I have worked at Nuance for 6 months and I cannot wait to get out
Pros
As others have said, I am able to work at home. That is the ONLY benefit as I see it, and one of the main reasons most of us entered this field, even though in the beginning of my career 18 years ago, I worked on-site for a large metropolitan hospital before we were transitioned to home.
Cons
The cons of working for this shyster company are overwhelming. First and foremost, it is a sweat shop. Conjure up images of working in a Chinese factory where you might be paid $1.00 hour and are required to work 16 hours a day. That's what life is like at Nuance. The working conditions are the same. I was an independent contractor for years, the last 4 years during which I transcribed the same client for the MTSO I was contracted with that overnight went to VR without warning. I was out of a job, and as the job postings are now few and far between, I had a difficult time for a few months trying to find work. I finally did what I said I would never do, and that was accept a position at Nuance, the biggest mistake I have ever made. From the get go, the hiring manager told me there was plenty of work when I emphasized that I did not want to find myself in the position of not having work daily. She lied. I was placed into ambulatory on a specialty I had never done. Okay, I said, I am a seasoned MT, I can do it. I did it, but there was only work 2-3 days per week. I asked to be placed on another account. My TSM ignored my requests, something I came to realize early is her MO. She never responds to anything. I think that is how Nuance has trained them for the most part. My requests went unheeded. I finally stopped trying to get additional work. I have as little communication with my TSM as I possibly can. Then, the new and exciting "patient safety" compensation plan was announced. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence knew up front it was another way to steal wages. For the first time in my history of being an MT, I would have my pay deducted if I made a mistake, and I would be penalized for the platform on which I was working, something out of my control, as well as lines disappearing each pay cycle that I transcribed. The new compensation plan is penal. So many factors count against you. If we send a report to QA, and our percentage of doing so has to be less than 10%, our pay is deducted, and that includes reports that we send when there is no dictation or the doc has made an error, reports that we once called flagging. In addition, I sit in amazement when I see my reports that have been QA'd by India. No need wasting your time or effort trying to get those reversed. It will rarely happen. Requests to my TSM fall on deaf ears because she has never gone to bat for me even though I can give her chapter and verse of why the Indian QA is wrong. How far this industry has sunk to have people in a foreign country, who really do not speak our language, who do not have a grasp of English grammar and usage, doing quality assurance on American MTs. Every day, I dread coming into my office to start my shift. Some days, I don't want to even get out of bed. Living in poverty has become the way of life at Nuance, but let's give them a hand. They have now leveled the playing field between American and Indian MTs. The poor Nuance MT lives a stress-filled life. It is more than difficult to work for a company that deems us not worthy of even the pitiful wages they pay us. I am leaving and starting my own business in an entirely different field. In the end, I can say that is another benefit of my having worked for Nuance. They gave me the incentive to explore my options and leave the slave trade.
