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Yes, midsize national. Low work. Overhiring. nm

Posted By: anon on 2006-01-16
In Reply to: Is anyone still having problems with low work? - "Holiday effect"

nm


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The midsize national I work for has a nice tiered incentive plan sm
for employees, not sure about the ICs.  In order not to qualify for one of the incentives, you'd have to transcribe at LESS than 150 LPH.  Pretty easy to make bonus each pay period.  The faster you are, the bigger the bonus.
Overhiring and not enough work for everyone so no one gets their
.
(1) Don't work for a national. (2) Don't work for a national. (3) Don't work for a nation

If you still want to stay in MTing, which is a dying job, go to a hospital and apply to do radiology.  They sometimes hire people just out of transcription schools.


But don't work at home thinking you will make any money at all - even with 20 years of experience - the nationals have wrecked that. 


Be under the umbrella of protection at a hospital.  That way when your computer breaks, the weather is bad, you are sick, there is no work - you will not be without a paycheck. 


The nationals are selling a line of BULL.  Gradually they have taken what used to be our built-it benefits------------> and moved it over to their pockets and called it their PROFIT.  They are not brilliant - but they are unethical thieves.



I work for a national
and I have a ton of doctors (clinic and hospital).  I type 1000 lines in 3 to 4  hours.  I don't have a lot of normals.  There are some but don't use them on a daily basis.  I just put my nose to the grind stone and make myself sit there for a certain amount of reports before I let myself get up.  It can be done.
do you work for a national?
Then why do you work for them if they are a bunch of crooks stealing from you?  That is the only alternative to my theory, if they do not offer benefits, make you test even when you are seasoned, do not give raises, with no good reason other than they are greedy thieves?  It doesn't make sense to me. 
no. work for a national. nm
x
Currently work for a national

and all I currently know about the ENT office is that they have some system in place currently in-office that the doctors dictate into using a phone.  Their work is currently done in-house by 1 full-time MT who is retiring and 1 p.r.n. MT.  I currently use high-speed (cable) internet but might possibly be soon moving to a location that would only have satellite for high-speed (or dial up).


When you take on too much work. Getting 2 PT job offers plus have FT with national (sm)

Two local doctors offering me 2-3 hours per day each, plus the FT (about 6 actual hours of typing a day) with a national. 


One doctor is orthopedic, the other vascular surgeon (H&Ps in office).  One is a mumbler, the other has a lisp.  The national job is radiology (fairly easy - would be faster if I could master IT, though).


What should I do?  Am afraid I will take on more than I can handle and at same time, refuse a job that I later will regret.  I need the money, needless to say.  Anyone ever face this? 


Well, I work for a national, but my account
is a big hospital, doing acute work. It was a heck of a way to learn starting off, but I know it will benefit me in the long run, just one of those days!

Closing in on my 2 years now, I thought about maybe applying at a hospital inhouse here that hires starting out at $20, but once you add all the expenses (not counting any deductions), you come out to about the same. It's just not worth it. It would probably be less stress considering I would work set hours instead of all the crazy ones I have been doing, but then you have to add in at least 2 hours of drive time to that each day. It evens all out I suppose.
I average $32,000. I work for a National. nm
xxx
also, I work for a national - not my own clients! nm
x
Has anyone asked for a raise lately? How do you go about it? Work for a national and have not
increase for five years.  Just pumped some gas and realize my cost of living is going up but my pay is stagnant.  How do you go about asking for a raise?
Don't work for a national. Find a small
MTSO that pays well. They are out there, as long as you hold up your end of the bargin. I left my hospital job to work for a national, several nationals now but who is counting. I found a small company and finally am making the $$$.

Good luck to you.
Why do you say $20/hr? I work for a national, and at 11 cpl, 300 lines per hour, sm

that's $33/hour.  I'm not driving a Lexus or anything, but I'm comfortable.  Generally speaking, find a mid-sized national, big enough to have enough work for you all of the time, yet small enough to care and realize that quality work deserves quality pay.


They are out there.  Good luck!


Our hospital laid us all off and I went to work for the national that got the bid. nm
x
The national I work for has a no blank policy. sm
Plus you have to have 90% no blanks to QA to get bonuses and to maintain full-time status. This is very hard sometimes with some of the dictators that dictate from across the room, while the ward is going ape, and this all right next to the telemetry monitor and the ringing phone or at home with the yapping dogs in the background.

But I have found our QA to be forgiving and understanding, so I am getting more comfortable. I think they have a high standard so we will step higher, but they understand the reality, which I think is good.

DH says he definitely would not go through what I go through to be sure there are no blanks, but I am hoping that in time it will get easier, and I will get more productive, and I think it is.

I work for a national, and we're allowed
.
Question: If you work for national that provides computer,
can you ask their Tech support to move their files onto the laptop computer?

