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Q&A session before Nuance takes over our hospital dictation - need advice - MidwestMT
Posted: Jun 25, 2013
I had posted a while back about Nuance taking over our hospital dictation. We are scheduled to meet with our department heads, HR, and Nuance in July sometime to go over the details of onboarding. Since we are being fed all of the wonderful benefits of being able to just on-board with Nuance and how nice it was of our hospital to think of us by providing us with this opportunity, I would like to ask some very pointed questions to the account executive that will be at this meeting in order to squash this idea and point out that a) the bonus is not nearly as easy to achieve as we are being led to believe, b) this opportunity is not nearly as rosy as it seems, and basically, I want to put Nuance on the spot to answer these questions directly so that my fellow employees know what they may be getting into. Some of them have been with the hospital for 20-30 years. I, myself, have only been there for 3 years, having come from a national company and, therefore, knowing how very spoiled we are working at the hospital. They really have no clue how it is to work for a national and are being told that it will be even better because "there is opportunity for advancement and bonuses"....:) Would anyone care to help me out with some questions that I could put forth to this account executive that would make him squirm??
Oh and another thing - MidwestMT
[ In Reply To ..]We have also been told that we will a) keep our seniority (which seems to not mean anything from what I have read), b) be able to take the vacation time that we have put in for at the hospital already, c) we will accrue vacation time at the highest level offered by Nuance but we have not been told what that is yet, and d) our schedules would be VERY flexible and that this was emphasized many times during the meeting between our department heads and Nuance (so again not sure what this means). We will receive our hourly pay for two pay periods and then will be put on Nuance's structured production pay. Not sure how much of this is true or lies....
Where to begin... - anon
[ In Reply To ..]As above, it is very hard to get the bonus, and if you get it once, very hard to get it again. When you consider taking the offer, just completely ignore the bonus as if it was not there and you will never get it and consider the offer as standing alone.
The scheduling is not flexible, as far as I can tell. You have to work when there is work, which is mostly 2cnd and 3rd shift. I rarely run out of work but I work 2cnd shift.
You will probably get to roll over your accrued vacation and retirement. Vacation here is, I believe, 10 days for 1 year, 12 days from 2 to 3 years and then max of 14 days after that. With 3 years of experience, you will be offered vacation at that level. I think that is what is meant by seniority, you will be given credit for working for 3 years and not come in as a "new hire."
As above, holidays are paid 1.5 time but only if you are working your regular schedule and the workload is usually going to be light if any.
Good luck to you all. I think it is wise to come in with your eyes open so you can make the best choice possible for your future.
I got paid a whopping $12.00 for working - Christmas Day.
[ In Reply To ..]Absolutely wonderful holiday pay. {put waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay sarcastic face here}
Holiday "bonus" pay is only 25%, not 50% - NM - YD
[ In Reply To ..]nm
Who said anything about 25% or even 50%. - Confused NM
[ In Reply To ..]XX
I feel sorry for you. - mt2
[ In Reply To ..]You all are going to be screwed royally by Nuance.
Ask if you are paid holidays. When I asked, I was told YES. Then I find out if I don't work a holiday, I use MY PTO or not be paid.
Ask about the bonus. Pretty much impossible to get it, at least for me. I am not new at this, but the last couple of weeks, my score always drops just below enough not to qualify. When I check my reports, I'm marked off for stupid stuff that is not relevant to the sentence.
I'd start job hunting if I was you so I had a backup plan.
Their so called idea of flexibility - new but old
[ In Reply To ..]This actually means that you are required to work your normal hours, but when you run out of work (which you will do most likely on a daily basis several times) you are then expected to clock out and monitor your computer for the rest of your shift and beyond while waiting for more work to get downloaded so you technically end up working 10 to 12 hour days but only putting in 8 hours of work. That is what they mean by flexibility. There is none and don't let them tell you differently.
