conductor

traffic controller

senior communications officer

laborer

foreman

Canadian National Railway

No training just figure it out. Hired over 1,000 consultants (US/India) for knowledge/expertise and workforce.  Employees ended up training them anyway.

Nepotism at it's finest here. No work/life bal. 24/7 on call.  Still into the in-person workforce. Working from home allowed only when they need you and even then may request you come into the office (Montreal or States). Bare minimum employees in the States yet core controlled in Canada the HQ. 

Employees train their managers. "Fake it till you make it" commonly used proudly by management. Many come from the field/craft, lack professionalism, formal education, and knowledge of the law not to violate employee rights.  Invest in new systems yet not in the development of employees for the system(s).  Rely heavily on each one teach one yet managers know that elimnates job security so you will get limited info. CEO and Executive team disconnected from employees leaving middle management (VP, Sr., & Directors) too much power and control.

If it's not in writing don't trust it.  If it is in writing they may find a way out of it even if it's walking on your rights.  The legal system can get them to play ball fairly and they count on many not going that route.  Yet better to deal with on one on one basis and hush them than the masses.  Be careful of their internal HR investigations - it's also to discover any liabilities.  If union - get to know non-union counterpart(s) and vice-versa.

Hours of Service (HoS) used to avoid paying overtime. Check your classification.  You may be job titled one way in email and another in the real HR system since only certain job classifications fall under HoS and reported to government.  Alot of smoke and mirrors in this company.

Not enrolling in benefits they promote that are cost effective to the company then you may be a greater expense/liability than they want.

It's the Railroad - retirement great if u can make or even want to.  With new CEO's philosophy you have try-outs like baseball or hockey to see if you make the cut...Good Luck!

CN is mostly a decent place to work. In IT, salaries and benefits are good and work schedules are mildly to moderately flexible. The culture, however, isn't for the faint of heart. In the US, there is almost no room for advancement. Every year comes with a "less than the" cost of living raise and even the slightest little hiccup causes the upper class to declare no bonuses for the peons. Individuals who are passionate and knowledgeable are discouraged and rarely given the resources they need to improve themselves or the company.

Small decisions are bogged down with red tape and the inclusion of individuals who don't understand the details. Large decisions are made in upper management by people who don't know what's needed on the ground. Over and over you'll hear "upper management has approved this process". Any criticism of these decisions, or bringing light to their deficiencies, is considered "making noise" and is quickly squashed.

Don't anticipate being formally trained, or even cross trained between groups. Silos are ever present and exceptionally strong. The company pats itself on the back that they're "One Team", but that's just a way of shutting employees up when someone complains that another team isn't pulling their weight or is screwing things up.

When you leave the company, they magically change the vacation policy. Suddenly, even though the vacation policy is based on years of service with no accrual, they will pro-rate your vacation when you leave. If you have 3 weeks of vacation on January 1st and use it all in February, and then leave in March, CN will determine that you owe them a good portion of your used vacation time and will dock your last check(s). That's if you're lucky. If you're me, you're still waiting for your last check.

IT has "pillars" that they cling to, but none of those pillars have anything to do with being competent. So long as you're friendly and can repeat keywords, CN will love you.

Tips
1.Joining a Union was a waste of money because its no good to you while you are on probabtion.
2. I was trained at( 2) different sites- 1st site was awesome the trainers thete was very helpful and very informative about the railroad life etc.
The second site I was trained at was horrible, i was trained by (4) different employees and out if (1) of those employees well she was so helpful and had patience. She really was a great person who allowed you to take notes and ask questions.
Those other (3)individuals i hope are retired or was forced to another desk. Those ignorant individuals were extremely childish, racist, and definitely wanted to see a person fail for no reason. It was so bad that i put in a bid for a new position which by the way i was rewarded but was not able to go right into like a new hire was able to. (Which by the way that new hire hide a specific bid so she can get off the same desk as i was on due to how she saw i was being trained) But i was hired a month before her but she won that bid immediately. 
Anyhow a day before my probation ended i was evaluated by Sequia out the blue and waited till about an hour to my shift was over to have me come to her office for my evaluation and was fired. She listen to those 3 horrible people who had bipolar issues etc.
Remember what goes around comes around God dont like ugly .

