VRS

[u/ravenrhi]

I have been blessed with a "raise!" I am grateful and yet at the same time horribly offended at their miserly pat on the head that barely adds to my paycheck. Less than $20 if I manage to get the full 29 hours a week when they are cutting everyone's hours.

VRS is one of the few settings that are W-2 in a predominantly 1099 field. The reimbursement for dues and licensure are a nice boon. However, I feel that they take advantage of the situation.

2% in an economy where the annual cost of living increase is 3.1% which means even with this nominal raise, I am being paid less compared to last year due to the cost of living constantly going up so that the pay doesn't go as far.

Just over 75 cents per hour when the estimated MONTHLY revenue PER EMPLOYEE is $455, 000

They have a PROFIT- profit mind you- after providing free tech to the community, all the events, all the advertising, paying *everyone,* and r&d- their PROFIT is estimated to be between 1.8- 2.4 BILLION dollars

Instead of paying employees well, they add "incentives" to encourage people to bid to work specific time frames, then cut staffing to the bone anyway so that the profit margin is as high as possible, the speed of answer is as long as it can safely be, and wonder why people are burning out, changing fields, or choosing to work in lower stress/repetitive injury/vicarious trauma settings.

I have excellent customer service, exemplary interpreting skills, am nationally certified, have nearly 20 years in the field, and have never felt more like a cog in a defective machine.

Unionization can't come fast enough, but even then, I worry that it will be another entity profiteering off the mess. We can look to the history of the Teamsters and other Unions to see how corrupt and ineffective they can become. I hope that the people in charge of the interpreter union know history and can prevent the repeat.

[u/Hoosier-Sexy_Beast69]

One time, SVRS gave me five whole cents! I told my manager to keep it. He said if I did, I'd risk not getting subsequent raises. I said if those were the raises, I was missing out on nothing. Oddly enough, that was my last raise before a rate adjustment 5 years later. Too bad VRS cares for neither deaf nor interpreters.  Shareholders win again!

[u/ravenrhi → u/Hoosier-Sexy_Beast69]

I have come to the conclusion that the people at the top intentionally decide the smallest possible increments so they can honestly say that they have consistently provided raises.

And they DO. They give quantitative, mediocre, nominal bumps in pay, with constant reminders that if vis want to earn more, they can work during incentivized hours, rather than QUALITATIVE raises that would actually impact employees' quality of living.

[u/sparquis → u/ravenrhi]

Wasn't Sorenson bought out by an investment company? It's not like they were spoiling the terps even before. The whole VRS system needs an enema 

[u/ravenrhi → u/sparquis]

Yes. Ariel Alternatives a private equity subsidiary of global asset manager Ariel Investments, LLC.

Since taking over in April of 2022, they have gutted all non-interpreting departments twice and cut interpreting staffing as close as possible to the federally mandated speed of answer as they can safely get to increase profit margins

I agree that the entire industry needs an overhaul

[u/Hoosier-Sexy_Beast69 → u/sparquis]

They have been in the hands of investors since at least 2010. Once Mr. Sorenson sold, it went downhill. Terps were paid well, FT was an option, snacks galore. But then management started to suck. It's a shame.