Nuance "takeover" - miffedmt
[ In Reply To ..]My suggestion is to RUN....Run as fast as you can from this company. They took over our hospital in Alaska (16 of us now out of jobs) in 2011. We were told the same things they are telling you, keep seniority, keep PTO, yada yada yada. Don't believe a word they say. I was making around $25 an hour working for that hospital and once their 3-pay period thing went into effect, my pay was cut LITERALLY to nothing! I was getting almost 12 hours PTO every 2 weeks from the hospital I worked at, NOT AT NUANCE. THEY LIE! "You can keep your current account if you onboard with us." BS! That lasted for about 2 months, then I was continually switched from account to account, getting THEE worst dictators on the face of the planet!! THEN.....they sent most of the work to India! YEP,,,,INDIA! If you can find a job working in a clinic or some other in-house hospital job, take it. DO NOT work for this company. I've been doing this job for 18 years and once I went with Nuance (which I lasted 1 year and then quit with no notice!!!), I felt so belittled and put down all the time...it's just not worth it or the stress you WILL endure from this company. Sorry for the bad news, but you'd be better off working for McDonald's!
Solution - GH
[ In Reply To ..]You might give Precyse Solutions a try (Precyse.com). They have added many accounts recently and are adding new ones all the time. They provide your computer, head phones, foot pedal, etc. while you work for the company at no cost to you. They have primarily ASR (automatic speech recognition), a very user-friendly platform and good trainers. Check them out I've been with Precyse for 5 years. It's a good company.
What about supposedly keeping our own account/doctors from the hospital? - MidwestMT
[ In Reply To ..]We have also been told that we will keep our doctors from the hospital as our account. Does anyone know if this is true?
keeping account - anon
[ In Reply To ..]This part was the only true thing they said to us. We were able to keep our account. However, the work on it dried up and if you didn't get other accounts, you just didn't have work. Also, as mentioned in my other note, you will be doing the exact same job for half the pay. It is completely degrading!
I think they will probably try to do that but.. - anon
[ In Reply To ..]if work volume changes, you may be switched around. We ended up getting everything pooled into one big mess where I work for any doctor/any hospital/any clinic/any specialty in the pool so no more consistency. Any promise to pool my work differently has not been kept.
The good news is that in a big company, if your work pool slows down, there is more chance of getting transferred somewhere else where there is work, of course, then you are having to learn a whole new set of people!!
Nuance takeover - miffedmt
[ In Reply To ..]and.......be prepared to make the same as a "new" person coming onboard with this company. 0.04 a line edited...period!! So much for experience anymore.
keeping doctors - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I guess you can say we kept our doctors - all of the crappiest dictators! All of the better doctors went to India, I guess so the more experienced MTs could work on the harder doctors!
Bottom line, Nuance is not a good company to work for. Don't believe anything they tell you. Go find just about any other job.
keeping same account/same doctors - anon
[ In Reply To ..]I was told the same thing, that I could keep my same account I had worked on for years. Then after the takeover, they called me and asked me to help on another new account just for a while until it got up to speed. So as soon as they pulled the hourly pay, I asked to be switched back and was told that there were no openings on my old account. They ignored me when I said I had been promised I could go back. Eventually, I resigned due to lack of work, ridiculous pay, being hassled for not making 600 lines per hour editing which they said was "normal" for many MTs. What a nightmare! I would take anything Nuance says with a grain of salt. Empty promises all over the place! Be sure to document all promises or new odd policies, print them out, highlight, etc. That way if you have to show proof at some point in time, it may help you. Also print your pay stubs from beginning to end. My pay went down a whopping 75%. At my unemployment hearing, I sent in a ton of pages and won my case. Also, I should warn you that if you are having an over the phone/online meeting with Nuance takeover, they tell you that you are not to ask questions. Pretty crafty, right? Good luck to you!
my experience with a Nuance takeover - anon
[ In Reply To ..]My experience with Nuance taking over my hospital sounds similar to yours. We were told that we would keep everything that we were used to, vacation, pay would be similar, and seniority. Every single one of those things was taken away. Well, I guess the seniority was there, but you are right, it means absolutely nothing. At all. Those of us used to hospital PTO accrual rates were given a total of 5 days off a year. Period. No possibility of earning more -ever. This includes holidays as well.
