MTSO's - Most of you are struggling and you don't know why. - READ THIS.

There are three areas where many MTSO's run off the track:

1.  Poor recruiting, hiring and training practices.

2.  Poor supervision, from poor selection of supervisors to lack of training for new supervisors to failure to supervise your supervisors.

3.  Inadequate compensation.  Notice that I didn't say "not having the highest compensation".  Between "inadequate" and "the highest" there's a ton of room for ALL of you to improve, but you must AT LEAST come up to "adequate" - where almost none of you are right now.

RECRUITING/HIRING/TRAINING:  Let's face it.  Most MTSO's are just "spagetti-throwers" when it comes to staffing, and that includes our largest companies.  You're burning your way through the MT labor pool, and NOT ONE OF YOU has the faintest idea what that unsophisticated management style is costing you - and yes, I do mean in actual dollars and cents.

Why?  More ads, more recruiters on the payroll, more training dollars, more low-production time for new people, more procedural errors that have to be addressed, it's all DOLLARS AND CENTS DOWN THE DRAIN.   If you think that a marginal line of transcription from a new recruit costs you the same as a marginal line (the NEXT line of transcription) from people with longevity, you're barking mad.

The staffing problems almost always start in recruiting, with a lack of complete transparency and forthrightness, and often blowing billows of smoke up the candidate's skirt.  Many of you think that it's necessary to be coy about your line rates - apparently believing this some kind of competitive advantage, or proprietary information.  Well, it's neither.  If you'd really like to know what constitutes competitive advantage (in terms of hiring), by rights I should make you submit a resume, fill out an application and take a test before I disclose this, but I won't.  

You won't like this, but if you're ready for it here it comes:  A COMPANY'S EARNED REPUTATION AS A GREAT EMPLOYER IS ITS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN ANY LABOR MARKET. 

 Not the line rate... 

...nor blowing smoke with glowing descriptions of your lovely company...

...nor proclaiming yourself to be "MT-friendly" (I love the "one-big-happy-family" line that so many of you use)...

...nor making recruiting claims that prove to be false...

...nor refusal to provide critical information that people should have EVEN BEFORE they're asked to submit resumes, fill out applications or test for your positions.  "NO PHONE CALLS, PLEASE!" - reallly?

I'll get into the other two items in another post, but suffice it to say that if you're failing in either of them, you aren't going to have that recruiting advantage that I noted above anyway.

Put it another way.  It's costing MTSO's a ton of money that they think they're saving by doing everything on the cheap.  Your companies don't run properly, you have MOUNTAINS of personnel problems that you wouldn't otherwise have, and it even impacts your ability to service your clients properly - just because you don't know how to run a company properly.

I suggest you remedy that shortcoming and do so as rapidly as possible, because it's tearing this industry apart and has resulted directly in the deterioration of the labor pool ON WHOM, VR OR NO VR, YOUR BOTTOM LINE STILL DEPENDS AND WILL DEPEND INTO THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. 

The fact is, a lot of you MTSO's wouldn't really care to work for your own company as an MT - and if you don't know why (I bet you do), you need to be finding out why.  It's Job One for you.

Here's a starter: 

1.  The fastest, least expensive line of transcription any company can produce is one that can be delivered directly to the client without needing to be touched more than once.

2.  The highest level of satisfaction that any company can deliver to its clients comes from complete reports delivered in a timely manner CONSISTENTLY.

Now, ask yourself who is most likely to give you that line, and who is going to generate those reports?  If you know the answer to that question, maybe you can figure things out from there.