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

Keystrokes - a good company gone bad sm - Sad but true

Posted: Apr 03, 2011

KS seems to be getting lower and lower in the popularity with emplooyees test. I worked for them once but left for the reasons everyone is talking about. There was no communication. The owner was never truthful and everyone is afraid of her because of her horrible temper tantrums. The accounts are overstaffed - you might get put on another account but it will be overstaffed too. The only accounts that are not overstaffed are the terrible ones that no one wants to work on and it is impossible to make decent lines on them. I have watched postings on this board for a long time and KS folks just seem more and more angry. I don't think anyone would come here and lie. People who have work don't post lies saying they don't. People who got pay cuts are not coming on here lying about it. Managers who have left (I think at least 3) don't do it for no reason. The things I have noticed are (1) KS has recently cut everyone's pay in a big way. (2) Good managers have left the company. (3) No one seems to have work. Overstaffed and still hiring? (4) Getting paid late a couple of times lately.

Management always comes here with the same answers such as - I have been with K for 4 years (or 2 or 6) and love it, It it not perfect but I have been paid on time (that one flies out the window lately I see), Keep bugging them and they will give you another account, I have plenty of work and make plenty of lines, I am glad I left MQ to come here, etc. Management usually is ksmt, KSMT but the lines are always the same.

I never want to see a good company get bashed. Good companies might get people saying things about them if it is sour grapes, but there are too many people mad at KS and WebM - it is telling. KS is just a crummy place to work, big pay cuts, dishonest owner, ineffective management, overhiring. Others say the owner's focus is not on employees but on taking trips, buying big houses, gambling. That is unfortunate because the MTs are the ones who supply the money to do these things.

It is sad but true - Ex-KS too

[ In Reply To ..]
Everything said is very true. Have been through 2 paycuts, many late paychecks, threats, the lack of work, and the list goes on. There is definitely no communication, very little concern for employees, but more focus on expansion at the expense of employees. Respect is demanded, not earned. Concerns are ignored, help is not given, how can anyone be loyal given the above circumstances. It could have been a great company and expansion would have been great if it had been planned and not at the expense of employees. Everyone has a title and it has gone to their heads, instead of making things better. Is there karma? While I don't wish ill will on anyone, I would like to see the shoe on the other foot as far as management and some leads go. Would they be happy with their paychecks, would they enjoy begging for work? I doubt it.

It was hard to be loyal when I felt I had been beaten, lied to, and taken advantage of.

I use the initials KSMT but I am not management... - KSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
not everyone is unhappy at Keystrokes...I, along with many other KS employees love working there...sorry it was a bad fit for you....

I also use KSMT and am not management. sm - KSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I have never heard of the owner having temper tantrums, and I have been a lead for a few years. Pay was cut by 4%, which is not "in a big way". Am I happy with a pay cut? No, but it's less than other companies from what I understand.

I don't really care what the owner does in her personal life, but how would you know about "taking trips, buying big houses, gambling" and that she has temper tantrums? Were you a manager? I have also never found her to be dishonest; any time she says she will do something, she does it. I don't have very much interaction with her personally, but there is no reason to.

Keystrokes is still a good company. Perfect? No, but better than most. For some reason, there are a few really hateful people on this board that seem on a mission to destroy their reputation lately. It's really getting out of hand, as several people have posted in the last week or so.

Read the past posts - everything is there. Point made. - Yep - KSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Do you think any MT would get on here and say 4% cut is not big or compare it to other companies and act like it is an okay thing?

The information in the posts are on the board - a lot. I am not saying anyone is dishonest, but it has been said. As far as personal life - if it didn't affect anyone else, it would not be anyone's business. But if pay is cut to finance expansions, grand lifestyles, big cars, and other things at the expense of loyal MTs, it becomes their business.

Maybe it is a good company, or maybe it is better than most - I don't work for any of them. But it sure has a lot of bad PR from the MTs, no matter what management or the cheerleaders say. I wonder if it is getting "out of hand" (I have seen that in a few KSMT posts lately) or if it is just the truth leaking out?

could not have said it better . . . - well said . . .

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

KS is still a good company. - sm

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With the tighter and tighter TATs that are being asked in the never-ending and very stiff competition for accounts, MTSOs are promising hospitals the world. They have to do this to compete. The only way you can give that kind of TAT is to overstaff so every report is done as soon as it arrives. This is a problem with most all MTSOs nowadays. I note that with the pay scales we were issued in the pay cuts, KS is still one of the highest paying out there. That is why I am there. They were late with pay twice, but we still got paid, and their reason is very plausible.

A lot of the bashing here is done by ex-KSers who have an ax to grind or malcontents within the ranks that don't realize the world economy has changed and that we should all be looking for our way out of this profession. It is nothing peculiar to KS; KS is still better to work for, and believe me I have worked for a lot of them.