So, I think the first question I would ask is what benefit will there be in keeping seniority?
The other issue that most could not get over was just exactly how much the pay drop really came out to be. Not sure how you are paid now, but I suspect it is nothing close to what you will be getting. For doing the same work. It is not a good feeling to continue doing exactly what you had been doing for the hospital but not get paid even half of what you were getting.
I would also ask what percentage of their workforce actually earns the bonus and what their employee retention rate is at the 1 year mark for hospitals they have taken over.
I would expect them to outright lie about it, so not sure if this will just make your coworkers even more comfortable about taking the job, but I would LOVE to know the true answers to those questions. They took over our hospital and I do not know one single, not ONE, that is still with Nuance.
If I were you, I wouldn't take the job. I would look around for anything else.
they need you - anon
[ In Reply To ..]The thing is, they need you guys badly. They need to keep the account up and running like there was no transition. Even your HR dept and other heads will lie right to your face about how wonderful Nuance is because they need the hospital work to keep flowing. From the doctor's side, it needs to be as seamless as possible. They will tell you anything to get you to transition over and keep up the work for them. None of it is true, of course, but they really do want you to on-board. After they put a whole bunch of others on your account, then they really don't care about you. Like another poster said, you will be paid the exact same as a newbie and will still be doing the exact same work. No wonder no one stays for long
Sounds just like the debacle with Transcend... - me
[ In Reply To ..]...when they took over MDI a few years back. Nothing would change for the "forseeable future" which didn't last very long - those of us making the most $$$ found our line rates cut - and I moved on right then and there. They don't care about the quality of the work, they just care about lining their pockets.
some questions - to ask
[ In Reply To ..]I'm using the assumption that you're going in at 4 cpl for editing and 8 cpl for typing.
Figure out how many lines per hour you would have to do to make your hourly, i.e., I make $17.45 an hour at my hospital job and so that would translate to 436 lph every hour for 8 hours straight editing to make that. Ask them what percentage of employees meets the line count that you would need to make to make your current salary. What percentage of employees makes the bonus and what percentage of employees makes the bonus more than once. Make it very clear in front of the HR people, department heads, etc., that you are very well aware that you will be lucky to be making $10 an hour, thankyouverymuch. Look those rat ba###rds in the eye and let them know that you are aware of what is going on.
How much is the benefit/insurance package and how does that compare dollar for dollar and coverage for coverage for what you are getting now.
In an average 8 hour shift, what percentage of employees have to work more than that 8 hours to actually get 8 hours worth of work because of NJA? WHY, when employees are required to work very specific shifts, are they not compensated for their time spent sitting at the computer waiting for work to come in and instead forced to "flex" their time and work many more than 40 hours in some instances.
How long will it take before the better dictators on this account are sent to India? If they say no, that won't happen, ask them how long the contract term is before it is allowed. We all know it will be allowed at some point. If they still maintain that it won't happen, ask them who is the oversight on that to ensure that it does not happen.
If they claim that they have employees who consistently do 500 lph (doable on a very rare occasion when all of the planets are in alignment) ask them what percentage of their employees do that, how many accounts those employees have, and how consistently they do that.
Ask them how many accounts you will end up with once they send the work to India - 3, 4, 20?
They are going to try to shut you down when you ask these questions. Don't let them. Make it very clear that HR and the Nuance people know that you're on to them and if anyone on the hospital side of things is still naive enough to believe Nuance's line of BS, make them see the light.
If I think of more I'll post more. Good luck to you. My hospital uses Nuance for overflow and their contract is up for renewal next March. I live in fear.
questions - xx
[ In Reply To ..]I would also ask them how profitable Nuance has been in at least the last 3 years. Ask how that increase has reflected in the salary of the CEO and higher ups. I would then ask how that increase has been reflected in the pay of the MTs and how often MTs should expect an increase in pay.
