Union Pacific Employee Reviews about "call 24 7"

Pros

Some of the people you work with are awesome, and others make you wonder if they have visiting hours where they live. Paychecks always clear, though you never get paid what you should be by agreement. I was happily able to leave on my own terms, so there's that!

Cons

You are quiet literally just a number in a system, and a warm body to fill a slot. You will be treated as an easily replaceable commodity, so be aware! You WILL be on call 24/7/365, and woe unto you if you anger the people in charge of the attendance policy in Omaha, even with their arbitrary enforcement of their made-on-the-fly rules. Have a spouse and/or kids? Hope you don't really like them as much as you say, because you'll never see them and watch them grow up. You're going to miss out on a lot of important events in their lives, because "Uncle Pete" now controls yours. Hope you like nasty Chinese food in a seedy hotel on Christmas! All that is if you are actually able to work and not be furloughed every year since your hire date, and currently people with 8-9 years seniority are on the bubble. Like other reviews, this company will only hire you for a tax break, and will take every single chance it can get to fire you. It's the only job I've ever heard of where you have to get "fire insurance" in case you temporarily lose you job, or worse! The safety culture has really gone downhill since I hired on. At the very least, it was a facade of "Safety First" back then. But with the recent and on going changes safety is now blatantly in third place, behind the shareholders and profits respectively. The injury rate rise and also with five fatalities in the past year really shows how UP cares about their workers. This is definitely a place where only those extremely desperate for a job should go, only IF you have exhausted all other options.

Pros

Absolutely no pros since PSR has been put into effect. This company is a bunch of thieving scum treating their employees like absolutely trash. They only care about the size of their bonus checks. Run away

Cons

I have worked for this company for 6 years and ever since they started precision schedule railroading things have gotten totally out of control! The company has now resorted to stealing from its employees who work on call 24/7. They will do anything in their power to find loops holes or grey areas in the agreements to steal gauruntee from the on call employees. This was never like this until recently. I have never worked for a company that knowingly steals from its employees. Anyone that is thinking about working here dont!! I used to think this was a great place to work until about 3 years ago, now i know why they have the saying "getting railroaded" because they screw overtheir own employees just to save money and boost profits so the top dogs get their multi million dollar bonuses. I hate this company with a passion. Youve been warned, dont work here!!

Pros

Pay and vacation. The people you work with. The sun sets and sun rises.

Cons

Managers treat you as if you are scum. (some not all.) They will run off or fire any good manager they have. The only way to have a off day is to get family medical leave. You get no sick time off and if you lay off once a month due to a illness or family illness you will get charged with attendance even if you have doctors notes and the paperwork. Work 24/7 by phone. There is no pattern. They hire you just to fire you and im not joking. Sometimes you are forced to work in areas or jobs you have never even heard of and are expected to know it all.

Pros

Pay and benefits were decent but you sacrifice a lot for it.

Cons

No set schedule. No home life. You get paid to be on call 24/7/365. Will furlough you in a second (lay you off). If you advance to management they will move you all over the country.

Pros

A few pros are the Pay, retirement, insurance.

Cons

No job security, very very poor management, work for greed, no reward. . Jobs getting cut, low morale, doing more with less workers to satisfy shareholders. On call 24/7. Exhausted crews. No sleep.

Pros

Looks good on a resume.

Cons

Where to begin? 1. Zero work/life balance. If you are a manager in department that operates 24/7/365, you are expected to be on call 24/7/365. This means you are subject to being called in to cover someone else’s shift if they call in, with barely any notice. You are also “encouraged” to have your email set up on your personal phone so you don’t miss anything when you’re not in the office. You’re also bothered when on vacation and are never really “away”. Many times, I’d work 60-70+ hours each week and still had to be on-call regardless. 2. Long hours. The ones in the “glass palace” work a modest 8-5 with a lunch break and have time to go to the on-site gym. The ones at the Harriman work a minimum of 10-hour days with no lunch (they can’t tell you that you CAN’T take a lunch, but it’s frowned upon to leave and get something to eat. Most just eat at their desks). 3. The HDC also does not have a gym on-site for employees to use. It’s a mile and a half from the UP HQ building, so it would be impossible to get a workout in over lunch. 4. Incompetent management and nepotism runs rampant. People are promoted based upon their popularity rather than their skill level, tenure, and knowledge of the railroad. 5. Management and directors will block people from interviewing for promotions because they’re worried about losing good employees. 6. Management and directors will also hold employees for MONTHS until a replacement is hired. Oftentimes, the new department rescinds their offer because they can’t get the employee in time, leading to the employee not getting a promotion they rightfully earned. 7. Unrealistic expectations set forth by management. 8. Attitude from subordinates that are never addressed by senior leadership, which leads to a negative work environment. Everyone is constantly walking on eggshells as to not say something that may get them subject to an EEO investigation. 9. Participation in work-related groups and events is discouraged by managers, even though they want us to be involved in activities per our TPT/performance review. Lose/lose situation here. 10. CONSTANT layoffs. There have been a round of layoffs every single year I was here, with more coming. The executives don’t understand the bigger picture. All they care about is padding their wallets. In turn, these constant layoffs create added stress on the employees that were left, because they have to pick up the work that their peers used to do on top of their own.