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

My Experience with Superior Global Solutions - cheesey

Posted: Dec 19, 2011

To sum it up, I just got back from the unemployment office.

But for more details of it, here ya go.

I had just become certified and was notified of a paid 90-day internship with Superior Global Solutions (SGS). I quickly accepted the offer given that so many people I know have such a hard time finding work in their field. This internship popped up a week after becoming certified. I just wanted experience more than anything.

I went through the 90-day internship with SGS and was really happy with it. They did teach me through it. Something invaluable to a new MT. The ladies who coached me were really nice. Always open to questions and quick to respond.

I was offered full-time employment with SGS after the 90-day internship. I accepted, but again, more so for the experience. They immediately put me on a new client in addition to the one I had during the internship. The new client was a lot pickier about what they wanted, and they even did operation reports, something I was not taught how to do.

I struggled with it. We had plenty of work, but it was tough. Had me in tears. About a month of struggles, I was notified of how great I was doing and was offered a raise. My line counts were at their worst numbers at this point. I kept on working, getting better and better. I had 1 operative note that was really messed up, and received helpful feedback on that. But other than that, nobody said anything to me. No praise, no critiques. So, I just kept on going.

November comes, and they're "switching clients". Work is scarce. I'm making less than half of minimum wage. They had me working 8-hour shifts. Less than minimum wage was not worth it, not even for the experience. So I e-mailed them telling them that they should pay me minimum wage given the set work hours. They complied. It was rather sad that I had to ask them to legally pay the correct dues.

I went through 2 pay periods of receiving proper pay. Then, they completely switched clients and went on another platform, never giving me any links to download the software needed. Zero work for me. None. I e-mailed and ask around. Four work days of no work, and I don't receive any answer. I finally get an e-mail stating that she needed to call me. Said she'd call me at 3 in the afternoon.

Well, 15 minutes after 3 p.m., the call comes. Due to "low line counts" in November, they are going to terminate my employment. This was after my really low point in line counts. You know, when they said how awesome I was doing and gave me a raise. The lines they quoted on being too low were when I was doing better than when I got the raise.

But here is what is so sketchy. First of, they never said anything about any certain line counts to meet. In the internship, they had set a line count to have a goal for, but when we expressed concern over it, the people said not to worry about that number. It was just something tossed around for reference.

The company had initially stated, during my worst bits and line counts, that I was doing excellent and deserved a raise. And then after that, never said a word otherwise. No helpful warning about falling under their imaginary line. Nothing. Even at other workplaces for me, they would tell an individual who is lacking that they need to pick it up. But I never heard a word.

And I think it was because all was fine for them. They were content with my "low lines" because that's what they were paying for. They could hire numerous other employees at cheap wages and pay that. The moment I asked for minimum wage, they all of a sudden had a problem with the line count.

What a strange coincidence, huh? I went on to tell other people to fight for their rights, but now I feel so guilty. I may have just cost them their job too.

And to top this all off, they terminated my employment 2 weeks ago, and a few days ago, I got a Christmas Card in the mail from them wishing me a happy holidays. That's sick. Real sick.

If you were unhappy with my line counts from over a month ago to the point of wanting to fire me, then why in the world would you send that card out?

I am convinced it was my demand to be paid correctly and legally that made them get rid of me. They have no problem paying you cheap and letting you suffer. The moment you stand up for yourself, they get scared and get rid of you. I was the lowest one on the totem pole, but still caused a stir up from just asking to be paid minimum wage.

I know I'm not the only one who was let go due to sketchy reasons. This company, from my experience, is two-faced. Not worth it.

I have to have an interview to receive my unemployment money. I have to state the reasons behind me getting fired in order to possibly receive the payments. I will say, I feel sorry for whoever is going to interview me because I'm letting it all out. I was not fired because of bad work, and I'm going to make darn sure they know it was not my fault. I was let go because the company is full of greedy bafoons willing to dump numerous people right before the holidays and then send them a Christmas card afterwards to rub it in.