One other question: If you are required to have HSI connection for dictation and files, do you have access to that and how?
I'll bet I work for the same national! While I have great dictators, seriously they never say the
same thinge twice, save one surgeon who always ends his op reports with the same paragraph, which, of course, I have in my expander.  I mean it - there are probably 30 doctors, and I never ever get a repeat or any pattern at all! Again, I have a huge expander that I've set up on my own over the years, and rarely type more than a few words "longhand", but I still am not hitting over 200-250 lines an hour.  Oh well! At least I have great dictators, right? 
when you work for a national, you sign a confidentiality agreement...?
the same rules would apply, and you must have signed a confidentiality agreement with whomever you work for. you can be fired, if breached.

my opinion, as a professional, you transcribe it and mums the word...

when I worked in a hospital, someone was caught 'sharing' information about the CEO from a transcription report, and was fired on the spot.
Actually, it is quite easy to skip jobs, and I work for a national. sm

Depending upon the account, just press the appropriate number on the C-phone, and *poof* you're at the next job.  In my case, I have no "proof" per se, but when jobs skip from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. then to 1 p.m., etc., and then it gets back to "normal" when you get to the non-ESL docs where I guess they stopped working.  it's not too hard to figure out that someone took what they wanted and left the rest.  It doesn't matter to me.  As has been stated, the MT who cherrypicks cheats himself/herself out of the chance to master everything and assure himself/herself of a larger pool of work.  That goes also for those who limit themselves to only certain work types.  Sure, we all have our preferences (I prefer admit notes and consults), but if you can do everything, then you're more likely not to be one of the ones coming here complaining of no work.


Just my opinion, and you know we all have one.  Happy Friday the 13th!   I have the weekend off for once, and it is actually beautiful weather here.  Yippee! 


I work for a national, $600 yearly deductible and 15-30 copay
nm
How do you do 2000 a day? Do you work for a national or small company? nm

nm


If you work for a national, what difference does it make where you live?
If you work locally, then yes I think it makes a difference. I work for a national, live in the boondocks and still do well.
The one national that I am aware of, employees would be thrilled to work just 8 hours a day. They

:)


Can a national require full time MTs to work overtime?

?


I don't work for one of the larger nationals, but a good-sized national and

in 5 years the hospital system has been down twice and my company wasn't able to pull work and the company's system was down once for a hurricane and once the power was out for part of a day.   I never went a full day without work.


I think maybe some of the nationals are poorly managed and they use "server down" as an excuse for no work.  For a company that depends on their servers for their livelihood I don't believe they actually have the much down time.  I don't think most companies pay for downtime. 


 


Oh, bull. I'm with a large national and those clients whose work is offshored
That one statement is bunk.

I work for a national. Most of the time the voices are pretty good, but

I have been getting some of late that have background noices, door slamming, people talking,  Sometimes the doc will stop talking but the noices sound so close to him that it is annoying.  Do you think the sound card would interfere with my company's computer?  It sounds nice to have even though it does not help the background stuff.   I guess that is a good question for tech.  Thanks again! 