Still, KS is a good company, and the boss knows the morale in this industry is down and is trying to compete in the industry and still make concessions as KS can to keep at least our morale a bit higher. I like working for them, too. Good people, fair QA, even on that really bad account, which isn't so bad except for around 3 or 4 of them that are intranscribable. The rest you just have to get used to (and you do, then they are easy), and they have lots of templates to help and you get credit for the template, too.

I am happy there, and I am not a manager at all.

wow, you know a lot about the competition, TAT, and MTSOs business... - just be honest

[ In Reply To ..]
you are saying you are on a difficult account, you know how many bad dictators are on that account and about QA on that account. Also, you feel your fellow MTs who are not as happy as you to work on a hard account and take pay cuts are malcontents. You also know what the MTSOs are promising hospitals, admitting the accounts are overstaffed, and seem to know what every other company is paying compared to KS.

But, you are happy and you are not even a manager. Wow. Why don't you just tell us to offer to type for free, send gifts to the company, and beg for more QA?

The company is managed poorly, honesty is nonexistent, and everyone is basically told to love it or lump it. There has to be better out there than this. It was better on site than it has now become. KS may not be the problem, but it is part of it as are some of the others. If the "world" was not promised the company might be smaller but the employees would not be the ones getting the shaft. Think so?

Believe what you want, but this industry is going overseas. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Use the MTSOs while you can to get into another profession that is in demand. The MTSOs are as much victims of globalization as anyone, and transcription is one of the professions to continue to go overseas because our globalist politicians promised India, et al, that they would be sending more to them. The companies that do this get government kickbacks and incentives to do so, and the ones that resist are undermined by the low wages paid in India. KS does not offshore, but they will or they will die as a company or be bought out. Resistance is futile in this global economy. Better to learn to live in it.

That still doesn't give KS the right to abuse their - employees as they have...sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Keystrokes is not a good company. Good companies do not cuss and scream over the phone at their most dedicated and hardworking employees so they'll work harder. They don't have ridiculous expectations of their employees, ones they can't fulfill themselves. They always pay on time, and they don't expect their employees to do ANYTHING extra without paying what they owe. They also don't dismiss paycuts as if they were meaningless. KS does not fit this mold. They can blame their problems on overseas if they want to, but they were this way long before the bad economy. Everyone was just scared to speak....until now.

That has never happened to me. Sorry you went through that. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
But that scenario is possible with any service that promotes the wrong person that is not prepared to handle the pressures of leadership. Those that see it as a power trip always abuse, then blame the victim.

Hope you heal, please don't remain a victim.

When the person on a power trip is the CEO, it is an unavoidable situation. Best to remove yourself. - from the situation

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

I don't doubt you will offshore in the not too distant future. sm - We all have to make choices

[ In Reply To ..]
If a company finds out they will go under if they don't offshore, I am sure that will be the decision. We have all known transcription is a dying field here. But the truth remains that editing, VR, and MT will remain needed in the US for a very long time in some form or another. With the treatment of US MTs by MTSOs (to maintain their bottom line) Americans are going to quit choosing this as a field at all - then we will be left with a gap in the industry. Maybe this has to fall apart for everyone to wake up to what is happening.

With words such as global economy, globalization,globalist politicians being thrown around, it sounds like everyone is on a fast track to India. That is not true. But I think it will be used as total truth to justify what is being done to the American MTs by MTSOs.

Think about a candy bar. The company is losing money, chocolate prices are up, gas costs has caused raised transport rates, equipment is more expensive. The company is not taking a hit - but they have to pay the employees, the light bill, the chocolate bill and everything else. Magically, the cost is passed onto the consumer - the chocolate bar just got noticeably smaller at the same cost - as did the Big Mac, the cereal box, the portion sizes at restaurants, etc.

Who is the consumer who bites the bullet in our business. It is not the MTSO - they will maintain their bottom line. Not the doctor or the hospital. I know - sock it to the MT. Overhire to please the hospital or clinic, making it impossible to make enough lines to live for the MT. Promise it will get better. Pinch on benefits - fewer paid days off, no benefits, bad or no insurance. Cut their pay and tell them they are lucky to have a job.

Your last line - "Better learn to live with it." No, we cannot learn to live with it - we have to live. We have to eat, educate our children, pay our rent or house payment. Many of us have lost our homes, can't afford the necessities much less the extras. We worked for 10-15-20 years or more to learn every speciality, every accent, every medical word we were expected to know. We improved our English skills and bought Cphones and Laniers, Stedman books and spellcheckers, new computers, foot pedals. We worked like slaves and took tongue lashings from management and QA. We perservered and hoped to be able to make it to retirement before it all crashed.