Anyway, stay away from SGS. There's no job security there. None. Even people higher up than me were getting backstabbed with no warning.

cheesey - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
First of all, I am so glad you're okay cheesey. I remember your recent post and I was concerned. I spoke with KB, recruiter at SGS, a few months ago, and let me tell you it wasn't a pleasant experience for me. Also, the "global" in SGS was a huge red flag for me. To me, global equals offshoring.

Secondly, I wish you the best of luck with unemployment. I went through this with another company. It seems the people at UE don't really understand the concepts of MTs being paid on production. I had a couple of very lengthy telephone discussions with them and here's what I told them:

MTs are paid on production and we rely on the company to provide us with work (as promised so often). We are available at the specified hours that they require us to be there, i.e., 8-4, etc. I was ready and willing to perform the necessary duties during that time period. We should not be penalized if the company is unable to provide us with work during that time frame.

Thirdly, I gave UE an earful about what these recruiters "promise us" during the initial telephone conversation, i.e., paid time off, plenty of work, and the list goes on. MTs should not have to suffer for what, IMO, is misrepresentation by these recruiters. At some point somehow, somewhere, these recruiters or the companies themselves MUST be held accountable for their actions.

Anyway, I won my UE appeal and I hope you get what is coming to you, too! Again, this is IMHO, and I wish you the best of luck!

One of SGS's directors is an AHDI bigwig - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
That's so not right.

I hope you stick it to them.

Sticking it to them - Old Pro

[ In Reply To ..]
I hope she sticks it to them, too! I wish somebody would stick it to AHDI as well, as they are enablers of this kind of baloney sausage.

Cheesy, you did the right thing. And it takes a - brave person to stand up

[ In Reply To ..]
for themselves. Don't feel guilty that you encouraged others to request that their companies treat them fairly. You're not to blame here... the greedy MTSOs are. I also feel the online schools are a huge problem as well. I don't know how they can - with a straight face - even suggest that, after completion of their program(s), new MTs will be able to have a successful career "working from home." What's the income potential they suggest these days? Is it still $60,000/year working from home? Yeah... right. I consider it fraud if they do that.

I am not new to this field. I've seen it go from a well-paying well-respected career in the early 90s to basically a joke. I've seen substantial pay cuts, loss of bonus/incentive pay, horrible benefits (if any), acceptance of cruddy VR technology (with a 50% cpl cut) and junk produced by ESL workers overseas, and I've also had the pleasure of logging in to begin my 8-hour FT/emp shift only to sit with no work and not get paid a dime for it. My savings... gone. My pay cut between my last layoff because I was "making too much" to now... 20% baseline cpl cut, zero incentive pay. We have many problems that we have to overcome if we plan to stay in this career and be able to make it... even if the situations I described above haven't affected a certain portion of the MTs out there... unfortunately it's only a matter of time before it gets them too. IMO, the biggest concern should be that of NJA. It's... well... NJA is BS. There's no other word for it. If you are a FT employee, you log in for work, and your employer isn't providing any work, we should be paid for our time! The way it stands now - with FT/emp MTs just sitting back and accepting the fact that they are not being paid - is actually enabling the MTSOs to overhire. They hire 10 MTs while they only have enough work to keep 2 busy throughout their shift and just leave them circling the work pool like vultures waiting to swoop down for every scrap of work that comes in. It's a great way to definitely meet TAT, isn't it? Oh... and if we don't meet our line requirements - even if it's because they're not giving us work - they can take away our benefits. And, depending on your company, PTO can be calculated by your production rate as well, so you can basically lose your time off/vaca days by not earning any. If we can get rid of the overhiring situation, we can start to see a little bit of improvement by 1) Actually being able to keep busy throughout the day and make our min line count pay every shift (it's better than nothing) 2) May actually see some of those incentive bonuses come back to encourage productivity 3) An MT may start being paid a CPL based on their experience and ability to produce instead of being let go when multiple lower-paid MTs are hired to replace them. 4) This is really optimistic, but the MTSOs may finally wake up when it comes to providing steady accounts/dictators to keep MTs productive instead of account bouncing or cesspool accounts with multiple ridiculous client specs.

Some may argue that standing up for ourselves will lead to everything going front-end voice wreck or 100% offshore. IMO, that's an MTSO scare tactic. We've seen the junk produced by India and VR. They still need us at this point. If they didn't, we'd all be out of work.