I have 2 clinics still on tapes, love'em! Also work for a national. Like that too. nm
nm
I didnt ask for ANYTHING. Merry Christmas and watch your back when u work for a national.
thats MY point.
Been at home for over a year now and I switched to night shift. I work for a national. Started out
working the night shift and sleeping in shifts during the day. My kids are way older but that doesn't mean they don't interrupt me. Besides, there the phone issue, more interruptions, the dogs bothered me a lot, too. Love them dearly but, oh so spoiled. It was taking me 10 hours to do what I can do in 8 on nights, plus I manage to get more sleep, if you can believe that. I still get supper on the table, vacuum, laundry, etc. So far it is working pretty good, so I think I will put in for permanent night hours for awhile. No sense in working 10 when I can work 8.
The national I work for usually offers jobs to the in-house people when they acquire an account. nm
nm
overhiring
I agree, I also have 5 accounts and no work and yet the company is still hiring, go figure. I have also taken on a PT position with another company so that I can make ends meet. Do the higher ups care, I really don't think so, their main concern is TAT and meeting their bonus requirements
overhiring
Suites worry about us, lose sleep over our lack of work? nah....we at home transcriptionist are so far removed from their thoughts..sorta like out of site, out of mind I'd say!!
Overhiring
The company I work has recently overhired for all their hospital accounts. This is a great strategy for the company as the work is completed quickly and sent back to the hospital within TAT. Unfortunately, for the MT that means that there is little to no work on the board at all times. The hospital will download 200 minutes of work and the work is gone within the hour! I am having to work longer hours, pull reports from several different accounts, and I am getting less work done. My line count is suffering by 200 to 300 lines a day! I am currently searching for another part-time job to help me get through this, but I was wondering what other MTs do to get through this. I simply cannot afford to lose money much longer.
Overhiring
Congrats: I lost my hourly hospital job in Aug to a big national. Now working for co that pays for no spaces. They are definitely overstaffed and running out of work like crazy. When I figured my pay for 2 weeks it was $6.25 an hour. It has come to the point that a lot of MTs are jumping around, scrounging like dogs to get a job. Terrible. I miss my 40 hours a week and a set schedule so to speak. On top of that I also lost my PT job this Wed due to that hospital doing the same with not using outside company for overflow of week. For you in-house MTs, hold onto your job for dear life. We tried too, but we lost out in the end due to Administration. Freelancing is not cracked up to what it sounds like, too much like a roller coaster for sure and unknown is frightening. My MT ex-coworker has already lost her car to this happening and now she has applied for unemployment but not so sure she is going to get it. Good luck on going back to hospital. I hope the same does not happen to you. I do not wish that any of fellow MT.
Overhiring is becoming a big concern.
Frequently, we are asked to get off the account we are working on as there is not enough work to go around, but this is sporadic, yet has been happening a lot lately so I suspect overhiring. If this continues, I may have to find another job, which is a shame because they are good person there but that will not pay my bills.
Overhiring and hospital MT
I hope your friend knows how lucky she is. Some of our doctors fussed about server issue problems with this new company. We could not get work, so hospital did not get work. This week has been better so maybe it got fixed. I wish our hospital would bring us back. Hospital had excellent MTs, but they did not want to spend money on new equipment which was always breaking down and really we needed more MTs on evening shift which we had none which was crazy because my ex-hospital was huge. I never could understand why they did not have at least 2-3 girls on 2nd and 3rd shift and then we got behind a little, not much, but it was mostly due to hospital dictating system, then a few docs complained to administration and that was itm out the door and we were history. I think we did excellent for the work volume we had. The thing is that I do not understand is that they got rid of use acute-care and cardiology MT, but kept the in-house radiology girls, and luckily my acute-care friend had a friend in radiology dept so they called her and asked her to come and work for them FT, so back to the hospital she goes hourly rate again too. She is lucky. We were a good group of girls who worked very good together, but as usual Administration never asked us our opinions on how to improve anything. They never listened but what else is new. What it boils down to there is no security in the job field anymore.
A small national is a national company that is smaller
than a big national.  There are a few "big" nationals, where they have hundreds, if not thousands of employees.   I work for what I call a small national, only has about 30 employees.    An MTSO could also be considered a small national. 
This economy is so bad, and the past overhiring
have made MTSOs scared, I believe. I sent out a zillion resumes a day and finally ended up with 1 full-time and 1 prn just in case the FT runs out of work. It took a year while I worked at a bad place and went broke. But you have got to keep trying, please keep up the faith. Statistically the more you send out the better chance of getting a response. Did not help when Medquist's thousands of MTs left at once too, so the market is flooded right now. Good luck to you.
Overhiring is a problem they can control.
It is their job to create the balance between supply (MTs) and demand (work). 
I went from national to small back to national
My large national has all the resources and money to operate successfully and have decent platform, etc., to work on, the small company did not, and I went back to the national.
have you tried another national?

It seems you may have worked for one national, have you tried any others?  There are a few good ones.  I found a great one, but am keeping my fingers crossed because every time I find one, they start growing and changing (for the worst, in my opinion). 


Unfortunately, it seems to be the trend in our profession.  It could be we will all be out of jobs one day, just all at once in a heartbeat. 


Like the age of automation, didn't people lose jobs and become 'displaced' like all at once? 


I hate to say this, really, because I respect your feelings, but a lot of us lately are running out of work with our nationals.  Complete flipside - I have been running out almost daily, even on 3, 4 accounts.  I just ran out now and am waiting to get some work because I really need the money...


There seem to be no easy answers.  We are all at the mercy of our employers and whatever they decide to do.  Seems there are no laws for people like us...we are like slave labor. 


I hope you find your answers, and I think your Sparkle paper towels are giving some great advice!  (smile)


$36.5K, national and


For national MTs: how many different...

accounts does your national have you on...just curious.


I started with one and now am up to three and they're trying to shove two more accounts on me for a total of five. Simply hate it...would love to have just one primary account again with just one back-up.


As soon as I pick up momentum on the account I'm on at the moment, I get switched over to help out on another.


And yes...I have complained to them already...just wondering if this is the norm nowadays.


what national?
At home work or office work?  How long did it take you to finish the program?  What did you do or say to get hired before graduation?
Does that mean I should keep my job with a national?

Most definitely. Not MQ, another national. sm
I've been going on-line from dawn to midnight to get my hours in.  You know, this has happened with every service I ever worked for between Thanksgiving and mid January, so I'm not hysterical YET! 
my national because she is very....sm

Only ONE out of plenty I am sure do I like because she is communicative, will email you your qa'd reports if you want, and will even call you at home if you request.....I have NEVER met another QA person like her and I nominated her for QA of the month (year if they offered that but they do not - *lol*)


To me, it's all about COMMUNICATION!! 


 


A national,
Can anyone help me out?

Thanks!