Pros
This large captioning company has many large, national contracts; this provides for a variety of very interesting assignments. Co-workers were wonderful, although most of the Realtime Captioners work remotely. I learned a lot about the industry as a whole and tricks of the trade while employed here, while captioning software, phone lines, and technical support were all provided. I consider my time here to be very valuable.
Kontras
When I started at Vitac, the scheduling was a positive component of the work environment to me, however as they have grown, the processes and expectations have not evolved. The way that the company is currently structured, it became nearly impossible for me to be an involved parent or wife or community member. They require you to work every weekend, oftentimes nearly double what I was told upon accepting the position. A full time captioner is expected to work 22.5 hours on air per week; however, up to 7.5 of those are expected on either Saturday or Sunday. There is also no scheduling preference given to keep captioners within even a 12-hour window of time on their working weekend day. This meant that in order to meet minimums and not be subjected to threats of pay cuts and loss of benefits, one would have to work from 4am one morning until 3am the next in order to cover enough shows to meet the minimums. There is a generous amount of leave time given, but it is unpaid and typically must be requested six to eight months ahead of time. While there, two pay cuts occurred, that affected all Realtime Captioners. We were told that it was because of market conditions, competitive undercutting, etc. However, I have found that better rates are offered at many other companies, and that Vitac is the source of much of this undercutting in the bidding process. There are three levels of pay for a Realtime Captioner at Vitac: In Training, RC1 and RC2. I was hired on as an RC2, and in the 8+ years I spent there, there was never any possibility for a raise, paid leave, scheduling preference, etc. The only way to move up the proverbial ladder was to leave. Vitac has a reputation of bidding on tons and tons of work at lower rates, and then overworking existing staff to the point of burnout in order to keep these contracts.