So, Cheesy, I would like to say thank you. You did what's right, even though I'm sure you feel like you just took a kick to the gut. It sucks to lose a job... especially when you try very hard to be a good employee. Fortunately for me, I've been NJA free over the last several months. However, now that I know what my rights are (I've been completely misinformed by the DOL in the past), I will be keeping track of every second I sit without work in the future and will be filing for unemployment the first time it happens. I'm not putting up with it. If they fire me... fine. It's better than being taken advantage of.

Thanks again, and good luck to you. It might take some time, but you'll find something better.

Thank you all - cheesey

[ In Reply To ..]
I will make a note of what you said to UE. That was really helpful too. I didn't want to talk their leg off, but I also wanted to make sure they knew how this career works. You summed it up really well.

I've been wanting to let this out for a while. I had zero intentions of staying with that company long-term from the get go. I just wanted experience, and boy did I ever get some...and I'm not talking about just transcribing.

I'm just frustrated. I don't really know of any route to go in terms of a different career. I struggled in finding something remotely interesting to me. I'm going to continue as an MT for now. Maybe I'll find something better in the meantime.

But thanks again all. These past few weeks have been really frustrating.

your tale - not an SGS MT

[ In Reply To ..]
I love how no one ever thinks the things they do wrong count. It's only if the company does something, well then they are horrid.

IMO, if they invested training hours in you, it wasn't you asking to be paid minimum wage that got you canned, it was because you were an unqualified MT. You said you were "certified" which I guess really means you took a certificate MT course, i.e. you were unqualified when they took you on as an intern.

Depending on the state you live in, getting UE might be difficult.

Oh and just a little word of advice, if you go on an interview and start bad-mouthing the company you were fired from, don't look for an offer any time soon.

Good luck as you take your skill set and try to sell it.

That's GARBAGE - and you know it

[ In Reply To ..]
First of all, I don't care if an MT is new or has been doing this for years, NO COMPANY has the right to hire a FT employee (last I knew, even if you just came off an internship, FT employee means FT employee) and NOT pay for their time as a baseline.

Second, don't try to stick up for these companies who take advantage of MTs who are new or coming off an internship. That's a load of bull. They know very well what they're taking on when they hire someone with little experience and the time it takes to get them up and running. The problem they're having now is that they are going to have a hard time hiring multiple new MTs at a reduced rate (while they fire a few of their higher-paid ones) and expect them to sit there with no work. They haven't been hiring newbies to be nice... they've been making money off them and meeting TAT by having numerous MTs jump at 1 freakin' voice file.

Lastly, don't insinuate that she is silly enough to bad mouth her former employer during a job interview OR that her skills are so lacking that it's her own fault that this company tried to take advantage of her. Her skills were just fine when they offered her a FT employee position. I guess they were counting on the fact that she would just be passive about the NJA situation, keep her mouth shut, and go broke.

Your post was condescending and nasty. Good luck as you take your attitude and try to sell it. Didn't work on me.

did I miss something? having had schooling and then certified - how is it OP reports were a foreign WT?

[ In Reply To ..]
As for the x-mas card - obviously another employee handling general HR duties has not updated her workgroup list of the currently employed; by time line stated by the OP, preparation of mailings and the US postat system - those babies proabably went out at the same time she was canned or shortly thereafter. Not a BFD anyway.

I also wonder why stepping up the pace did not come automatically - as a production worker, that's what happends to make some money and make minimum wage right? was this hourly? maybe I am confused but cpl has no minimum wage rule. If it were cpl and it did not divide out by your hours to meet minimum wage - then step it up.

For me - Company has their expectations of daily lines, I have my expectations of what I need to survive. I meet theirs and go after more to meet mine. Works for me, or I'd be working inhouse for hourly pay, attending office parties, taking breaks, and chit-chatting at will.

don't jump on me, I think they both made mistakes.

