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

Home or On-site-which is easier - Simmone

Posted: Jan 14, 2010

I was wondering which is better--working on site for an office or hospital or working at home? I would appreciate any advice.

office/home - my opinion

[ In Reply To ..]
I really have no choice. I am working at home. There is nothing at the local hospital/clinic and being a town of 2200 people there is not much to offer. I used to work for a large University which I truly loved, but they have offshored their work also. I also worked for MQ in the office in San Diego and really enjoyed the companionship of all my fellow employees and was a supervisor, but had good fun, but also worked hard.

I guess if I were to do it again and had the choice, I would work in-house. But working at home I have the chance to do some doggie day care on the side, to help supplement my income.

It all depends if you are a self-starter, work well alone, and don't mind not seeing your fellow employees at all. I have no children so did not have to juggle that and work at the same time. I love my hours though, early morning and get down early afternoon.

I would say - Fingers

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Working at home has worked best for me. Not only do I save money on gas and other car expenses, clothes, etc., I completely enjoy the freedom to work in my PJs, take breaks whenever I want, and do not get involved in office politics. I have made much more money at home than I ever did in-house. If I worked in-house and got paid by the line, that might not be so bad but that was never the case. BUT BE WARNED - you have to be very serious and committed to this working at home gig. You have to have a self-discipline that does not come easy to many and this situation is not for everyone. You really should set goals for yourself above and beyond what the company sets for you. I have found that I am much more productive working at home alone.

Working at home also need to know what you are - doing, cringing to see some

[ In Reply To ..]
questions on the word board, simple things. From what I read not ready for prime time enters my mind. I am even seeing answers that are wrong. OMG!

Is that so? Why don't you then answer ALL questions asked?...nm - really?

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nm

I only answer when 100% sure- other trained - MTs are seeing the same

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thing happen, I guess just people guessing.

wth - ..

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..

I know - ridic isnt it

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...

Need to know your stuff - MT who knows

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Well, "need to know what your are - doing," really applies to EVERY job/position on the face of the earth and not only to at-home transcribers. I have found over the years that for some reason many MTs (especially at-home MTs) think that a person who works at home knows more and is more skilled, etc. than someone who works in the office -- odd thinking from my perspective. I believe that any MT who works from home (and knows what they are doing :-) ) needs to think about all the time that other things happened for which they had no control over -- just crazy stuff that messed with your head in general or your equipment or even your work load. Even if the MT at home "does know what she is doing is ready for prime time," these are only a few things that affect the day or days of the at-home transcriber. From my perspective, it is ridiculous to even think that if an MT works at home they are "ready for prime time" and the in-office workers are not. I mean lets face it everything is conducted over the Internet using high-speed/broadband and web-based technology and having the computer savvy to perform an MT job is pretty basic. I think that the poster who suggested that MTs who want to work at home are pretty much "anti-social" when it comes to working with other people and are "slough" types who probably really just need to stock shelves at Walmart pretty much hit the nail on the head. I've seen at-home workers who actually came into the office looking like they just rolled out of bed. :-)

It was my experience in-house retained less knowledge - always someone to ask there

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Some people I worked with in-house did not want to think for themselves. Ever. They asked the same questions over and over and never remembered the answers. They didn't keep notes. They spent their entire day asking people to listen to their dictation, asking how to spell a word or a medication, asking docs to clarify things that should have been obvious.

After a year, that behavior gets old. After 5 years, it gets ridiculous. Some people just don't want to (or can't) work independently. They'd never make it working at home because they'll never make producting minimums, they're too busy getting their hand held and reassured they're doing it "right".

That's what I think of as not ready for prime time.

8 months ago, I went in-house from working from home - much less stress

[ In Reply To ..]
No minimum line count, good bennies with low premiums and copays, 12 sick days per year that carry over 12 vacation days that carry over, 12 holidays, day shift, no weekends.

