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don't accept the wage, but I would!!!!

Posted By: nm on 2006-04-17
In Reply to: I have friend that makes 5 cpl as IC. She was hired right out of - school, afraid to leave.

nm


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taking a low wage does not lower the pay for a field. The fact that they are offering stated wage
means that is the market. You don't see ads for McDonald's for $36/hour and you don't see ads for A.G. Edwards for $20,000/yr. If they didn't think they could fill a job for $14, they wouldn't post it. Notice MT jobs are now posting at 5, 6 and 6.5. So guess what editors are going to make?
who would even accept a job for $10-15
anon
About to accept...
I've spoken to a couple of current employees who are totally happy with the company, and I'm hoping for a good fit for me, too!
How do you accept
without knowing the cost of benefits and the coverage provided?  If that was an important part of my decision I would know those answers before I accepted.  It should have at least been a part of the interview.  Just my 2c.
would not accept 0

Yes, I tried to leave a 0 but it would not accept that either, has to be at least a 1 or I cannot even continue. 


I have asked the lady that I subcontract for to find out the user ID for me of the clinic's Olympus DSS software, although she is thinking that I will need the ID # of her Olympus software.  I do not know, but I would think it would have to be the # from the clinics since the dictation originally comes from them??   Anyone shed any more light on any of this for me.  I would really rather not have to purchase Olympus software if possible, as well as another subcontactor in the same boat.  Thanks.  Bon


Do not accept that pay
It works out to be more like 0.0575 cents per line. They may not be billing their client for them, but they are getting paid, probably billing company 0.20 per VBC and paying you 0.08.
and before you correct me, it's ACCEPT
haha
yes I could but if I already said I would accept work, I don't
with no work. As they say, your word is your bond.
They offered me 6 cpl for IC. I did not accept. nm

Some newbies have to accept 6 cpl unfortunately - any sm
other experiences with Shapin? Thanx.
Did you accept a position? (nm)
nm
Only if you accept it. Put your foot down
.
When you accept so little, you not only ruin it for
.
Don't accept anything less than $50K and be prepared

,,,


...and how do you accept criticism now
Reality: MTs are usually working to support themselves, with bill collectors right on their backs.

If the quality of newer MTs as you say not caring what kind of work they put out, thank the hospitals and insurance companies, the greedy people who demand 100% accuracy, but who do not care about patients or employees because they want us to compete with other countries where their cost of living is probably half of what ours is. They are setting the trend and attitudes in this industry.

As QA you had the luxury of going over a report that was already transcribed by someone else - who sat through the screaming in the background, or struggling to understand the dictator, all while trying to make the lines needed on a time schedule.

The MT is under time constraints - you must type so many lines, you must work so many hours, you must type so many lines per hour...or you will lose your benefits, not be able to pay your bills, etc.

What would QA do without us - it bothers me the way you are judging MTs in categories.

We are losing benefits more and more all the time, told to work longer, work harder, for LESS than we actually made years ago.

Then you have people going over our reports with a magnifying glass sadistically sometimes, almost happy when they find errors you have made.

A company tests MTs, has the choice whether to hire them or not, then starts slamming them with how lousy they are because they are making errors, which is going to happen whenever you work with humans?

Errors are made mostly from older MTs in my opinion because we are now working piecemeal, we are not hourly anymore, we only make what we type, and we have to type a lot of difficult work because the easier work goes overseas. To expect great quality is unrealistic. Something is going to be sacrificed when the compensation is not appropriate.
I did not accept position
I did not accept offer. Too many negatives........
Has the pay come up to average at least? 1-1/2 yrs ago it was too low to accept. nm
s
Just wondering - did you accept the job?

I was offered the same 7 cpl with one company, but 8.5 with another, 12+ years exp.


She could tell him but probably wouldnt accept.
x
You have the right to accept no more jobs or if
x
They use more than one platform. If you accept, (sm)
stay clear of the Mongoose platform. I found it very slow and clunky.
So what happens after accept offer? sm
I have accepted a position with Keystrokes but haven't heard back after leaving message for recruiter. Just wondering what next step is. Should I expect paperwork via snail mail or E-mail, etc? Thanks! 
Then don't accept the offer...

There are many companies who pay much higher than that.  But, what you quoted are not Third-World wages...low, yes, but not Third World.


Anyone accept job with SmartMed, LP?
If so, can you tell me a little bit about it, i.e., dictators, mostly hard, mostly easy, etc.
And we were SO WORRIED you'd accept... nm
.
yep saw 1 ad 2.5, 4 and 4 VR pitiful don't accept
.
Min. wage
That isn't even minimum wage in San Francisco, where it's something like $9.25+ per hr.
Min wage in NY

In NY minimum wage is now $7.15, so that is not min wage here either.


