Rejecting Jobs

Owned by Sam Tipton
Last updated: Mar 18, 2024
5 min read

As a proofreader, there are two different methods of rejecting jobs you will need to be aware of. 

  1. Reject back to typing (for poor typist work)
  2. Reject to client (for poor audio, legal job on a general account, etc.)


Rejecting a Job Back to Typing

This sends the job back to the typing queue as a blank document, erasing all previous work submitted and assigning the job to another typist.

This is done ONLY when the job meets the criteria listed below.  Typically, a job will be rejected back to typing for excessive errors or formatting errors that are unable to be fixed. 


Rejection Warning

Be aware that rejecting a job back to typing means neither the typist nor the proofreader will be paid anything for the job. 

Do not spend excessive amounts of time determining whether a job should be rejected back to typing.  If you open a document and immediately see glaring errors, go through and quickly determine if the job meets the rejection criteria.  If so, proceed with rejecting. 

How to reject a job back to Typing

  • Leave the completed document “AS IS”.  
  • On the job submission page:
    • Click Reject.
    • In the Reject to Typing section, select Poor Typist Work: Send back to Typing. 
    • Enter a reason for rejecting.  The typist WILL SEE this message, so keep it professional.  Your rejection reasoning should be short but clear. You may wish to cite specific sections of the OLH.  Never include personal opinions or comments (i.e. "This job is terrible".)
    • Click Submit This Job Now.

Help Desk approval is not required for a Proofreader to reject a regular job back to typing.  Proofreaders should use their best judgment and the criteria listed below to make this call.  (See below warning re: rejecting partial GCs.)


REJECTING PARTIAL GCs!

Occasionally, a GC typist will forget to check the GC box in TypeEasy when submitting a partial GC, resulting in TE identifying them as a typist.  If you receive a partial GC from a typist (the GC box is not checked and the Job History screen identifies the previous typist as Typist rather than Proofreader), please open a help ticket first to double check on whether or not that typist is a GC typist before rejecting the job back to typing.  

If the Help Desk is closed, please fill out a ticket anyway just for the record, and make a decision based on the job itself. 

- Does the document look like a typist is just winging it without knowing the GC rules?  Go ahead and reject. 
- Does it look like the previous typist knows what s/he's doing for the most part?  No need to reject, just check the box, tweak as necessary, and continue on. 

Then please follow up via email to proofreader.support@speakwrite.com or gc.support@speakwrite.com, so that the problem can be addressed with the previous typist. 


*NOTE:  Please follow the above policy whether the partial appears to be submitted by a typist or by another PR. 

Criteria for Rejecting Back to Typing

Reject Wisely

Remember to reject wisely as the typist is not paid for their work and you are not paid for proofreading when you reject a document. Take into account that our turnaround times can suffer when jobs are rejected.  However, there are instances where rejecting is required.  Proofreaders are asked to use the criteria listed to determine when it is appropriate to reject.  However, Proofreaders must note their specific reasoning at the beginning of the document.  All PR rejections are reviewed by management to ensure they were done according to our policies. 


You can reject if: 

  • The dictation was not transcribed in its entirety and there is over 25% of the dictation left to type.  This only applies if the document was submitted as complete rather than as a partial.
  • Any error that would take a PR longer to fix than to have another typist type.
    • Examples are:
      • Significant formatting issues with Tabs, Tables, Columns.
      • Template changes that are difficult or impossible to correct without starting over
      • Transcription consistently does not match audio or the document contains excessive **** when unnecessary.
      • Dictation was not transcribed in its entirety (with over 25% of the document missing), and the job was not submitted as a partial.  (If less than 25% of the document is missing, mark this as a Critical Error for not transcribing the entire audio.)
  • For jobs that you receive as a partial only (not if you receive it as a complete job for scheduled proofing), please also reject if:
      • Typist submitted a partial without permission and the job is under 3 minutes in length. 
      • Typist did not remove excessive template sample text from a document, or did not remove a significant amount of template text after the point at which s/he stopped typing. 
      • Typist typed substantial parts of a fax form that should not have been typed, or used complex formatting that would be difficult to correct.
      • Typist added excessive words to a document that should not have been included, the removal of which would result in incorrect pay allocation between typist and PR.

Also, should a typist complete an action that results in excess pay for themselves and excess client charges, please email comments@speakwrite.com for review and follow up. 


Do NOT Reject a Job Back to Typing if:

  • The typist has followed directions given to them by the Help Desk.
  • You can easily and quickly correct the errors in the document.
  • There are many of the same errors that can be easily fixed by Find and Replace or other simple fixes.
    • Example:  If a typist did not see that Applicant was capitalized on the client’s word list and the word appears 10 times in a document, do not reject, because this error is easily fixed.  Just mark the appropriate errors on the rating sheet.


Reject back to Client

Rejecting a job back to the client requires Help Desk approval. A job should never be rejected back to the client without prior authorization from the Help Desk, unless it is after hours. Use the help ticket procedures listed in the OLH.

Use the following criteria to judge what jobs should be sent back to the client. Be judicious, as rejections are reviewed by management for quality purposes. When jobs are rejected back to the client, there is no SpeakWrite middleman to decide whether they should be rejected or not.  These jobs go directly back to the client, so they must be handled properly. 

Criteria for Rejecting Back to Client

  • If you receive a partial job that the typist should have requested permission to reject, open a help ticket to request permission to reject back to the client. Reasons for this may include:
    • Poor Audio
    • Dictation is too fast or mumbled to type accurately
    • Excessive equations
    • Excessive use of medical terminology
    • Poor fax quality
    • Outside SpeakWrite Scope of Service
    • Legal job submitted on a general account



Rejecting a Job Back to Client after Help Desk hours

(The Help Desk is closed from 12:00 A.M. - 7:00 A.M. CT Monday - Friday, and 11:00 P.M. - 8:00 A.M. CT Saturday - Sunday)

  • If a job has the above-mentioned deficiencies, do the following:
    • Leave the document intact with transcription, if appropriate.
      • Any transcription in the document is returned to the client for their use.
    • If there are any inconsistencies, such as a “note to client” from the typist, remove the note and forward the job number to typist.supervisor@speakwrite.com for review.
    • Use the appropriate canned reason for rejecting the job.
    • Jobs should only be rejected without Help Desk approval in extreme cases. Inappropriately rejecting a job back to the client is considered a very serious infraction, so use your best judgment when making this decision.



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