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What companies don't make you follow exact schedule?

Posted By: Looking on 2006-09-24
In Reply to:

Looking for a company that allows some flexibility on what time I type each day instead of a strict schedule that I set up.  This is just to deal with occasional appointments or if the kids have a class play I want to see, etc.  Most days a schedule would be fine but I also don't want to be stuck with it!


The company I used to be with was like this but they now require schedules to be followed. I see the point in that but I also know that some exist with more flexibiity!


Any ideas?


 


Thanks!




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Nope...MDI-MD for a long time as well and I have a schedule I have to follow! You've got it made

Make sure you get an exact date
Be careful that you get an exact training date. Otherwise, you could be left hanging for quite a while. Every time I asked when my training date was, I was not replied to.

Otherwise, I don't know much about this company because I never made it past that point.
Wish more companies would follow. sm.
Since cherry picking is lying, stealing and cheating. 
Although not all companies follow BOS (sm)
guidelines due to client specifics, etc.  It is usually safe to transcribe as BOS compliant for testing purposes.  Even though the company may not follow it when hired, you would be expected to know it and it just eliminates the whole confusion of how to transcribe on a test.
It is IC work, no benefits, make your own schedule. sm

The pay is a bit on the low side for IC work, but the work is easy, the people are great, and the pay is always on time, once a week, direct deposit.  Hope this helps.



Do you have to schedule your make-up times or are you allowed to just get on when you can to get the
x
As an IC you set your schedule. Most companies
want a line commitment, either per pay period or per month.  With IC you don't get any benefits, no insurance, vacation, and you pay all your own taxes.  As an employee you get benefits, they pay taxes, but they also dictate the hours you work and there may or may not be much flexibility in those hours.  A lot of companies that only hire IC want to tell you the hours to work because they need to be sure they have coverage to keep in TAT. 
Why would anyone what to work for practically nothing. I make 5 cpl editing, flexible schedule etc.
As long as they can get people to take those ridiculous wages that is what they will offer. Your an IC so you have no benefits, thus they do not have much of an overhead and you can bet they are getting a whole heck of a lot more cpl than they are offering their MTs.. but I guess that is the only reason they are in business... to make a huge profit. Unfortunately, at YOUR expense. What a sad day... 1.5 cpl..
which companies that don't require a set schedule? nm
nm
Are there any companies out there who let you get away without working your schedule?

I'm looking for a second job.    I could use some more $$$, but I think I would prefer to work for one that's laid-back.  I heard of one once but have no idea what its name was. 


Do you follow along with the mouse? I follow allow with my right arrow, the cursor going over the
words...I mean what do you do with the mouse exactly? I know that is a weird question, but I am still not getting it...haha! It could be a difference in platforms for sure,because my mouse is completely worthless to me in VR. I used EXText.
Beware of really good marketers. They spin. The marketer doesn't make your schedule. nm
x
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. 
Companies with flexible 12-hour window schedule
What companies offer a flexible schedule where your work can be completed within a 12-hour window?
Loyalty to Companies Who Have No Work and Expect a Schedule from YOU

There have been many discussions about MT's sitting around waiting for work to file into their queues.. many being told to get more than a few accounts and work on their backups (which, we all know, is someone's primary account)  when their primary is out of work.. so we go 'round in circles. 


Then we have discussions about companies putting us in work pools as opposed to assigning us work daily...


I have been sitting here thinking, if I were a painter, wanted to paint fences, and I showed up with my brush and paint bright and early in the morning, and was told to come back tomorrow, the fence has already been painted, but there will be another fence ready to paint tomorrow, please come back, we want you to paint our fences.. I say, OK, I understand, and so I come back tomorrow and when I get there I see that half of the fence has been painted already, someone came before me and painted it, even though I was promised the work of painting the fence.  They say, try again tomorrow.  How many days would you show up to paint a fence? Every day? Don't you (eventually) feel like an idiot standing there with your brush and paint with nothing to do??