 


Min wage

I thought I had read something recently that stated Nuance/Focus was developing some software that would completely do away with transcriptionists in the next few years.  I worked for Focus 5 years ago and they were a terrible company then to work for, I see they have just kept getting worse.  You are entitled to minimum wage if you are an employee. If your line count does not come to that contact your local DOL and apply for unemployment benefits.  if you don't you are hurting yourselves and other MTs who come after you.


 


What questions should I ask an employer before I accept the job?

I am new in this business and have already been screwed by empty promises.  I want to try and get it right this time.  I would like to know what I should ask before accepting this position. 


 


Thanks


Newbies who accept that extremely
LOW amount of pay are the reason companies offshore!! I refuse to baby them.
Why do you accept line rates like this? nm
X
Job Offer I couldn't accept
Got an offer from them last week, but had to turn it down due to other priorities and the amount of hours they needed work to be done.  Sent them a professional letter refusing the job and didn't not hear one thing back from them.  I would like to know if they got my e-mail, but no response.  Not too concerned about this company.
Accept it, and be happy to have work! nm
x
Do NOT accept production pay for editing. That's
why they do it because people accept it. I will NOT work on production and never will. If it comes to production for editing for me, I will transcribe as I could still earn more even if the back were killing me. I will just have to go on permanent disability if I can't do that anymore. I refuse and won't take production for editing. These companies that offer it should all go out of business because you get what you pay for. Anyone with any worth would not accept it and I don't care whether you have to eat or not. I have to eat too but they are not getting me for a pittance. I won't do it because I have many years in the field and well, I guess I would starve first. Eventually all these people will get folks that can't do the job and will eventually go under and I say they deserve it.
There are better line rates out there, just have to look and not accept less sm
I currently work for 2 different companies.

My FT employee-status job I make 9.5 cpl, I started at 8.5 cpl and after 6 years worked my way up to 9.5 cpl. I also get an incentive if I type a certain amount over the minimum.

My PT IC job I started at 9 cpl (lower line rate but better system to work on - so lines come easy) Been there 3 months.

There are jobs out there. I have 9.5 years experience and don't know why people who have been in the business for 25 years or more are getting low offers. Perhaps your education isn't what you thought it was. If you have a solid background of A&P, pharmacology, college composition, and a strong work ethic, you should make more than 6-7 cpl. Honestly, you can't get a good education taking a home-based MT course, you need to go to a real college with real teachers and do an internship before you graduate. A good education can almost double your money after 5 years in the industry compared to those who didn't get the training or classes they needed to understand the stuff they type.
Do they accept an abbreviation program?
Seems like that used to be a complaint - not sure if it still is - it would concern me though.  I have heard IT works sometimes with it - but not very dependable. 
I guess the people who will accept it.
nm
Milner, accept satellite? nm
nm
Are there any companies that accept satellite? sm..
What are you supposed to do if your only choices are satellite or dial-up?? Thanks.
I'm an IC and I won't accept contracts that have line

IC.  Those of you who agree to working a certain amount of lines are being taken advantage of, and you also make it harder for us true ICs who know that line quotas should not be enforced.


If these companies worry about keeping the client happy, then hire more people.  The company I work for does just that.  If I can't work for some reason, then someone else picks it up.  If they can't work, then I pick up the slack. 


Those of you who want steady work put up with the rules and accept IC status because you want to work every day.  Well in response to your lazy post, then don't come on here crying when you run out of work because as an IC these companies do not have to promise you any work or provide it all. 


So it doesn't work both ways.  Most ICs, by definition, should really be employees especially with set schedules and set hours. 


As soon I see that I have to work set days or type a certain amount of lines I bypass that crookery of a company.  Sorry, that's how it is and I do fine in the salary and job department, and I am a true IC that makes my own rules.  I am by no means lazy but I will not tolerate set rules when none should be set unless they want to offer me employee status.



P/S:  You all cry when these companies run out of work and when you're an IC, they don't owe you any work; so the joke is on you for not looking out for yourself and instead trying to make excuses for these companies who are getting away with paying ICs and controlling ICs when it's against the law.


 


i refused to accept a position
based upon their equipment, just for reasons like you stated. Not only cannot make money, but it makes your work-life miserable trying to cope with it. I'd rather take less-quality accounts and have easier days...
Why I didn't accept the offer....sm
I tested with them, passed everything great, was made the job offer that sounded too good to be true, with the first 10 days paid at an hourly rate to help with the learning curve, etc. Then they didn't send the foot pedal although they said they did and then told me I didn't need it anyway to do the training, which they then put off for yet another day or so, etc.

