MT India Digest - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MTID
Moderated MT Discussion List, Since 1999

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Moderated by: Published by:
Amit Chatterjee, SM MT India
amit@... www.mtindia.org

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June 23, 2003 Digest #106
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....

=============NEW=================

=Outsourcing Policies in the US=-

~Vishal Jain
"concerned about the policies of the US government regarding
Medical Transcription"

~Saravanan
"States Fight Exodus of Jobs; Lawmakers, Unions Seek to Block
Outsourcing Overseas"

~Jocelyn
"Have a class presentation on MT in India"

===========CONTINUING============

=Employee retention policies=-

~Alok Jha
"MTID can be a good platform to increase the awareness among the
employers"

-=MTs beyond borders=-

~Jodee
"looking for qualified Indian MTs on an individual basis."

===========BILLBOARD==============

-=Starting MT services in Chennai=-

*****************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT:
---------------------
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experienced MT's to work at their New Delhi, India center. Only
MT's local to New Delhi should apply.

Please call Dr. S.N. Dube at 31039430, or e-mail your resume to
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From: Vishal Jain <vishalnagpur@...>
Subject: Outsourcing Policies in the US

Dear Major Chatterjee & MTIDers:

I am working at Ascent Transcriptions, Nagpur, India.

As unemployment is increasing in US, is there any
chance of the back office jobs which are coming to
India to be done can be barred?

And I am mainly concerned about the policies of the US
government regarding Medical Transcription and other
back office jobs.

Kindly send me any web site address if any from where
I could know better the US policies or guide me
through.

Thanking you for your concern. Have a good day.

Vishal Jain
Comment? mailto:MTID@yahoogroups.com?Subject=Anti-outsourcing

[MODERATOR COMMENT]

Hi Vishal!

This has been addressed in the last two issues of the MT India
Newsletter. For archives and subscription, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MTIndia

Legislation will come and go, but it is almost impossible to stop
global free market economics by such measures.

I would personally advise Indian MTs to concentrating on improving
their skills - EMR is already being widely used, and speech
recognition is going to improve in this decade.

The faster you climb away from an entry level MT, the more secure
your prospects are going to be. I can't see any technology
replacing MTs who churn out client ready reports.

Amit
amit@...
http://www.mtindia.org/
++++ new post - same topic ++++

From: Saravanan
Subject: US lobbyists fighting against outsourcing

Hi all!

I am quoting from a recent article at Rediff:

Quote:

Alarmed by a report that 1.7 million US jobs may be lost to other
countries, particularly to India, American workers, trade unions,
local governments and legislators are fighting back to keep jobs at
home and prevent outsourcing to countries where skilled workers are
cheaper, media reported on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal, quoting a report by Forrester Research,
said American workers may lose $120 billion in wages by 2015,
multinational firms are feeling the first ripple of the backlash
but are bracing for the worst.

"It is the perfect storm right now," said Harris Miller, president
of the Information Technology Association of America, a trade group
representing 500 technology concerns.

Many companies, slashing their US payrolls to take advantage of
cheaper labor overseas, the Journal said, noting that according to
Forrester, loss of office support jobs lost by 2015 are estimated
at 1.7 million jobs.

The computer sector is expected to lose 0.47 million jobs, business
0.35 million management 0.29 million, sales 0.23 million,
architecture 0.18 million and legal 0.08 million.

Under the heading 'States Fight Exodus of Jobs; Lawmakers, Unions
Seek to Block Outsourcing Overseas,' the paper said, "Legislation
aimed at keeping jobs in the US is pending in at least five
States -- New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Missouri and
Washington State.

The bills employ a variety of methods, including blocking companies
from using foreign workers on State contracts and requiring foreign
call-center employees to identify where they are located.

By one estimate, 'several million' US jobs are expected to move
offshore in the next 12 years, particularly to India.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/jun/03outsource.htm

Any thoughts???

Saravanan
Comment? mailto:MTID@yahoogroups.com?Subject=Anti-outsourcing
++++ new post - same topic ++++

From: Jocelyn <jfinocchiaro1@...>
Subject: Insight into Indian MTs

Hi!