I'm not jumping on you & don't play the victim - when addressed in a tone

[ In Reply To ..]
similar to your own. I don't care if she graduated from the cruddiest matchbook school out there (which I'm sure blurred the line between "certified" and CMT to the best of their ability to their recruits/students), this MTSO obviously thought she was good enough to hire her for a FT employee position. When are you going to stop blaming her for her poor skills and start blaming the poor management for hiring someone who (according to you and only you) is so bad at what she does? Accusing her of being a bad or unskilled MT is irrelevant does not make sense here... unless you're just trying to get a dig in to be nasty. They hired her. They should pay her. Period.

And, yes, it turns out that if you are hired as a FT employee and your employer is not providing work during your schedule, you can file for partial unemployment. This was part of Cheesey's original post as well as responses trying to help her with her interview with the DOL so the twits there understand that she is a FT employee eligible for UE and not a "production worker" who does not qualify.

For us (FT employees), a company has their minimum line requirements and quality expectations. They have a RESPONSIBILITY to give us enough work to meet at least that line requirement during our agreed upon schedule/shift. If you're gonna waste our time, you're gonna pay for it.

Good luck finding that in-house position.

yes you are (jumping on me). appreciate your opinion. - mine based on 2 sides to everything. NM

[ In Reply To ..]
x

Hey MTSO, you're BUSTED! NM - EllaNess

[ In Reply To ..]
NM

Typical. No one is allowed to be right unless you are hateful. sm - Disgusted with this board

[ In Reply To ..]
xx

Ummm - cheesey

[ In Reply To ..]
I admitted to having poor line counts. I cried about it. I even apologized when I turned in reports with lots of blanks. I felt horrible for my inexperience. This was right when they hired me full time.

But during all of that, they said I was doing great and gave me a raise. Not much of one, but a raise is a raise.

As for the Christmas card, I get the shipping aspect of it, but they quoted me as failing my line "requirements" a month beforehand and fired me based on that. If my lines were so horrid a month ago to the point of firing me, why did they wait so long to do it? Oh yeah, it was only AFTER I had requested them to pay me minimum wage that they suddenly scrambled to find something. They were fine paying what they were. Had no problems with my line counts. Then I requested minimum wage during the time of low workload. Well, now isn't that just funny.

As for my experience. Yes, I'm a noob. Go ahead and step on me and my lack of skills all you want. It only makes you look like an ass. I accepted this job to get the one thing you're stepping on me for, experience. Experience to improve my working skills. So really, get off your high horse.

I have no doubt my skills were worse during the internship. Yet, they decided to hire me. My skills were worse during the first month or so of employment, yet they said I was doing great and gave me a raise. My skills only increased from then on out.

Nobody said anything about a minimum line count to meet. Nobody said anything to me about falling below the line. Seems like a nice thing to make a comment on if you notice someone falling behind. We did it at a different place of work (not MT). Told the woman she was falling behind. And when she did not increase her work like asked, she got fired.

But nothing was said. I was not the only one who got fired during this last month or so. Many others were canned also. Many QAs canned too. They even gave QAs 60 minutes to choose whether to become an MT at cheap wages or to quit the company. 60 minutes!

No, this company is bad. I've seen far too much in addition to my own experience to say much of anything in their behalf.

Regarding your post on SGS - Suzy Q

[ In Reply To ..]
So sorry to hear of your bad experience with SGS. I too was hired when I first started working on-line. I had about 25 years of being MT behind me, so I definitely was not new at this. I too had a bad experience with them. They made promises of lots of work and what a great company they were. KB is definitely 2-faced with her sweet Southern accent. She pressured me to hurry up and get my equipment so I could start working there. Then once ready to go, they gave me virtually no work. Also was put on VR which I had never done so of course I was very slow -- no money there. I just got discouraged with being switched around on accounts and decided to voluntarily leave the company. I totally agree with what you said and would never recommend them to anyone as they make false promises and do not give you work, once hired.

RE: your SGS experience - still working there

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm sorry that happened to you --- and I think I know who you are.

I have been with SGS for a bit over a year. I was on that newer client account that work dwindled in November. I'm surprised. I was given the links to download and all information for the new account. There is no shortage of work, whatsoever.

I'm sorry your experience was poor. SGS has been good to me, one of the best I've been at and I've been an MT for many, many, many years.

For everyone's "worst" company, is another person's best.

Good luck going forward, but don't bad mouth SGS.

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