After all that, I finally get the training which consisted of an hour with one of the only 2 QA people and she wasn't familiar with the platform she was training on. She told me she has been with the company for 12 years, but has always worked on the other word-based platform and had been thrown into training just recently on this one. She kept telling us how to do something, then realized it was wrong and went back and back and back until nothing was all that clear. Then she said to Really watch the spellchecker because there were MANY misspelled words and it wasn't really a medical spellchecker! I asked if we could use an outside one on our computer, such as my Stedman's, and she said no, it wouldn't work with this platform. I asked if they were going to fix that at some point and she said they couldn't because the platform actually belongs to a different company and they just use it, and this other company usually won't take the calls when they see it's Chronicle calling, so it was just up to us to be very careful with it.

She then went on to tell us that we'd also have to keep a close eye on our line counts because they weren't always accurate either. She said the 2 women in the office who I dealt with aren't MTs and had never been MTs, one was fairly new and one had been a receptionist that they just promoted. She said the man in the company, I believe she said he owned the company (I may be wrong about that), was often cranky with them and yelled a lot!!! She also told me that she had Never heard anything about any type of paid training for that period of time and she thought that was an error in the job posting. No one in the office would give me clear details about the paid training either. She also said that there was something going on in the office area that she couldn't talk about, but if they were slow to respond to questions, etc., it was because they were dealing with this!

I asked if there wasn't room for someone to work on the more user-friendly word-based platform they have and she said no, because they just lost a huge account that used that platform and they had to find another account before they could hire anyone for that platform now. After this very informative training with her it sounded to me like a company to get away from fast...it seemed as though it would be one thing after another.

I hope for those of you who posted good things here about the Apex platform and the company itself continue to have a good position and continue to like working there, but there were way too many red flags for me to spend even more time and energy trying to work on a clunky at best platform with people who had no first-hand knowledge of MT work, and people who seemed to be fighting amongst themselves. For a trainer, she really threw the company under the bus when talking with us. I declined to start with them and even though I really need a job, I surely don't need what was to come with them.
So are we supposed to just accept low wages?
Are you saying we just need to accept low wages so MTSOs can make their money? The fact is MTSOs are making more than just a living and they are doing it off the hard work of the MTs while cutting our pay even more. My time is worth more than what some of these MTSOs are paying. If I take another paycut, I am out of MT. I could care less if that means they have to send records overseas. I am not working for peanuts just to save the American MT industry.
I do accept ESL as part of the profession
I transcribed for them all the time.  Some of them are great.  What I asked was, is it fair to use an ESL like this particular one as part of the testing process, poor audio and all.  Maybe it is.  Maybe it represents the dictators they have on the account they are hiring for.  If so, no thank you.  While I do not mind turning out quality medical reports to the best of my ability, no - I am not doing it for free.  As much as I love the MT business, I am still here for a paycheck so yes, production and cpl does matter to the point that I would not want this particular ESL as my full time job.  Looking out for number one.
I believe that would come to a little over minimum wage...
Not good at all!
Minimum wage at best, probably not that!
I would not take any QA/editing position unless it is a set hourly rate. Again, I have said it before, do not sell your fellow QA/editors down the drain like AAMT has sold us. Hourly is the only way!
Medware Wage

The most you can expect to make at Medware is 0.08 a line.   Medware has some extremely difficult accounts with a lot of ESL doctors.  It is very hard to make a good line count.  Additionally, Medware watches how many minutes you work during the day.  You must work a full 8-hour shift.  If you have problems and need to call your supervisor, need to email your supervisor, create samples or go over files from the editors, have a problem with pay or vacation time or anything similiar, you will do it on your time.  You have to put in your 8 hours TYPING, nothing else counts. 


 


Is this a fair wage?
I'm a new graduate and I got an offer for 0.75 cpl.  Any input would be appreciated.
QA Wage question
If getting paid hourly for QA, let's say $10.00 an hour, do you get paid for every hour whether there's anything to QA or not?
if you are still working there for that particular wage...sm
you are settling. 12 hour days x 6 days per week? You are definitely selling yourself short if you accept this. I was only trying to be honest based on the information you chose to share. I don't want others to think this is the norm in this industry because it most certainly is not. Again, I am basing my comments solely on the information you provided, which in fact saddened me as an MT who has been in this profession for many years. I apologize if you see this as an insult, but I was just overwhelmed by your breakdown of pay. To me this is completely unacceptable. Good luck to you.