I am a MT student in the US and have a class presentation on MT
in India. If you would like to share your background, experiences,
or anything that could give me insight to our profession in your
country, I would love to include this in my presentation. Any
information you give me will only be used in my class presentation.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the above subject and/or
article!

Thank you!

Jocelyn
Comment? mailto:MTID@yahoogroups.com?Subject=Anti-outsourcing
===========CONTINUING============
From: Alok Jha
Subject: Employee retention policies

Dear Amit and MTIDers:

I can fully empathize with this QC from Mumbai. I have worked in
different MT organizations, and I too have seen this trend. To an
extent, I can understand the employers' limitations too. As it is,
there is a severe dearth of good quality MTs in the market. I
hardly know of any MT company which does not want to recruit any
more workforce. The job advertisements on MTIndia and different
newspapers are proof to that. But then there are not enough good
MTs in the market. So, employers have to contend with the workforce
that is available to them. At the same time, they cannot say "no"
to their clients. Transcribed documents have to return in time. TAT
has to be met. So, in the end the MTs/Editors end up putting in
long hours.

However, as somebody who has been long in this field, I know that
this cannot be stretched for long. The quality does suffer! An
MT/Editor who has been working for 14 hours cannot be expected to
deliver the required quality. I think the employers are very much
aware of that, but then as I said, they have their limitations too.
I myself am an MT who has been in management for a while now. I can
feel the predicament on both sides. MTID can be a good platform to
increase the awareness among the employers and the employees on
this issue, to discuss the ramifications of putting in undue long
hours and the after effects, and to develop a balanced approach. I
request Amit and MTIDers to keep this issue live, chip in with
their views, and see if together we can make a difference.

Regards,

Alok Jha
Comment? mailto:MTID@yahoogroups.com?Subject=MT_Week

[MODERATOR COMMENT]

Hi Alok & all!

Sooner rather than later, MTSOs will have to wake up to ground
realities. I think the situation has drastically improved over the
last 2 years, and most MTSOs who are MTIndia members follow
laudable HR policies.

In a many places, I have found MTs are equally to blame. They
expected to be paid by their "seniority" and not on deliverables.
MT requires its skill sets - but in no way is it a creative art or
rocket science - the best any MT can achieve is a perfect document,
in spite of poor dictation - but that is it.

There is a constant price being paid by the client on that
document and believe me, that rate has not gone up in the last 6
years that I have been in this industry. So after your productivity
at a level of accuracy plateaus off - on what basis does your
employer hike your compensation? Most MTSOs grant a reasonable
hike on loyalty, but as the earlier poster said - most MTs want to
triple their salaries without tripling their productivity.

Mind you, I said productivity - not effort. If the majority of MTs
stop cherry picking easy accounts for a short term hike, we will
see a major difference in output.

Also, there needs to be a reasonable level of satisfaction - Indian
MTs are a very well paid sub group by Indian standards.
Unfortunately, some think that they should be paid at US rates -
in which case I suggest they go into business and find out the
economics themselves. Like MTs, MTSOs are also not into this as a
charity.

And surprisingly, this old arithmetic actually holds true:

1) Smart boss + smart employee = profit
2) Smart boss + dumb employee = production
3) Dumb boss +smart employee = promotion
4) Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime

While smart MTSOs are striving towards enhancing production
capacities, smart employees are cherry picking all the time towards
the next promotion. If both are as smart as they think, MTSOs
should be making MONEY!! But what started the thread was about
overtime, so....

Flame away, I must have stepped on some toes by now :)

Amit
amit@...
http://www.mtindia.org/
Comment? mailto:MTID@yahoogroups.com?Subject=MT_Week
++++ new post - different topic ++++

From: Jodee <JodeeB@...>
Subject: Individual MTs

Hello!

I am a small transcription service in the US looking for qualified
medical transcriptionists on an individual basis.

Jodee
USA
JodeeB@...

===========BILLBOARD==============
From: Peter Vas <pvas@...>
Subject: Starting MT services in Chennai

Dear Amit,

I am an entrepreneur in Chennai with 15 years US IT experience. I
am looking into the possibilities of starting a MT service in
Chennai. I would love to hear about your experiences. Please feel
free to email me with your advice.

Thanks,

Peter Vas
pvas@...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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