8 months ago . . . - MT who knows

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Well, you experienced a workday the way the real world operates and not like a crazy MT job. There is nothing wrong with having "bennies," low premiums and copays, sicks days, or vacation days, day shift, and no weekends. Why do a lot of transcribers (or maybe it's the management on here) think that is a special treat for MTs to receive the same type of office work environment like everyone else in the business world. . . . I don't get the crazy mentality that is with this MT field. Once again, it is a race to the bottom with MT and MTs are supposed to think that it is okay to be treated as second-class/lower-class workers and that they should not even expect the same benefits or work environment as everyone else in the business world. AMAZING! :-)

8 months ago - Fed up MT

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I can relate to MTs who are treated like second-class/lower-class citizens just because they work from home. I left a job 1 month ago after 2-1/2 years of employment because their staff (helpdesk) continuously left phone messages for me on my day off (Sunday) or emailed me, expecting me to work. They did this throughout my entire employment with them. I continuously asked my manager to have them stop and to respect my work schedule. She said the phone calls would stop and they did for a while and then resumed always. I wasn't even employed full-time or was eligible for PTO. To make matters worse, their helpdesk is located in India (won't reveal the employer's name here), and middle eastern guys were always calling and showed no respect for my established work schedule. It was a vicious cycle of asking the phone calls to stop and they always returned just because they had my phone number. It has been just 1 month and up until a day ago I was still receiving emails from them to work because they still had my email address on their email loops. I even called the U.S. Dept. of Labor because I was so angry. Can you believe it? At least I was able to vent. I KNOW that my next working experience will be better, because I don't believe it could be worse than with that employer. They called me all of the time - absolutely no respect for as an MT. Sometimes working in-house truly IS a better working environment. Good luck to you. :-)

Home or On-site-which is easier - eagles_fan

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It really depends on what kind of person you are and what your priorities are.

I prefer working at home for the following reasons:

1. I save money because I don't have to buy a bus pass every month.

2. I save time because I don't have to go anyplace. I am already there. I have worked in offices within walking distance, but it still takes time to travel from my home to an office.

3. I find it difficult to work in an office because it is distracting having other people around. I can concentrate better and get more accomplished when I work alone.

4. Some offices have office politics and personality differences among the staff. These things are distracting and can make the atmosphere uncomfortable.

5. When I work at home, I can arrange my office environment exactly the way I like it. I picked the furniture and equipment that work best for me. I can listen to music if I want to.

6. I can do the required work within the required deadline. I don't need a supervisor physically present to motivate me to get my work done.

7. No dress code!

I hope this is helpful.

Perspective - Happy MT Robin

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It all depends on what you want and your mental attitude. I worked in house briefly and HATED it. The politics and the interpersonal garbage was insane. I think this particular clinic had more issues than most places, but still.... haven't seen that much drama or gossip in years and I work in hotels with food and beverage departments that are hotbeds for gossip and foolishness.

You get hourly when you work in house, but that may or may not be a good thing. I make WAY more at home on production than I did in house and I don't get bugged by the fact that people who have been MTs longer than I have are making a lot more simply because they've been doing it longer, even though in terms of actual work output I blew them out of the water.

Like Fingers said, though, you have to be really disciplined when working at home. It's waaaay too easy to decide to take a nap or rearrange your office (which I did today.....) or the laundry, or a hundred other things that need doing around the house. There are a lot of tricks you can do to keep your focus. One person on here said she tapes her bills to her monitor and then takes them down when she's made enough to pay it. I keep a running tally on an Excel spreadsheet with my line count for the day/pay period so I know exactly how much my next check is going to be.

Working at home also affords you the option of being employee status or IC status. Employee status you have to stick to a certain schedule and IC you just commit to a certain number of lines; at least that's the way it should be. If a company is asking you to work a specific schedule and is trying to make you IC, don't take it and tell them that they are violating IRS rules. You also can quality for benefits, etc., if you work employee status.

The bottom line is working on site is much better for some, and working at home is much better for others. I love working from home. Absolutely love it. It took me a number of months when I first started to really wrap my head around it and become focused and do what needed to be done (I was dealing with losing my mom during that time frame too, which didn't help), but now I don't think I would have it any other way. I can get all of my work done in a straight 8 hours, or I can spread it out to 10 and take a nap in the middle of the day if I'm so inclined. I can have the TV on while I'm working, or not have anything on. Best of all, I don't have to deal with people if I don't want to. I don't have to be pressured into participating in the latest pot luck for someone's birthday, or the ice cream social, or the latest way to spend money that they've come up with for department "bonding." My black, anti-social heart is quite content working at home alone.

Perspective . . . people person or not - MT who knows

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I think that your last few sentences has really said it all. It is whether a person prefers dealing with people or not -- some are people persons and others prefer to work completely alone. Working at home as an MT and working at home in another profession or working at home occasionally to get things done are completely different things. To work at home as an MT, a person HAS to have a personality that prefers to work completely alone. From my perspective, I believe that a personality for an MT working at home is basically someone who really cannot work well with other people around, perhaps they are distracted easily -- like the previous poster stated that she taped her bills to her monitor -- and she is even alone. :-) I prefer working with and around other people. I worked at home as an MT and have no problem with time management or discipline; however, I would not choose to ever work at home as an MT again.

