A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Synernet at it again - Jeez

Posted: Jan 30, 2014

First the dire email: Mandatory OT by end of week with at least 2 hours on Saturday. Just forget if you had plans for the weekend. Say what time you will be working and have to work those hours and put who okay'd those hours on your timesheet (you might lie you know). So you do that because you want to help the company out and it's nice to have OT again. So today, email, oops, some people cleaned up all the work so no OT today, but still MIGHT have it on Fri and Sat. Just stay tuned and on call. Please check in before working on those days as there might not BE any OT to do. Just check back in 1-hour intervals for more work. Just forget you changed your plans for the weekend for them. Then if there IS OT on Sat, they clean up all the work and guess what? NO WORK ON SUNDAY'S. SOOOOOOO, if you didn't get your hours done on Sunday, IF THERE IS OT DURING THE WEEK, you have to make up those hours PLUS do the Mandatory OT for the week. Otherwise you have to take PTO time for the missed hours or make them up anyway. Then same thing all over again for the weekend and next week!!!!! This is not right. I am NOT an on-call MT. I do not get paid for being an on-call MT. Either have OT or don't have it. If you can't judge your workload any better than that, then you need to hire on-call MTs to take care of the excess. Just my rant. Got it out. So sick of this. I want to help, but this is frustrating. I had plans for my weekend and now they are trashed. I love Synernet, but do not know why they are doing some of the things they are doing lately. I want to help them out, but this is abusive (in my opinion). Okay, all done. You guys judge.

AMEN!!! - Fed up!

[ In Reply To ..]
You hit the nail on the head. I have a life outside of work and I refuse to give up my plans just to keep checking in every hour on my days off to see if there is OT. That is absolute crap. I do agree that it is borderline abusive. This is the MOST disorganized, chaotic company I have ever worked for, and I've worked for many over the years. We need to band together and not allow them to take such advantage of us. I have plans on Saturday that were made several weeks ago and I will not be home at all that day, so they'd better not expect me to be chained to my computer checking for work. I am going to start looking for a new company pretty soon. What a joke.

So happy that I didn't get hired by Synernet - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
When Synernet didn't hire me last summer, I was disappointed, as I had wanted to be part of their team. They didn't hire me because I couldn't take 2 weeks off of my full-time day job to train with them. It was a blessing in disguise. Reading your post today makes me glad that I didn't go to work for Synernet, and it makes me feel terrible for you guys who are there. Somehow I don't feel like what they are doing is legal. Is there any legal recourse you can take?

The only good thing about this mess is I'll probably be able to watch sm - the Super Bowl after all

[ In Reply To ..]
Big panic, mandatory OT, then no work on Sundays ... same ol, same ol. I agree totally with you that they way they judge the workload and their reaction to it is totally ridiculous. And don't forget, you can't use your PTO. You are supposed to make up the time you miss when you are out of work, even though the out of work nonsense was not your fault.

sounds grossly mismanaged - someone flunked staffing 101. Precisely why hospitals - take on services for overflow. ironic or moronic.

[ In Reply To ..]
just wondering.

I too a "Sinnernet" reject in their hiring process. Their loss, I'm free any hours, every day. My gain, they sound somewhat...troubled.

You have no idea... - Annoyed

[ In Reply To ..]
They have no idea what they're doing most of the time. If the volume starts to pick up even a little bit, they go into complete panic mode, institute mandatory OT for an entire week, and then people end up running out of work within just a day or two. I honestly think they make up rules and polices as they go. It's absolutely ridiculous.

sounds like mmodal - xoxo

[ In Reply To ..]
Its either no work or OT. No middle ground anymore.

Ran out of work toward end of shift - Synernet MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I am speechless. Tired of ranting. It does not good.

Get your facts straight - Synernet MT

[ In Reply To ..]
The email said 4 hours total with 2 hours on Friday AND/OR Saturday, not ON Saturday. There is no checking back every hour for MOT, only in regular hours if you're out of work. It's not "on call" for MOT. Just tell them when you will do your MOT and check in when you're ready to do it; if you aren't needed you're excused from OT and that's it, you don't have to keep checking back. I'm frustrated too and agree with the rest of what you said.

Get your facts straight - Syn MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Fact is they are out of work this morning and instead of canceling OT for the whole day for you (which they said they would do if you came on and no work) they have said to try back later in the afternoon. Is that not checking back? And even for people who have the day off? What if the morning was the only time you had to work that day? I pretty much call that on call. What do you think?

What is your on-call rate? - cause they owe you that

[ In Reply To ..]
If they are putting you "on-call" they need to pay you for on-call.

BTW, just because they say jump, you really don't have to ask how high, you can just keep doing your normal schedule.

Synernet at it again - Jeez

[ In Reply To ..]
Not when the days they want Mandatory OT on are the days you have off. You are then officially on call just in case. Even if it is only for a set time. I cannot just go somewhere for those 2 days without checking in. Want to lose your job? Just say no. They hire all the time just for that reason. What are days off for? They know they have you between a rock and a hard place. Why they don't just hire on-call MTs is beyond me. They would only have to pay them for the time they worked then and not keep hiring and firing people. What I hate is their knee-jerk reaction to excess work. They call MTs in for turnaround; why not just hire people for that? Why piss their people off? Like they just don't care about the fact that you have a life outside of them. Don't know what they're dealing with, but don't understand their thinking. Then, of course, no communication. Just blind obedience. Never used to be that way. I think they know they have us. Other places are not much better. Even with all this I have total respect for Synernet and just assume I don't know what they are dealing with or they wouldn't do this. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for awhile yet. Things need to change though.

