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Hourly vs. per line

Posted By: tnmt on 2007-11-08
In Reply to: QA typical per line pay - anon

Hourly pay is better if you can get it, because you never know what kind of transcript you'll run into or number of corrections you have to do. OTOH, even though I am paid hourly to do QA I tell myself my "base rate" is 3-4 cpl and I monitor the number of lines per hour I average, just to keep myself on track and keep myself from wasting my and my employer's time on wild goose chases (I tend to be highly obsessive about finding obscure terms, and the Internet has no end!).

I would never accept less than 3 cpl for QA or editing, and would certainly try to secure more than that. JMO.


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HOURLY VS LINE

I disagree with the hourly rate.  I like to know that I get paid for the amount that I produce.  It would really be hard to regulate an hourly scale.  If you feel bad now how would you feel knowing that someone is goofing off or typing slower or whatever and getting the same rate of pay that you get?   I have a couple of subs and I know about how long it takes to do one of the psych reports but how could I know what that person is doing.   I really think that the hospitals/accounts would have a problem with this especially with us working at home.    Also how could we clock in and out at an hourly rate.  I am a pretty trusting person and trustworthy but there are times I stop and take a break and go to this board, etc.  That is why they went to the per line charge. 


And yes, I can do 2500 lines per day. For one account last month I had them keep track of the errors that they found and it was 5 out of 10,.973 lines for that month.  So I feel I do a good job but if I were to go to hourly I would lose money as with this account it takes me about 30 to 35 hours a month with delivery, printing, etc. to make $1100  to 1200 a month.   They would not pay me $35 to 40 an hour. 


 


Hourly or Per Line?
I personally would be willing to go back to an hourly rate and be a company employee again. I know I will never make the $22/hour I made in the 1980s. However, my daughter is a receptionist in a surgeon's office and she makes over $18/hour. I would like to believe that we would make at least an hourly wage comparable to that.

I know I would be willing to settle for $15 to $18 an hour if I was on the company payroll and getting benefits as the OP is.

Wonder if the local physicians think they are getting ripped off by the per line rate and would consider switching to an hourly employee on their payroll? I would like to think that. These are just some of my thoughts on the subject.
Nothing. Never take line rate for editing. Take hourly only.
You will never make any money by the line editing if you are doing true editing.
QA Pay Preference -- hourly versus per line? SM

I've been offered two QA jobs; one that pays $15 per hour and one that pays 4 cpl.  I'm told that I can make more than $15 per hour on production because you get credit for all lines in a report, even if you make only one correction.  So I figured that to make the equivalent of $15 per hour, I would have to QA 3000 lines a day.  So here's my question, is 3000 lines of QA in an 8 hour day feasible and is it possible to do more lines than that in an 8 hour day?


Both offer employee status, benefits, etc.  Benefit plans are pretty much exactly the same down to the same health insurance company. 


How are they paying their in-house transcriptionists? Hourly or by the line?

.


When paid hourly, we still had a minimum daily line count
;lkj
Before you get too excited, most hourly QA jobs have a line count quota too.
so if you had trouble getting quota as an MT, it could be that you might not make it as a QA either.
I like what I have...Hourly PLUS incentive after a very easy to reach minimum line count.
x
Paid hourly, req'd 1000 lines, anything over 1101 was 0.04 cents a line

//


You're expected quota depends on whether you are paid hourly or per line. SM

I'm paid hourly and I was told the requirement was 50 or more reports per day.  I've never worked QA per line, but I'm sure their line quota is pretty high, at least 2000 or better per day, as you get credit for every line in every report you QA.


Hope this was the answer you were looking for.


You don't get paid an hourly rate you get paid by line - sm
so because of how you are paid (not an hourly rate) you don't get OT, especially if you are an IC.
A gross line is anything on a line is a line. A line set at 65 characters means it sm
has 1-inch margins on each side. The maximum number of characters on that line would be 65 and that includes spaces. If there is 1 character on that line it is a line.

A standard 65-character line usually consists of 65 characters with spaces unless, of course, the employer does not pay for spaces and then it would be 65-characters without spaces.
Anything on the line makes up a line even if just one letter or number. Every line of print is a
s
Gross line = each line on page counts as a line, even if it's only 1 word. nm
x
Gross line means anything on a line is counted as a line.

You can get an idea in the difference using documents you have already created, assuming you're working in Word. Simply open a document and check the properties. Click on the statistics tab and you will see the number of lines as well as characters with and without spaces. If you're currently getting paid by the line and a line is 65-characters with spaces, do the math and see how that number of lines compares with the number of lines in your stats.


