CN Employee Reviews about "call 24 7"

Pros

Eventual good pay. Meet lots of people, some good some bad. Get to work with trains all day. Decent health benefits, dental, etc. Rewarding job if you stay long term.

Cons

Management sucks and will always rush you and give attitude over the radio when you aren’t working fast enough, although they promote working safe. You’re expected to do different jobs with old broken down equipment, pretty much setting you up for failure. The trainee wage for the first 6 or so months of your career is decent but compared to what everyone else at the company is making, it’s next to nothing. You’re working in all kinds of weather 24/7 no matter the conditions outside. Nothing but talk about following safety rules, yet NO ONE follows them. Not a very diverse company and you will feel some discrimination if you are a minority.

Pros

Benefits- decent benefits People- great people Freedom- depending on your title you may have the freedom to do things as you see fit

Cons

Salary- no longer competitive No promised bonus for last three years On call 24/7 No option to disconnect

Pros

Good pay and pension plan

Cons

24/7, 365 operation. Stressful workplace sometimes.

Pros

Write your own cheque, great pay

Cons

No time for family and friends or any kind of life outside of work. On call 24/7, 365 days a year.

Pros

1) Great Pay 2) overall fairly easy work 3) Great people 4) Great opportunity for advancement => Either within unionized positions or within management 5) Great leader, with a great focus, great corporate outlook 6) Great team, lots of knowledge, lots of help when needed 7) SAFETY....ONLY COMPANY I HAVE EVER WORKED FOR WHERE THEY PREACH SAFETY AND BACK IT UP 8) Those who continually mess up and put others in danger are held accountable

Cons

on call 24 / 7, long days (up to 18 hrs on a train) bunch of 50+ people who hired on in high school, never worked a hard job in their life and all they do is cry about the work. Place would be much better if 25% of the work force retired tomorrow and wouldn't have to deal with all the cry babies. I can't believe there are people with a grade 10 education who make 120 thousand dollars a year who cry that they don't make enough or that they have to wake up at 2 am to make that kind of cash.

Pros

None whatsoever in the slightest

Cons

On call 24/7. Constant budget and manpower cuts

Pros

- Earn income up to $90,000/yr depending on economic conditions and your seniority. - Colleagues are hard working and genuinely trying to do their best

Cons

- On-call 24/7 and expected to report to work within 2 hours of phone call. - Only 24hrs off between shifts, weekends and holidays are meaningless. - To obtain pay above $60k/yr, you have to be away from home in excess of 72hrs/week. - Seniority is slow to gain and you will be laid off periodically for the first 3-5 years. - If not laid off during slow periods, you will be forced to work in remote locations for 30 days at a time, with only 7 days off at the end. 2 of those 7 days off are usually spent travelling home. Then you're sent away for another 30 days. Repeat for 3-5 years. - The company hires inexperienced and poorly educated front line supervisors that treat employees poorly (verbal abuse, non-reporting of injuries, etc). - No transferable skills. - Dirty & noisy accommodation when working away from home. - CN constantly violates it's own policies and agreements, which is demoralizing.

Pros

Compensation is highly competitive and well-rounded. This includes a strong base salary plus many other monetary benefits (matching RSPs, stock options, annual bonus). Other benefits include health, dental, vision insurance coverage, group-rate for RSP purchase and a long list of preferred business partners (cheaper price for buying cars, train tickets, hotel/air fare, etc...). This is indeed the best place to learn train operations and transportation. If you are truly passionate about trains/transportation, CN is hard to beat.

Cons

Turnover (quitting) is getting higher among young employees and employees with less than 5 years of experience. The company is aware that it cannot retain people. Culture shock to some, where the mentality is set in stone by the management people, who have been here for 25+ years. Also be prepared to be brain washed and pushed to the extreme if not showing any passion for the train industry. You are 'expected' to become a train conductor/yard helper regardless of your profession (whether IT professional, accountant, HR recruiter or senior manager). The transportation industry is 24/7. Therefore virtually everyone is somewhat 24/7 on call. This can be very stressful to some.

Pros

Great benefits, pension and pay.

Cons

The hours can be taxing, considering you are on call 24/7/365, getting time off is a real chore. There is a lot of pressure to get things done place, and there is a very negative attitude with staff especially the more senior staff. They seam to like to manage through fear, the threat of discipline is always on your mind. The only jobs I have heard of where most conductors/engineers purchase out of work insurance in the event of rules related suspension or dismissal.

Pros

Great benefits and pension, great variety to the job. Able to transfer around Canada. Get to play with the biggest toy set in the world!

Cons

Company watches you closely and tries to pin everything on you. Very much can be a hostile environment. Management is super unprofessional when employees make mistakes. On call 24/7 29th no predictability. It's really a lifestyle.