Northwest Airlines Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Employee recognition program - ability to reward employees and also be recognized by supervisors for outstanding performance.
Opportunity - many different areas to develop your career.
Great people who are passionate about what they do.

Cons

Male dominated in flight operations with an older than average workforce made it difficult to maintain a work/life balance.
Salaries were below industry average.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue with employee development.
Establish a formalized mentor program to attain/retain top talent.
Embrace youth, as they are the future of your company.

Pros

Interesting business domain
Coworkers very nice, cooperative
Smart people in the IT group I worked in

Cons

Financially unstable industry
IT management largely incompetent
Wastes a lot of money on offshoring, gets poor results

Advice to Senior Management

You get what you pay for.

Pros

- Good people (hardworking yet still very social at lunch and after hours)
- Colleagues and leadership demonstrated intelligence and high levels of competence (I found that lacking at Delta)
- Driven to challenge yourself and grow
- Good mentorship and recognition from superiors

Cons

- Was acquired by Delta

Advice to Senior Management

NW will be remembered as of the best managed legacy carriers.

Pros

- Somewhat cliche, but hard work gets recognized and rewarded
- Overall compensation is decent relative to peer companies and industries
- Vital industry to global economy
- Constant crisis / firefighting creates opportunities to prove your worth

Cons

- Constant crisis / firefighting, particularly with unions, gets tiresome
- Negative public image never subsides; constantly defending yourself with neighborhood friends
- Many lifers get into upper level positions and never leave. Some seem to get title inflation based on seniority in the position. Must be the heavy unionism influence on management decision making

Advice to Senior Management

- Too late, but don't sell out to the saps in ATL. Or maybe do sell out and let the world see how well they can deal with unions.

Pros

Some flexibility for trading your work hours or days off. There are flight benefits however it is becoming increasingly difficult to use them. They sometimes offer "convenience leaves of absence" where employees can take anywhere from one day to six months off without pay , sometimes getting to keep medical benefits and travel benefits.

Cons

There always seems to be negative morale, because the company always seems to be in a crisis requiring pay cuts, concessions or layoffs. Many positions require membership to a union even if you prefer to to be a member. They sometimes have forced overtime where you have to stay up to four hours more on your shift. It is very difficult to get holidays off.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat all employees the way you want the external customer treated.

Pros

In the past, the reason for working for Northwest Airlines was the travel benefits. Since 1980 there has been a marked decline in the travel benefit. Today, in 2009 most employees travelling standby (i.e. non-revenue) find it nearly impossible to get on flights because of newly increased over-booking policies. Thus, the standby travel benefit is no longer a actual benefit.

Cons

Some of the downsides of working for Northwest Airlines are:

1. Job insecurity
2. Non competitive/Low wages
3. Incompetent Management Staff
4. Insensitive Management Staff
5. Out of tune Management Staff
6. Management by Intimidation
7. Non-diverse workplace

Advice to Senior Management

Dear Senior Management,
Please take this letter with the sincerity that it was written. You're facing a very serious internal problem with your employees. Internal descension is impeding your ability to progress. Incompetent, insensitive, and out of tune management has a direct effect on your employees moral. With the Delta merger there needs to be a complete house cleaning. This cleaning needs to start at the very top management level. Longevity does not equate to competence. This is 2009 and a global diverse economy and world. Your business and business model must reflect this. As I walk around here in Eagan, Mn in NW Building A, I see no diverse management in the upper levels of the company. What a shame when we call ourselves a global company. Does anyone speak spanish or cantonese or represent those nations? Why are your employees so unhappy? Unhappy employees are not as productive as happy employees. Spreadsheet statistics have proven this. The old days of non-communication, and management by intimidation are OVER. Get serious about making Northwest Airlines a better place/good place for people to work.

Signed,
A current employee

Pros

The flight benefits are great. If you like to travel, and are willing to put forth a little time and effort learning how to use the travel benefits, it is well worth it! Being a smaller company, management knows many of the employees, so you're not just a number as in many bigger companies.

Cons

A very competivie industry right now, so pay remains lower than outside the airline industry. But you can far more than make up the difference with flight benefits if you try. There is also uncertainty right now about what will happen as Delta takes over NW, the parent company of Mesaba.

Advice to Senior Management

I think management is doing a good job given the curves that have been thrown, i.e. Bankruptcy a couple years ago, takeover by Northwest Airlines, and then takeover by Delta Airlines.

Pros

For Days off, health insurance.

Cons

Management is cut throat, not worried about employee moral.

Advice to Senior Management

They would be surprised at how much better their employees would perform w/basics like respect, acknowledgement and better quality of life issues

Pros

Fast paced, exciting and ever changing industry. Whether your skillset be in maintenance, call centers, pilot, IT, customer service or managment, NW/DL has the position for you.

Cons

Working with the handful of co-workers who cannot see the forrest through the trees. That's likely to be the case in most companies though. Because an airline is a lot more than just a service provider for the travelling public, there are a lot of up's and down's that go along with it. When prospective employees submit their resume', they should write down what it is they seek to gain from the airline and keep it for future reference. In most cases, those who complain the most about the airline would likely see they have gotten everything they'd originally sought after, and more.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep communication lines open, continue engaging your employees and produce results rapidly.

Pros

Travel Benefits. I traveled the world in the 2 years that I was there... many times in first class! Working for an airline allows you to see and maintain friends across the globe. I was able to travel home to see family whenever I wanted free of charge. I met some great people at NWA. The company was heading into chapter 11 right around the time I was hired so there was a huge influx of new hires so making friends in an unfamiliar city was a breeze. I gained valuable experience during my time at NWA and I'm thankful for it.

Cons

The executive view towards management and labor relations is the the textbook definition of what not to do. Granted, the labor unions demands and expectations have been (in my opinion) unrealistic and unproductive. Senior leaders need to reflect on how to better manage perception and manage expectations. Also, NWA recruits from top 10 colleges and universities but has no system to develop talent and retain their best employees. Basically your left to fend for yourself play politics and maneuver. In closing everyone I worked with was professional and really nice. I am thankful for NWA because they gave me a decent springboard to start my career and is the reason I am happily employed at another company.

O yeah its freezing in Minneapolis.

Advice to Senior Management

Work on communication!