Quality transcription is not just about 'banging it out on a keyboard', and it can be a difficult and expensive in terms of money and human resources.  Given the current state of the world, you might be considering all your options regarding transcription and general office support - perhaps we can help.

Normal speech is around 160 to 170 words per minute. Professional transcriptionists may reach speeds of between 90 to 120 words per minute, but this depends on the quality of your audio recording.  Even for clear audio, the transcriptionist needs to stop, rewind, search unfamiliar words or unclear speech, and revise the work before returning it to the client. The generally accepted industry standard is that 1 hour of audio takes between 3 and 6 hours to transcribe, depending on the type of audio, the quality, the number of speakers and the format desired.