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Union Pacific

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Union Pacific

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Union Pacific Employee Reviews about "call 24 7"

Updated Nov 27, 2021

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Found 2,756 of over 3K reviews
2.3
23% Recommend to a Friend
Union Pacific President & CEO Lance Fritz
19% Approve of CEO

Found 22 of over 3K reviews

2.3
23%
Recommend to a Friend
19%
Approve of CEO
Union Pacific President & CEO Lance Fritz
Lance Fritz
1,531 Ratings

Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Pros
  • "Good benefits (although insurance is going downhill in recent years by getting more expensive and having higher deductibles.)(in 386 reviews)
  • "The pay is good and despite the slow erosion of benefits they are still good.(in 379 reviews)
  • "Good benefits and retirement (until it gets privatized)(in 125 reviews)
  • "Great people and potential for life long associates(in 105 reviews)
  • "Good salary and used to be safe long term employment(in 63 reviews)
Cons
  • "Poor management make too many knee jerk decisions at the expense of employee satisfaction and long term employment(in 172 reviews)
  • "must return all call regardless if they leave a message all hours .. no work life balance.(in 130 reviews)
  • "Massive layoffs and downsizing of train yards has most employees wondering when the axe will fall.(in 82 reviews)
  • "work Very long hours and over time(in 71 reviews)
  • "Another manager accused my foreman of me of not crossing track correctly even after he said he was to far away to really see us.(in 68 reviews)
Pros & Cons are excerpts from user reviews. They are not authored by Glassdoor.

Ratings by Demographics

This rating reflects the overall rating of Union Pacific and is not affected by filters.

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Reviews about "call 24 7"

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22
  1. 3.0
    Former Employee

    demanding

    Nov 18, 2011 - Train Dispatcher in Omaha, NE
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    If you can get into corporate there are plenty of advancement opportunities. They also pay you well for the demanding work you do.

    Cons

    Work/life balance is zero. You will also be on call 24/7 and work a rotating schedule every week which consists of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift. Also don't rely on your days off because they consistently change them on you. The medical benefits are also horrible.

    Continue reading
    5 people found this review helpful
  2. 4.0
    Current Employee, more than 1 year

    Easy, boring, rewarding, exhausting

    Jul 22, 2015 - Freight Conductor in Cheyenne, WY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Benefits, pay, ease of work

    Cons

    On call 24/7, away from family, poor middle management

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    1 person found this review helpful
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  4. 3.0
    Current Employee, more than 10 years

    Over the road freight conductor

    Aug 5, 2021 - Railroad Conductor (Road) in Houston, TX
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Good benefits, retirement and pay.

    Cons

    On call 24/7 , no set schedule and with my assignment not being off holidays. The abseentism policy is terrible.

    1 person found this review helpful
  5. 4.0
    Current Employee, more than 8 years

    Its a great paying job.

    May 1, 2020 - Railroad Conductor in Kansas City, MO
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    The pay, benefits, and the people you work with.

    Cons

    The long hours away from home and being on call 24/7. You don't work the same shift and always have to worry about being bumped. It's a numbers game and Seniority rules your whole career.

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  6. 1.0
    Current Employee, more than 10 years

    No place to work of you have a family or need stable income. Furloughed for majority of first 5-7 years.

    Feb 16, 2018 - Conductor/Engineer/RCO Operator 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Pay and insurance is better than most, but you will sacrifice all family/social events or anything that requires you to be anywhere at a set day or time, ie: childrens games, clubs, leagues, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, graduations.