One thing to keep in mind: if you have a blank line between paragraphs, instead of hitting the enter key twice, format your document to give the appearance of blank lines between paragraphs.


Thank you. Think-----hourly!!! Do not sm
accept less than an hourly wage and a reasonable one at that.
Hourly plus

A hospital where I worked long ago (in a galaxy not far away) had a hybrid pay system- a basic hourly rate plus incentive bonus for production over a certain amount.  I think this is the fairest way, because sometimes I'm fast and sometimes I'm slow, but I'm always accurate.  My first transcription supervisor back in the dark ages said "No one who reads that report will know or care how many lines you type per hour.  They only know what that report looks like".  I still believe that.


Hourly sm
Though there are a lot of variables you haven't told us, on face value I'd say hourly. I've done both, and hourly has paid better.

With MT you usually can't transcribe hour after hour nonstop (or at least you won't be doing so for many years if that's your pattern). Therefore, when figuring your actual earnings you need to include time you have to rest between transcribing to get your true hourly earnings.

As an MT this scenario is typical at so many companies: Get up early. Check for work. Do what's left. Get 7 great jobs that have you flying along thinking you're going to make a ton today. Suddenly run into Dr. X, ESL from hell, and watch your great production day go to pot. Fight for jobs at end of payperiods. Bounce around on accounts. Cry a lot as you worry about your bills.

With hourly lead position, you've suddenly opened up your possibilities. There will always be work for you. You now have more than just MT on your resume. You can also get up and go to the bathroom during work without worrying that it's cutting into your lines per hour. You may work more than 40 hours a week, but it will be actual work, not sitting there waiting for jobs to trickle in, not resting between transcription periods.

It may be stressful at times, but so is MT when you're worrying about meeting bills and having a consistent paycheck when work volumes fluctuate. It's also an investment in your future. You can possibly grow from there to be supervisor, recruiter, trainer, or use your management skills to GET OUT of this field and get into something else.

I've done both in many different ways, and would recommend the hourly.
HOURLY...
...and with my level of experience, $16.50 or more per hour.
Hourly QA Pay
Just wondering what average hourly QA pay is? I've been QA'ing for 2 years now, but have always been paid by the line and not sure what to quote for hourly. I live on the East coast. Thanks.
yes it's hourly
But no pay when not working.
I went hourly

I went hourly....kinda.  My advantage is that I know what my paycheck will be and I don't have to worry about the difficult dictators that take FOREVER!  I am also paid for tech time and during phone calls and software issues.  On the negative side, production does nothing for me at all.  BUT, then again, what I make is about the same as 220 lines an hour.  I do get raises just like everyone else.  If there was never a chance for a raise, I would not do it.


I also went hourly...
For a bit over $16/hour with yearly raises. I love it! I don't have to worry about my paycheck if I have a bad couple of days, and it's just a much less stressful situation. Of course, in my old production pay job, I had the worst account ever, so I may be biased.
hourly
What have you been getting as an hourly wage?
hourly
Figure out what you make per hour now -- but be sure that you figure in if there is going to be difficulty doing his typing, formatting, background noise, etc.  I would say anywhere from $20 to $25 per hour. 
Hourly
We were all hourly employees at that time. We were so trusting or ??? that we couldn't figure out how she kept getting such good numbers on production sheets. She was always on top. Duh! Of course she was, since she was using us to "create" her success. They (HR) told us that couldn't happen until we showed them how to do it. Accidentally, I found out when a colleague and I "switched" stations so she could try out my new keyboard for a report or two and then we realized we were "on each other's number" so we went in to change them and that is when it came to us that this must be what was going on with her. Sure enough, when we got out the logs (handwritten for our own eyes only log things we just kept for ourselves) there it was, our jobs had magically converted to her jobs! It was sad and backstabbing too!
hourly
Transcription Plus I believe. I am not sure of their web site but I think they pay hourly.
Hourly
$12.70/hour. Is that too low? On a side note, I have a B.S. in Management and have never figured out a way to use it and still work from home. 
hourly pay
Those days are long gone. You might be able to find one if you really scoured the internet and hospitals all over America.