It is crashing. We are doing our best - making much, much less. BUt, we don't want to give MTSO a free ride - especially as most of them are cashing in at the expense of those who have made their companies. Don't think there is no shame involved for you - you are just living in a dream world and making the rules as you go. If we fail, so do you. Better learn to live with that.

Well said - In total agreement. - Not only transcription going overseas.

[ In Reply To ..]
Transcripton is not the only profession going overseas. Have you ordered a computer from Dell lately? I did, I spoke to several people in India, and I still did not get the correct computer. I had some service issues and again I had to deal with someone in India who did not understand the English language and after a few hours, in complete frustration gave up.

What I can do is look my employer in the eyes and say I have worked hard for you, I have put in ungodly hours for you, gave up too much family and personal time for you and in return, yes I get a paycheck, but I am still cash poor and unable to pay my bills. What I am sorry for is all the time I have said to my kids and family that I was sorry but I had to work that night or that weekend instead of spending time with them because for years the company needed me, but now when I am in need of more work to get by, phone calls are not returned and e-mails go unanswered. What a wake up call this has been.

I am not the CEO as you suggest, not even a manager. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I jumped from one service to another, trying to find a good one that I could live with, and found it at KS.

I am a realist about things. What is going down politically and economically in our country and the world is bigger than any of us. To resist is to be unrealistic; you can't resist it and win. You probably need a few hard knocks to learn that, though. I do not see the MTSOs as getting a free ride. They are being forced into a situation that will probably destroy most of them, as MTs leave the profession. But that is what they want - to produce a scenario that will make it where they HAVE TO OFFSHORE whether they like it or not.

For now, KS is doing better than the other companies at accommodating its employees, and I am grateful for that. It could be a lot worse.

This explains a lot - now I am depressed and MAD. SM - Working harder, making less

[ In Reply To ..]
Questions have been answered for me. I wondered why there never seemed to be enough work. Asked for new account and there was no work there. Figured out overhiring was the problem. Now I know why fromt he above poster. If MTSO promises things that cannot be delivered by a regular staff (like 4-hour turn-arounds 24 hours a day) there is no way it can be done except by overhiring. That means I will have work for half a day (I am full time) just to make sure the turn around time promised is met. Well, I think that stinks. Don't promise what the staff can deliver in a normal work day. If you hire someone full time knowing you don't have enough work, that is a lie. People have to have days off too. Hospitals don't overhire, so why do you let them muscle you into doing it? I feel so unprotected. Working for MTSOs that do this will make us all homeless. You say all MTSOs HAVE to do this. If that is true, I will leave the profession or go to the hospital to work. This is just wrong!

Did you know the lead can take work away from MT's - Was told that by a lead

[ In Reply To ..]
One of the perks is that if a lead needs more money/reports, it is ok to go in and take work away from MT's. I say pay the leads more money and leave what little work we have alone.

would this be considered . . . - another name for . . .

[ In Reply To ..]
cherry picking?

I'm a lead and that is not true. Leads get the FIFO work as everyone else. - KSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I think it's funny that everyone here believes the negative posts like they are gospel yet the positive posts must be suits. If there were so many unhappy people at KS, there would not be over 600 of us, nor would people celebrate 1, 5, 7, 10 year anniversaries, as posted in the newletter. Geesh.

My lead major cherry picker - She must be misinformed.

[ In Reply To ..]
She goes in and takes the plain films and laughs about it, especially when no one wants to do anything other than plain films, she figures if all the plain films are gone, they are forced to do the work. It is not funny when on the receiving end and doing every type of report. She did say she had the right to take work away from MT's because that is what she was told.

Leads do get first choice of work as part of perks. - you can believe it

[ In Reply To ..]
The reason bad posts are believed is because they are specific and multiple. These posts are not belly-aching. They are just facts, like it or not. Maybe you don't get choices for work - but it is common - not just at KS. Cherry picking as well as justs taking work when it is sparse. It has always happened and will always happened. I also think it is probably ok. Leads have a hard job - this is a perk they probably deserve.

leads have access to control flow and get it done - and so YES they take - what they need first. and it is wrong

[ In Reply To ..]
.

I suppose that in a world where you're biggest hope is an easy job. - that would be the obvious paranoia.

[ In Reply To ..]
Leads have much more to deal with than sitting there going over the work load so as to single out the easiest reports. Your premise is ridiculous and only shows your shortsightedness.

And your post shows you do not pound the keyboard for a living, getting pay cuts on top of that... - You are out of the loop

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

You are wrong. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Been doing this for years and years.

That is exactly what happens - Another MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't work for your company, but the same thing happens where I work. The lead does take work away, and I have seen it happen at every company I have worked for. As soon as it gets close to the end of the pay cycle, every job with a high line count is gone, and it has happened when I have had them in my queue and I have watched them disappear!!

what I do not understand is . . . . - why anyone . . .