Does the company owe you any loyalty at all??  If they don't want your services, why don't they just say so instead of keeping you coming back ready to paint every day?  Then when it DOES get busy, they call and say WHERE IS EVERYBODY??? DONT YOU CARE ABOUT PAINTING THE FENCE?  Like we havent been standing there with our brushes all week waiting to paint.


What I don't understand is the lack of shame from the people who behave this way.   Once in a while things happen..NOT AS A MATTER OF BUSINESS. 


I really don't understand the logic of the people who have no problem with this.  You do understand that by doing this, you are simply helping these companies to continue in this fashion, not feeling that they owe you ANYTHING.


Overhiring is really the finaly insult.  If you don't see that.. you are closing your eyes.


They want you to keep your schedule for TAT purposes but will work with you to find a good schedule
I love working there.
Are there any companies that don't make you

work from a pool, but allow you to download or send you so many minutes or files per day from a particular clinic or hospital dictator(s).   I just want to do my jobs and be done when they run out.  I don't want to have to wait around for more dictation or have dictation from unknowns put in my queue to fill up my shift.  Do such places exist?


Which companies don't make you punch a
I'm currently an IC and hate the thought of clocking in and out for a measly potty break.
oops, make that which companies? nm
x
Too many companies invested money in VR, and they are going to make
sure they can use it, no matter what. So even if it can only type if, and and the correctly, it will be put into VR and the poor MT that has to straighten that garbage out will be paid a big fat amount of around 4 cpl. These companies are the greediest bunch I have ever seen. None of them are worth the ground they sit on.
There are companies that manage to make it work. OTI, for example. nm
x
Any companies who DON'T make you do voice recognition?

I can't stand VR and am looking for a new job where it is just straight typing like it should be - anybody work for companies who are not jumping on this wagon?


Thanks -- I'll make a note of those 2 companies and check them out. sm
Unfortunately, I am reaching that ripe old age where I see a crown in my future
Speaking from experience.. you work all day and make nothing. I also have worked for other companies
on Escription and made a lot more.I just came to the conclusion that they do not pay for headers, footers, spaces etc.. I swear I would work 8 hours and be lucky to make $50. It was my first Escription account so when I changed companies I could not believe it. I make in a few hours what took me 10-12 hours to make at Focus. Dont waste your time. They design it so you dont make any money. What a waste of time working there.
Gee, I only make negative comments about companies I've actually worked for
and have the scoop on. I never said the line rate was high for this company, but nice fast software is what saves a good MT's line count. There are plenty of ESLs too, but no more than most acute care hospitals. So if you can't handle ESLs, you wouldn't want to work for TT (or most other hospital accounts). The new accounts are not teaching hospitals, which is good for me because I don't like doing residents. For now there is plenty of work and OT when you want it. So IMO a starting line count isn't the only important factor for how much money I can make, and certainly not the only factor in my job contentedness. They are fair and respectful and use good software, and those are the facts, not theories.
Still notice a couple of companies offering sign on bonus. Does it make you wonder? sm

Are they just an extremely exclusive type company, wanting only the best and willing to pay for it or is there something wrong they have to bribe people to come to work for them? 



I am not sure, but think I am curious enough to apply to check it out.