    Cons

    Rampant cronyism and favoritism as far as jobs/trains and dispatching are concerned. The same employees get the gravy jobs while everyone else works on their rest with no time at home and rot on trains for 12 hours or more most days. On call 24/7/365 with no set schedule or days off. Management lies about you to write you up to make discipline quotas and have absolutely no regard for you or your families livelihood. You will work most weekends and holidays unless you layoff sick and become subject to an attendance investigation under an attendance policy that only states that you are expected to work full time and protect your assignment. The reason for not giving actual guidelines for attendance is that they are afraid people would follow them. Full retirement isn't until age 65-67 after 30 years of service so if you are older full retirement isn't an option unless you work into your late 60's or 70's. Also, railroad life of working on call with no set schedule is very unhealthy and proof of that is that the average retiree only draws 18 months of retirement before they die. If you are considering working for Union Pacific know that you will be furloughed constantly and that their current junior employees have been furloughed for the majority of the last 5 years. So unless you have another source of income, do not even consider Union Pacific because you will be furloughed and your job will be threatened everyday by managements interpretation of rules and your performance. Everything is a critical rules violation including turning your head for a second to double check a switch or derail. Seriously, even if you look back while riding equipment out past a switch, if you look back for a split second, to see if the switch lined, that's one strike out of 3 towards permanent dismissal. No matter what they promise you do not take a job with Union Pacific unless you have nothing else or can live without steady income for years and have no other options. All of the reviews on here and indeed about management being dishonest and attempting to terminate you on a daily basis is absolutely true and cronyism and favoritism is rampant regardless of how much, or how good of a worker you are. If you are not a Facebook friend and regularly suck up you will work all the worst trains and spend twice the time on trains and out of town as the suckups do and there are only a small amount of good jobs and the same people work them all the time while everyone else works twice as much for the same money. If I had to do it all over again knowing what I know now, I wouldn't of even considered it. Be forewarned because if you are older like I am, it will waste your prime working years and leave you trapped seriously limiting your options. If you are under 40, consider going back to school or taking a job that pays less with a regular set schedule. On call 24/7/365 will take its toll on you and your family and relationships fast. After the second year your friends and family won't even call you anymore about events and gatherings because you will be working, sleeping, or rotting on a train staring at a red signal for several hours waiting to yard your train.

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    1 person found this review helpful
  7. 1.0
    Current Employee, more than 10 years

    Abusive management

    Apr 4, 2022 - Locomotive Engineer in Denver, CO
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Historically good pay, but that is slowly changing. We have not had a raise in several years and overall cost of living increases are starting to catch up.

    Cons

    Abusive upper management policies particularly when it comes to taking a day or two off. Long hours, on call 24/7, much of your time will be spent away from home. I would say that about 1/3 of my coworkers are heading for the exits or actively looking for a new job because of an attendance policy recently enacted.

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    1 person found this review helpful
  8. 1.0
    Current Employee, more than 10 years

    #1 worst Company to work for!

    Mar 6, 2020 - Locomotive Engineer in Seattle, WA
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Pay/benefits. But can’t take a day off and on call 24/7 with no schedule.

    Cons

    Here is how much this company hates the people that make them record profits...... if you lay-off 1 time in 30 days you are fired!!!

    Continue reading
    5 people found this review helpful
  9. 1.0
    Current Employee, more than 5 years

    Will do anything to steal from their employees

    Dec 1, 2019 - Freight Conductor in Portland, OR
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    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!!

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    10 people found this review helpful
  10. 4.0
    Current Employee, more than 5 years

    many trade offs

    Dec 31, 2015 - Anonymous Employee in Saint Paul, MN
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    can be a good company to work for, great pay for no college, lots of training to provide one with the skills they need to advance. The insurance is amazing, and the unions really stand up for their people to make sure people are not taken advantage of

    Cons

    If you work over the road there is no schedule you are literally on call 24/7 which can get a bit tricky with family life. Also, depending on the needs you can be laid off for short to long periods of time with little to no warning.

    Continue reading
    1 person found this review helpful
  11. 3.0
    Current Employee, more than 5 years

    Work/Life balance is voided

    May 17, 2016 - Freight Conductor in San Antonio, TX
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Pay is close to 6 figures with no college required, retirement is golden, benefits include: medical, dental, optical.

    Cons

    No work/life balance: on call 24/7...365 days a year. Management works against you. Training for entry level is poor at best. Culture is like High School. Gossip/back-stabbing, etc.

    1 person found this review helpful
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