MOT - LazySue

[ In Reply To ..]
Just a thought but maybe one or more of their clients has given them some flack about TAT and perhaps an ultimatum. Either way, proper staffing solves the problem. I hope you get some type of compensation with MOT if you do put it in. It's rare now days that any incentive is given for anything above and beyond.

I'm still new, but have a question .... SM - Sara

[ In Reply To ..]
Is this MOT compensated as overtime, i.e., time-and-a-half or do they somehow circumvent the law & just pay regular rate per line?

OT pay - Synernet MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Overtime (mandatory or voluntary) is compensated at half your base pay plus production. Just curious, would you mind telling us what your base pay is or what it started out as? I only ask because it has been different for different people for no reason I can figure out.

Get a New Career - Seasoned Transcriber

[ In Reply To ..]
OMG. I think you all need to find new careers. I've been reading the posts on here the last few weeks and you all seem so UNHAPPY. Does anyone have anything good to say? I challenge you to find another company to work for with the benefits S. has, ie. the ET accumulative rate, lower ins. rates, limited ESL dictators. Yes, it can be difficult to run out of work and have OT on top of it, but that's the nature of the beast of transcription these days. Every company has to meet TAT and are competing with each other for contracts. Maybe with the Gov. raises the minimum raise, you can all get jobs at Walmart and probably make as much money as you do transcribing.

I doubt many "seasoned" MTs refer to themselves as a transcriber. sm - Seasoned MT

[ In Reply To ..]
Technically, the term is accurate as in "one who transcribes," but in my 30+ years as a transcriptionist, the term transcriber was used to refer to the equipment on my desk that was used to transcribe. The point is moot. It just seemed odd that someone who had been in the business for a long time would use that term.

As to the points you raised, one can have good benefits and still expect to be treated like a human being, and that means honest and open communication (as in actually answering e-mails and answering questions honestly), and providing enough work. It makes no sense to institute overtime and pay time and a half to some so that the regular MTs getting paid their normal wage have no work. And the overhiring has always been a thorn in my side, not just here but everywhere. You can excuse it by noting short TAT, but an account can be staffed adequately and meet those TATs WITHOUT overhiring and expecting their loyal employees to sit on their thumbs waiting for work, working every day of the week so they can make up time, etc.

Sheesh, I get to tired of this dumb argument! - Ive been a "transcriber" for 37 yrs - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
and we were called transcribers until the early 90's, when AAMT came on scene and decided to re-name the field.

I don't care what we're called ("fools" might be good description - LOL!), but to "transcribe" is what WE do. At least when we're doing straight transcription, which is very rare nowadays. The spoken word goes through OUR ears to OUR brains, and the written text goes from OUR brains out of OUR fingers, through the keyboard and into the med. record.

The machine we used to use, such as Dictaphones, were NOT "transcribers". "Transcribing machines?" Maybe. But in reality, all they did was record, and play back. They did not transcribe.

With VR, that line is blurred, as the spoken word is machine-transcribed. But then again, it's not done in a little box that can be labelled a "transcriber", it's done by software in some MTSO's server, and accessed by our PCs. Neither could be considered a "transcriber". It's just VR software.

Nevertheless, the hideous name "transcriptionists" came to be, and is the norm today. (I note that every time I type this *$C&*!# word, my spell-check rejects it, and underlines it in red. I tend to agree with my spell-check.) The words "transcriber" and "transcriptionist" mean one and the same; one is just an older version of what an MT is called. The same as the newer, and more accurate "medical language specialist". Whatever we may call ourselves, we still have the same skill, the same work ethic, and the same problems as the next MT. To try to belittle another MT into thinking they are somehow "inferior" because they use a term different from what you choose to call yourself is mean, useless, and petty.

I see you didn't read anything else in the post. sm - Seasoned MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I said the point was moot. I started transcribing in 1975 and the cassette machine was the transcriber and I was the transcriptionist. As I said in my post, it doesn't matter. I was just surprised that anyone claiming to be seasoned would use that term. I have never heard any of my colleagues refer to themselves in that way.

Seize the opportunity to bash. Regardless of what the Seasoned Transcriber calls himself/herself, starting a post with "get another job" or whatever it was hardly breeds kindness of spirit. I stand by what I said. Having great benefits, which I admit is something that Synernet offers, does not mean that everyone has to sit and pretend to be happy while their concerns are ignored. Suggesting that people go work at Walmart shows a definite lack of compassion on the part of Seasoned Transcriber.

But go ahead ..... keep harping about the name situation. For the record, I thought and still think MLS is pretentious, like sanitation engineers and all of the other mocked up titles we give to people doing crap work, MT included.

I have found a new job that is as good or better - soon to be ex-SynMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Pay is more than 7CPL, get paid shift differentials, weekend differential, no mandatory overtime, and no work on holidays unless you volunteer. Bennies are comparable. Also Synernet stopped paying longterm disability for new employees, but this company pays long and short. My new company even provides the equipment, and they are flexible with your schedule.

Where? - Looking Too

[ In Reply To ..]
Care to share? 7 cpl is just NOT cutting it.

When I applied for Synernet, I applied to many other - companies

[ In Reply To ..]
I was accepted by all of them after testing and interviews. None of them had anything better re cpl. I'm doing okay because lines are very easy and benefits are awesome. Everything is degenerating in this industry, but I've not experienced any of the issues people claim here. I'm not saying they are not true, just that all of this is really not my experience so far.

I'd like to hear past Synernet employees' current employment situations as well.

If you don't mind me asking,... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Could you please email me the contact details for this company if they are hiring? I am losing my accounts to this "new and improved" electronic junk and need to look into all opportunities right now, as this is my only source of income.

It better be 7 cpl which is what I get - and I aced the test

[ In Reply To ..]
transcriptionist for 20 plus years

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