Could you please provide names of companies where you are able to make required line counts
and then some? I am struggling to find a platform or company which counts lines where a person can make more than 10K or 11K lines in a 2 week payperiod. This is silly.  This MT used to make 10K lines every week. Any and every suggestion would be appreciated.  BTW: Also please if you can let us know here where you cannot meet line count.  You can use initals so you don't get in trouble. Thanks in advance.
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 think they do, but must follow
nm
Follow up
There were many reasons why it took longer than 8 hours to do 1150 lines.  One reason was because of the difficult dictators.  The US MTs get the majority of the bad dictators.  India gets many of the good accounts.  This is a fact!!  The other reason is because they have this little thing called OLC.  You see, they do not like anything to go to QA.  So they have you ask other MTs to pull the job # in to listen to your blanks for you to see if they can get it.  Not only is this extremely time consuming for the MT, but it is very time consuming for other MTs, thus making it difficult for everyone to get their line count in in 8 hours.  There was hardly anyone there that could do it consistently in 8 hours on a day to day basis.  There was also much referencing for doctors names and addresses that was very time consuming, and that you don't get paid for, but you could not leave it blank without searching like in three different places for it.  How time consuming is that....One would think a large company like that could come up with a better solution than that for their MTs. Maybe a better datatbase, do ya think??!!  There are very many reasons this company goes through MTs like they do.  Their turnover rate is VERY high.  I personally met my goals everyday.  Somedays it took longer than others, but the pay was not worth it.  Give yourself a raise!!!  My all time favorite.  Excuse me, but even MacDonald's gives raises to their employees for doing a good job, that little thing called RECOGNITION, and they don't expect them to sell more burgers to get it....Most companies base their raise on hard work, dependability, quality of work being done, and when a company has top notch employees that know their work and are doing a great job, and pays another person whom just started the same wage (whom quality or quantity is not there yet) that is just not fair.  Where is the incentive to be dependable, and to go out of your way to go that extra mile to make sure that job is done just precise.  Another thing about this company is that they expect you jump around on different accounts just about every day.  Emails that come through saying this account is out of turn and you need to pull so many jobs from this other account in.  Well, again, it is hard to get your line count in in 8 hours when you are jumping all over having to other accounts and having to read pages of account specifics before you can even get started.  They expect way too much for giving way toooo little.  Compensate fairly and one does not mind going that exta mile for a company who shows you they appreciate it.  If one does not mind working a ton of a hours for a low wage, then this company if for you.  I think it is just degrading for all MTs out there to have any one MT sacrifice their hard earned skills and work for a company who treats their workers in this way!!  We are skilled individuals and many work for less than what kids make at their part time jobs because they are willing to do it to stay at home and work.  We need to demand a wage that we are worth.  Afterall, most MTS either have schooling behind them or lots of years of experience.   Isn't that worth getting paid what you are worth??  Just because we stay at home should not mean we have to get paid peanuts.  What are you saving the employer, office space, equipment, electricity, and all the other things they must provide to have employees work in their office.  We save them that money.  So why should we get paid less!!  Quite the opposite, I think.  I certainly am not trying to keep anyone from getting a job.  The only thing I wish to gain is to see this industry take a turn and have us very skilled individuals who are important enough to come up with a document that could play a part in a person's life, be compensated fairly!!  Aren't we all worth that much!!??
Follow up - sm

I decided against Webmedx.  I passed the test and was offered a position but declined.  After studying the incentive program, I don't think I would be making any more than I do for Medquist.  The starting line rate was too low.  They try to push the incentive program, but it just doesn't seem that good.


So, I guess I'm sticking with MQ for now. 


I'm planning to get out of transcription.  I have tested and gotten offers from a few companies, but none of them seem vastly different than Medquist, unfortunately.  


I already have a few online businesses and hopefully will be able to work on them full time some time in the next year or 2. 


 


Follow up
My husband called the company in Oregon (there really is a legitimate company with that name). They said it is a scam, someone is using their identity to get people to open checking accounts. This scam is using the employee names and e-mail addresses but somehow it is routed to the scam artists. The legit company gave my husband the FBI information so he could report it.
follow up
today (saturday)I have had 106 lines ALL day and I'm 5 hours into my shift. that help any? seriously, you will NOT make ANY money here...keep looking! your best bet is steer clear of any service, get on directly with a dr.'s office or hospital, that's where any decent income is...
Anyone know any follow up...
on what happened to that transcription company or on the Pakistani girl doing the transcription?
Follow up with them....(sm)
I'd send a follow-up email or call. TT is definitely worth pursuing. They've been swamped lately with resumes and there's always the possibility they didn't receive yours for some reason.

IMHO, TT is right up there with the cream of the crop, so by all means follow-up on your resume.


