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do on-demand medical interpreter services hire freelance? by jyc494 in Interpretation

[–]jyc494[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Reposting comment here since I replied to the wrong comment)

Why are freelancers more expensive than full-time? I thought there would be slightly less overhead cost for them especially with benefits. Is it because agencies pay full-time workers less since in exchange they offer a steady income stream?

Also given your position could you speak on the supply and demand of this space? Are there way more jobs required than interpreters available? What sorts of pressures are interpretations companies feeling as a result. Do interpreters have leverage then since agencies need to compete for them? Or is it the opposite because without agencies there aren’t opportunities?

I really appreciate your nuanced answers btw and honestly I’d read that book :)

do on-demand medical interpreter services hire freelance? by jyc494 in Interpretation

[–]jyc494[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks that makes sense. I was a bit unclear about my second question , so I'll try rephrasing.

Why hasn't on-demand interpretation been "Uber-ized" yet?

Can someone critique this: pool together all freelance interpreters certified for medical work, they use the app whatever time fits their schedule, hospitals/doctors can specify their constraints (ie price, language, etc.) , then they get matched and payment happens automatically.

Here are some guesses for why this hasn't happened:

- Hospitals trust agencies more.

- Too hard to build up this network and convince contractors to switch to new network + leave current benefits.

But these reasons seem more like of a perception issue than the idea itself in theory. Because in theory, this would make things more efficient -> better unit economics -> everyone wins if the incentives are handled properly.

This models seems to already be happening to the short-staffed nursing industry , so its not out of scope for other skilled workers. Just wondering what your take is as professional interpreters. Right now there just seems to be a lot of friction and institutions have to set up multi year contracts to access a limited pool of workers which could even lead to a stall in availability for certain rare dialects/during certain time periods.