[ In Reply To ..]
is surprised by this . . . cherry picking happens day in, day out and it happens everywhere . . .

does not make it ethical by any means. - company claims first in-first out. pffft

[ In Reply To ..]
.

Work hard and become a lead if it bothers you. nm - Kemployee

[ In Reply To ..]
x

EVERYONE can't be a lead!! - BizzeeBee

[ In Reply To ..]
So, when a company employs a horrible policy like allowing leads to cherrypick instead of PAYING THEM MORE, rather than criticize the lousy company and its policy you endorse everyone else jumping on the bandwagon!!

That's some set of ethics you have there.

This is also why dayshift runs out of work. - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
MTs are learning that evening/swing shift is the place to be if you want to make money. Demanding dayshift is just asking to run out of work.

WOW you sound miserable. - Kemployee

[ In Reply To ..]
I work there and I like it a lot. If I have an issue I go to the top. I won't listen to RUMORS. Sounds like someone is just miserable and trying to start something. Keystrokes is a great place to work. Things happen, change happens, but it all works out in the end. I have been with the company a while now and I like it at Keystrokes! The grass is not greener. Trust me, I have worked at other companies, every one has an issue at some point. No place is PERFECT. I am very satisfied and I get along great with all my co-workers. Sorry you are so miserable.

How can you get along with coworkers when you are not to speak with coworkers? - If that is the case, you work in the office.

[ In Reply To ..]
If you have to go to the top, then no one else is helping you either, so basically in the same boat as the rest of us. You would be miserable too if you weren't making enough money and kept running out of work.

We are allowed to speak with other coworkers.. - AnotherKSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I personally am friends with several people on my account and otherwise. I have never been told to not speak with another coworkers. That is a complete lie. Like I said before, if you are not happy, leave. If you don't work there, then maybe mind your own business.

Not a lie - the lead said we are not to contact another coworker. - Depends who you are friends with.

[ In Reply To ..]
..

No on is going to stop me from talking to my friends/acquaintances, - this is after all a free country.

[ In Reply To ..]
..

I have it in writing that we cannot contact another employee - Another lie?

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..

I have never been told that.... - happy MT

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Not talking to co-workers, WHAT? - Kemployee

[ In Reply To ..]
I have never been told that either.

I have also used KSMT and am not management - Also KSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm not a very frequent visitor to this board (maybe once or twice every few weeks), but I have used the name KSMT several times. I think there are a few others who have used that name as well. I am not management and never have been. I have been with KS for 3 years and I have had absolutely no problems during my time there. Are they perfect? No, they aren't. I don't think any company is perfect. Do I think they are overall a decent company to work for? Yes, I do. I have certainly worked for much worse companies. I have plenty of work and get plenty of lines. Maybe not everyone has had the same luck I have, but I am a satisfied employee. I really do believe that they truly care about their employees and want to do the best that they can to make sure everyone is happy, but you can't please everyone.

Yes, and you have been there 3 years, "no company is perfect," yada, yada - Same station, same tune

[ In Reply To ..]
"Been there 3 years"
"Are they perfect? No"
"I have plenty of work"
"they care about their employees"
"I am not management."

Same lines, same tune, same cheerleader routine. You love getting pay cuts. You don't care if leads cherry pick. You are just one happy camper - all the way around. Because you are lucky! Come on...you are just unbelievable. If this was true, all those other companies you worked for would have worked harder to keep you on staff. You are either CEO or management. Doesn't matter to me - it is just too funny how predictable you are.

That is not true... - anotherKSMT

[ In Reply To ..]
some people are actually happy working at Keystrokes...If you are not, then leave the company..no one is making you stay. If you don't even work for Keystrokes, then what are you complaining about. Get over it already.

AMEN! Also notice that.... - BizzeeBee

[ In Reply To ..]
You said it!!! THANK YOU.

Also notice that these same "defenders" (KSMT, etc.) are ALL OVER THIS BOARD, on every single thread in which Keystrokes is mentioned, defending it. Also they post IMMEDIATELY in reponse, not 2 or 3 days later.

Of course, that will probably CHANGE NOW in light of the fact that it's now been exposed.

are we not allowed to defend a company we like working for? - happy MT

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

HIGHLY suspicious - BizzeeBee

[ In Reply To ..]
Of course you are. But the way that it is done is HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS: The same refrain repeated over and over, the way the defenders jump on so quickly, and not ONE critical post remains unanswered.

It's *almost* as if someone was monitoring this board all day to watch for Keystrokes-related posts.

Do you even work for Keystrokes? - just wondering

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

Does it matter? nm - observer

[ In Reply To ..]
nm

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