I am going to follow through on TTS. sm
I think I emailed you, and if you don't respond, I completely understand. I am going to follow through with the labor board on this one. I saved every email and correspondence from them, so on that end I should be good. I'm sure the current TTS'er will go yelling up the ladder, but it really doesn't matter because I don't think this is something they can backtrack on. I'll keep y'all posted. If anyone wants to join in, feel free to contact me.
This is not an exact

Unfortunately there is no exact way to figure this out.  Gross lines count everything on a line where it is one word or the whole line.  It really depends on the line length and font you will be typing in, and also on the type of reports, whether they have a lot of short lines or long paragraphs.  From reading past posts, I think as a general rule gross lines should come out to be about 30% more than 65-character lines, so 6 cents a gross line would be approximately 9 cents per 65-character line.  I get paid per gross line right now, but there are a lot of long paragraphs, and the hospital even wants numbered lists in paragraph form, so the gross line count is only about 15-20% more than 65-character, so it's not all that great.


So you might do well at 6 cents a line or you may not.  Unfortunately's there no real way to tell until you try the account for a while.


Hope this helps what.


 


I had the exact same

thought about that.


 


Exact same for me! (nm)
x
That's MDI-MD to be exact!-nm
nm
No follow-ups? Now I'm worried. How about this,
forget about the DEP question.  What is a good company to apply for SE/IC status, preferrably one who will supply the equipment needed - or not.
Did you call them and follow up? sm

I would just give them a quick call and double check - make sure that your test materials were received etc.  I know that they reply to everyone who has tested with them. 


Follow up to your post
That is 14,000 lines a pay period  -- and MOST, if not all services have some degree of ESL's.  Not trying to sound snotty here, but if you are so concerned about ESLs, why are you in medical transcription in the first place?
So call them. Follow up. nm
x
Just to follow up. Some dear one,
another MT, posted on the Main Board, I believe, about our job as MTs; how hard it really is, how much knowledge we need to do this job, and may I add, cannot do this job just fresh off the street.  Why are we not valued by the people who hire us!?  Doesn't make sense. Then during the interview, you're asked, *Do you have any questions?*  Well, yeah, but am I going to get the truth, or just what you think I want to hear?  So I just don't ask anymore.  Just had an interview the other day, was kind of excited at the time, sounded good, but now I have that nagging feeling that maybe I'm better off where I am working now.  To my thinking, it's a roll of the dice....as someone once told me *You pays your money and yous take a chance.*  LOL  But really, I wish you well in this dog eat dog mentality of the MT business.
Follow up to MedWare
I believe in order to be eligible for 401K you must be there a year. If Christmas and Thanksgiving fall on your regular scheduled workdays, you are required to work them!! I personally will not work for Medware or any other National company ever again...they only abuse the experienced MT with indecent pay for years of experience, not enough workflow for someone needing to do 2000 lines a day, and too many accounts to switch back and forth between. That is only my opinion, and possibly I had a bad experience...but I gave it 3 months and I feel that is more than enough time to get a good feel for a company. Good luck to you!
cannot follow directions

This is the kind of scatter-brained MT I would definitely NOT hire.  The original message was regarding the inadvisability of alerting a potential employer about one's previous complaints regarding other companies by exchanging E-mails from the same site as the derogatory posts.  This second individual gets up on her hind legs and gets all righteously indignant about behaviors that are obviously not acceptable in ANY profession.  This reveals a lack of concentration and unsuitability for my professional group of employees. 


  


More so than an IC position. And they have to follow
their own policies in order to let you go if you're not a new hire...otherwise, you could have recourse against the company.

ICs have utterly zero protection.

Futurenet does not follow through on anything
8
Follow BOS guidelines.
xx
FOLLOW-UP LETTER
I took a test for a company on 1 week ago, Sept 24.  I know I nailed it.  Still haven't heard anything.  How do I write a follow-up email to see if I can get any info on my status?  Any help is appreciated!  Thanks.