complain about who we put in office, but they do not VOTE!  If you do not vote, you have no say in what happens.  That one vote could make a difference, and the same with MT.  We need to be more unified as MTs and then the nationals might sit up and listen.  We need to refuse to transcribe, edit, etc., all these horrible dictators for the ridiculous rate of money they offer, if we all got together and stuck together and had ONE VOICE, we WOULD MAKE  a DIFFERENCE!  I have been very successful in this business for almost 30 years, and have been in management in 2 soon to be 3 companies, and the only way I got where I am is to SPEAK UP and get noticed!  Otherwise, you are just another stereotyped warm body in stretch pants with a cigarette hanging out your mouth and a beehive hairdo to these companies.  (Nothing wrong with stretch pants, beehive hairdos nor cigarettes either, if that is your choice, to each his own) but that is how most nationals see transcriptionists, and that is just not so. 


Do not let anyone tell you that it is a "privilege" to work at home.  It is not a privilege, it is the only arena for us to work in because almost all transcription is done in the virtual office.  So it is no longer a privilege and I will correct anyone who makes that statement.  If you do not work at home, you most likely cannot be an MT.


Most of us are well educated, intelligent women, who love our families, who love what we do, and enjoy transcription.  But we can't make any changes if people do not "vote."


I am management, but not at Transcend.


 


Transcend
Transcend does not pay 10 cpl anymore.
Transcend

Just curious.


Does Transcend have a "honeymoon" period or bait and switch like some other larger companies I've heard of and do they overstaff accounts with MTs?  And, if you know, do they cherry-pick like some others I've heard of?  TIA.


RE: Transcend
No to all of the above.
same transcend
I just saw 2 posts on there just from looking today about how they loved beyond text.  They did have some static on a few jobs and didnt like that but did like the platform other than that.   Some people do like it, some don't.  Good luck to you. 
transcend job
Was just offered a job with Transcend a 8 cpl...after reading all the negatives about this company and seeing all the positions they are looking to fill, I'm really starting to think I should look for another company??
Maybe PT for Transcend

since work is so low and go ahead and start with Amphion, see if you like it better, and then maybe make the switch.  If I were you, I wouldnt put all my eggs in one basket in this business.  Or maybe PT with Amphion to see if you like it first.  But I definitely would not rely on Transcend for my bread and butter since they have shown just how much they think of their MTs lately with the pitiful new platform, low work volumes but continual hiring of MTs, etc., etc.


I agree-get out while you can!!!


Transcend.....sm

I see that some people have made negative posts on this board about Transcend.  I've been with the company for a long time and have been using the editing platform for several months now.  At first I was concerned about what it would really do/not do; however, I've learned to love it and now am glad that I've made the change to editing reports (as well as transcribing some that aren't on editing yet).  


Transcend announced last week that they're providing a word Expander program to those moving to the editing program free of charge, and it's a great program that would retail for $100.  


Therefore I encourage anyone reading posts about this company to remember that there are plenty of us happy on this new format.  I know because I've talked with many peers on it who have been on it as long as I have and we all have the same sentiments. 


Well you should go to Transcend if you like $8/hr...nm
nm
Transcend - sm
If you searched the archives and STILL accepted a job wiht them, I'm amazed that you ask if they have work. The archives are full of posts about NO work at this company. Be prepared to babysit your PC waiting for work because they run out constantly.