You want to make them squirm? Forget about it. - These guys
[ In Reply To ..]don't squirm. They are too slippery to squirm, no matter how difficult or bold the questions/comments are. They are TRAINED to turn your questions around on you and make you feel like crap for asking in the first place, OR, they reassure you that your concerns are valid but they can assure you that all of the "gossip" isn't true and that you shouldn't pay attention to it and they will be there to help you through it all. Trust me, they won't squirm. :(
I am the same boat.... - notasdumbasilook
[ In Reply To ..]as of July 8, we are out of job. None of us are going with Nuance. I have past experience with them and so I was able to warn my coworkers. We heard all the same things you outlined above and I know for a fact, they were all lies. I questioned the Nuance rep on every single item you outlined, she either lied or had no reply.
Thank you all - MidwestMT
[ In Reply To ..]I really do appreciate all the insight you have provided. I do also appreciate the questions that you gave me to ask too. We are from a very small hospital in a rural area, and unfortunately, there just are not many jobs around here. I feel like if we don't take the Nuance job, we will all end up without jobs (and for obvious reasons and lucky for the hospital...no unemployment!) On the other hand, if we take the job, I feel like we are being blindly led to slaughter. UGH. I am grateful for everyone who took the time to provide me some insight to start making a list of questions for this meeting!!
No unemployment? Are you certain? - Bilboa
[ In Reply To ..]I believe that in most states, you can't be required to take a job that is more than a given percent of pay cut. (I've heard 29%, but I don't even know what state that was.)
It would be worth at least talking with someone at unemployment. I suppose they might be able to get around that by saying they'll pay your current rate for a limited time period, but again, that would be well worth asking someone about at the unemployment office.
I would assume (though I might be wrong, if you can prove they lied to you, at least about pay) that once you accept the job with Nuance, then you ARE out of luck as far as unemployment, because then you're in the position of quitting a job you accepted. So it's well worth finding out in advance, if you haven't already done so.
oh yes you can - get unemployment
[ In Reply To ..]You are losing your job at the hospital thru no fault of your own - a layoff. You most definitely qualify for unemployment insurance benefits. I know because I did. The hospital does not want you to do that. Once you take the offer from Nuance and then decide to apply for unemployment, you will not qualify. Your present employer does not care and just wants you to transition to Nuance and disappear. They will also ask you to get the dictation caught up before the transition.
have you decided to go with Nuance? - SM
[ In Reply To ..]If you have made your decision to go, there wouldn't be much point in asking any of the big questions because you are stuck with what they give you. If you are planning to NOT go with Nuance and you want to deter your fellow employees, I would just steer them on over here. We'll give them any information they need and it's all in the archives, too.
My advice is don't go with Nuance, don't believe anything they say and in fact assume the opposite will be true. Don't bother going to their Q and A and have all your buddies boycott it, too. What's the point? I'm very sorry for all of you that this has happened.
Amen to everything SM just said - Good luck!
[ In Reply To ..]I agree with everything SM just above my post just advised...
They lie. They treat people, truly needy, hurting Americans, like dirt.
Boycott - The mtg
[ In Reply To ..]The hospital and Nuance don't care about you anymore. I know that's harsh to say. I've been outsourced twice and all the MTs not showing up for this mtg would send a message. MTs will only get mad, some will tear up and some will not know the gravity of the pay cut. I would highly recommend anyone sign up for unemployment insurance benefits and figure out plan B. You WILL qualify for it even tho the hospital will try to discourage it. Only 1 of 10 went with Nuance and now regrets it. Act like you will attend and then don't show. Sorry this is happening to you all.
D-Day today at 4 p.m. - MaryHaw
[ In Reply To ..]Our meeting losing our jobs is today at 4 p.m. I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to post!!! Very informative information here. Thanks again!
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