I don't believe that one type of personality is superior to another whether they want to work at home or not. I believe that these are two completely different personalities that just prefer to work in a particular setting. In addition to working with people, I really prefer knowing how much money I am taking home in a week or two weeks or whatever. Having a set amount of money that is what you are hired in for has nothing to do with how well you perform the job. Every job that I have ever experienced or ever have known the person is hired in for so many hours at so much an hour or for an annual salary -- I my viewpoint that is the way it should be. An employer is hiring you for your knowledge, skill, education, and what you can do for the company. In return, the employee is providing those attributes and working at the job to the best of their ability. Working in house or at home has nothing to do with a person's knowledge, skill, education, time management, or discipline -- the same attributes are found in both places.

It's above all about freedom for me. Including - MissIndigo

[ In Reply To ..]
freedom to fail. The big problem with working at home, for anyone at all prone to it, is sloth. Not getting dressed, made up, and commuted to the office doesn't save energy, it fails to stimulate it. And it doesn't save time for work unless that time is actually spent working.

Home workers really need to be self-stimulating, self-motivating, self-directed, and self-supervising. Just a little 30 minutes trikled away in bits and dabs from the work schedule through the day will cost a (potentially) $20/hour person $50 a week, a $30/hour person something like $150 a month--or sigificantly more if it costs an incentive bonus. And since, let's face it, home work attracts the slothful, there are many people scamping 1, 2, 3 hours some days, 4 and 5 others. These people truly would be better off economically stocking racks at Walmart.

Regarding respect, at home I'm the boss and it's my husband and cats who stand straighter and try to look busy as I walk by. No asking permission from anyone for anything or apologizing for nothing.

It's not about people for me, either way. I enjoy having them around and miss being able to stop for a chat (while getting paid for it), but I don't need them here to work. Friends-by-choice are a call away.

Bottom line, whether it's easier or harder--to make the same or better living you would in an office from home--is an individual matter. For me, most definitely easier.

Probably too old to go back in-house... - cindyoh

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even if I could find such a position these days in my town. I worked 18 years in a hospital, 15 in the MR department. We had it nice, a totally remodelled office, lots of space, big window. I actually did make better money those years and found the job then less stressful but again, I was younger. I always worked 2nd shift, not so bad, less politics, but hated that ride home every night, especially in the winter, so I'd never miss that. You will be very isolated working from home, not always a good thing. Things were slower paced then, in my opinion; my work mattered and we were respected and treated well. Things were more relaxed and the work did get done. Glad I got to experience that.

I just want to type, so I prefer being home based - no phones for me

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I agree with all the anti-social stuff everyone else mentioned. On top of that, the extra duties drove me nuts.
I definitely needed the training in-house gives, but I just want to type reports. That's all I want to do.

I don't want to answer the phone, assign stats, keep logs, drop what I'm doing to dig out a report and fax it and fool around waiting for someone to confirm they got the fax and write their name diligently on the log. I don't want to have to prove over and over that I DID fax it and I DID talk to someone on their end and whoever claims they never got it is full of bull. I don't want to repeat that drama for EVERY "critical finding" that crosses my desk each day.

I don't want to be a tour guide for any visitor that waylays me in the hall because they can't find oncology. I don't want to print reports, sort reports, distribute reports and mail reports. And I really don't want to do it "on demand" for everyone who can't be bothered to search their own desk for the report they "never got".

I definitely don't want to call reports to doctors and read them over the phone, or have to keep calling back over and over when the doctor can't be found. I don't want to be yanked off MT duties to go answer the phones for Medical Records because they're having a staff meeting. I don't want to "fix it" when lazy people couldn't be bothered to enter stuff into the system correctly, because they know the buck stops with transcription and we have to clean up their messes.

I don't want to stop typing and listen to every bored doctor that wanders into the office to gab because they don't feel like working right now. Or every bored tech. Or every bored administrator. Or anybody else.

I just want to type - athomemt

[ In Reply To ..]
I could have been the author of your post!!!! I have had to do all those things and absolutely HATED it!! I love working at home. The only time I answer the phone is when it is my supervisor and thats just the way I like it!

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