If my memory serves me right, people were more productive on hourly pay with OT thrown when work levels were high. My rationale for saying this is that the work environment was more cooperative than competitive. This led to more job satisfaction and thus more productivity and less down time.
wow - someone is getting cheated on hourly - sm
Let's face it, a facility will do their darndest to start out an employee at a low rate and then slowly bring them up. But for the Lafayette area, the pay should be (AND IS EXPECTED TO BE) around $12-13/hour.

Opelousas - a while back there was a hospital in that area that had an opening for a transcriptionist.
Editor hourly pay??

After years as an MT, I'm thinking of switching to Editing...Can anyone please tell me what is the standard hourly rate to request for an Editor? BTW I live in the Midwest with a fairly low cost of living. Thank you!


That is a low hourly rate. I would look
elsewhere. That is below normal.
We do get hourly wage

during down-time and the only approved down-time is meetings and computer malfunction.  Lack of work was not approved so if there is lots of work available we have no worries, if not then we will be scrounging around for work.  I don't have time for that.


I will have to ask my supe if that is how it is because that is how I understand it.  If so, I maybe putting in my 2 weeks notice.


hourly rate
What is the going HOURLY rate for a MT (independent contractor) that would be competitive. 
Hourly - think about downtime and
if that account moves to VR one day....
hourly plus benefits sm
Not sure what they pay by the hour though.
hands down..hourly

What companies pay hourly? nm

nm


Hourly/Salaried
I worked at a company that paid hourly to some employees (mostly secretaries, etc.) and they were required to pay us overtime.  Now your salaried employees or those considered "management" are salaried employees thus exempt from OT.  They normally make much more as well.  For example, I worked in the finance dept., which is known for OT.  I worked 60 hour weeks and made over $56k, but my base salary was just over $37k ($18/hour or 27/hour OT).  Our bottom level accountants made approximately $75k yearly (and they worked more than I did!).  Make sense?
Hourly/Production
If an MT is paid hourly, then the law states that OT is mandatory.  But, "certain computer related occupations" per the Department of Labor, are considered exempt.  I tried to find the right web page for it, but I couldn't find it.  I know that even my husband, who works by production, does not get paid OT.  Most times they will offer an incentive when they want the work to get done faster, but no OT.  If anyone finds the link, let us know! 
If given the chance would you go hourly or ... sm
stay production if the pay per hour was around $15 with no opportunity to make more per hour or as an employee with incentive and all you were making a minimum of 9.5 cents per line?  Is it better to make a little less but know exactly what you are going to make each week or just go for the ability to make more and hope you are able to stay productive.  Thanks. 
I would take the hourly rate.
a
If you could get paid hourly...sm
If you could get paid hourly, no incentive, just straight pay, what would you want to get paid?  We are in transition right now where I work and we are trying to come up with a new pay scale and one of the possibilities is no incentive, just straight hourly pay.  What do you think would be a reasonable hourly rate to suggest?  Thanks!
hourly rate
On the east coast the hourly rate it $14 - $20.
If you are paid hourly, you obviously are not an IC. sm
As a regular employee, you may have to keep strict hours. This is just part of the package. Sometimes you can find a company that will allow you to flex your schedule as an employee, but most will not.

Only working as an independent contractor can you have true flexibility. In my experience, an employer can ask you to set the hours you will be working, but if you have to work other hours instead, the company has no control over this. All they can do is not give you any more work. That is the limit of their control. There are companies that try to enforce hours on their ICs, but this is not legal.

You should look for a job as an IC, if you want true flexibility. However, be aware that there will usually be no benefits such as insurance, vacation, etc.

If someone else has a different experience as an IC, hopefully they will let us know. Good luck to you.
Hourly rate
Not sure my last post worked or not. Hourly rates fluctate around the country, however, in South Florida, the average hourly rate is 12 an hour and then each company/hospital then uses their own benefits/production bonus programs.
hourly MT rate
I did 5 months in-house this year after 10 years at home, and was paid $15.00 here in Joplin MO.
- Les R.
I think most QA are paid hourly. nm
.
Me think hourly good.
Sounds like you have impressed them with your work ethic and need somebody like that for this opportunity. You go, girl. If you don't like it I'm sure you can always go back to MT.
But way back then, we not only had hourly
pay but also production. What I remember is never felt like you were struggling to make a living, did not feel like you were on a treadmill with the little bitty money the companies want to pay now. Of course people like the advantages now of Google and the like, easier to find items instead of looking in a book to find, but we also learned not to rely on abbreviations in order to spell those really long words.
Do you mean hourly as editor or (sm)
strictly QA?  How much experience do you need for either?