CN likes to call itself the best railroad in North America, which is true if it was a toy train set going around a Christmas tree.  Management especially at Fond du Lac has no clue on anything to do with a railroad. The only thing they care about is trying to fire and intimidate employees.  Here you will pay union fees that are so extremely high so the union officers can go be buddy buddy with management, your fees will do nothing to protect you. If you want to work for a company that pride's itself on trying to fire all it's employees the day it hires them while the union helps them, please do go work here. I enjoyed my job as an Engineer, but that's as far as it goes. The company makes up policies that are great for them at any given time, and the union just sits there and agrees, if you don't believe me, in your interview ask the company for a sick policy or even a safety policy, there aren't any but get the flu and stay home sick and wait for your investigation letter in the mail. The WCL was a great railroad to work for, since the CNR and Hunter Harrison (blessing where he is now)took over everything is to please the stockholders. This company hates all employees and customers. Good luck with future years of intimidation and not knowing if today will be your last day either by BS charges brought upon you or the lack of any safety at this company. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The CN provides great value in compensation, quite a few pay more than $100k/a year without a college degree.  The working culture is excellent.  It is safety driven and a very rewarding career with good benefits which are tough to match.  Depending on the position, operations positions requires work around the clock which includes nights, weekends and holidays.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The time commitment is one of the most stressful parts.  It can be stressful to solve problems with limited resources and people availability.  For a long time the CN kept people count tight to reduce costs.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment requires being exposed to the weather at any time of the day.  Many of the jobs in the field is exposed to heavy equipment which can be dangerous when rules aren't followed. 
 The culture is very safety driven and motivated to get the job done without accidents or injuries.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
13 hour days, 60 to 70 hour weeks.  Continuous problem solving which can be challenging and rewarding.  The job is never the same day to day.  I'm in the office part of the day and in the field for most of the day.

Ever heard of a 4 month suspension because your work boots weren't laced through the top eyelet? It can happen here. No, it wasn't a situation where the employee was told multiple times. We make $120k/yr... that's basically a $40k fine for shoe laces. It's cheaper to get 4 DUIs.

They will terminate you at the drop of a hat. If they don't like you (maybe your attendance isn't where they'd like it to be, maybe you follow the rule book a little too closely), you're outta here.

They tend to leave me alone, but people around me are dropping like flies. I'm at the point where I don't feel save or secure anymore. Every week somebody is being suspended or terminated and I'm just waiting to make one mistake myself and they give me the boot.

The work itself is enjoyable. I really like the job, but the management is truly vicious. Your co-workers are typically very easy to get along with and enjoyable to work with.

Feel free to apply, but beware all the reviews are true (except the couple random good ones. Must have been written by some kind of shills).

i would show up to work in my work truck hop on the track and inspected the track for 60 miles, you have to get off the track in between trains, mark bad areas, make sure crews are fixing the problems, clean snow from switches, keep inventory on weld, and rail defects, watch for other traffic at crossings, make sure lights work at crossings, ensure everyone is working safely, order materials if short, budget so we aren't spending too much, time management, make sure each job is entered into computer properly and has a charge number. ive learnt that I have a lot of responsibility and I can work under pressure to meet deadlines. Its a high pace high demand work with a lot of quality in these high pressure work projects. Managing time was the hardest with social life work life plus all the different work projects it was hard to balance everything to make everything work smoothly. I love the out doors and seeing the country side and meeting alt new people was really enjoyable

I'm content with my current supervisor but most managers or higher ups are liars and a pain to deal with. Kiss up and kick down mentality here. This company is so focused on being efficient that they are extremely inefficient. Redundant work and jobs are created for management, while boots on the ground employees are treated like children and told how thankful we should be because we have a good job and we are just dumb railroaders. Certain people in senior management enjoy toying with people and play favorites. Benefits get worse every contract. Pension is the only redeeming part of this job and its a long wait. They are looking to get rid of as many in house employees as possible. Morale is low here too few employees and way too many managers. If you stare at a computer and crunch meanless numbers all day your probably ok for now. Till everything can be automated, then times up. Future prospects look bleak as a seasoned employee of this company I consider myself lucky if I can retire from here.

Your first 6 months or so will be training, where you will make little money.  

Once you finish training you will get the most difficult, terrible jobs that nobody else wants. They will send you  all over Western Canada indefinitely and you have no choice in the matter. When you get at your new location you get minimal training, then you are on your own. 

Get ready for no Schedule, no sleep. Meeting friends? forget about it.  Scheduling appointments? forget about it. 

There are thousands of rules that are constantly changing (for safety of course) and you are expected to know everything and follow the rules to the letter.  However if you follow the rules like they are written you will get no work done and have management breathing down your neck. If your work slows down, they will send a supervisor to watch you and look to use  one of the thousands of rules against you.


You start your day by sleeping, because you don't know when you're going to work.  You get a call via your personal phone, then have 2 hours to report to work.  Once you report for work, unless you know the train designation, you don't know what's in store for the day.  You get a train journal that no one trained you how to decipher because your trainers didn't want to train you in the first place. You have to fill out what you did for the day, however, if you make a mistake in your favor you're accused of stealing, and if you make a mistake in the company's favor you miss out on pay.  When I quit the Edmonton, Alberta superintendent called me an idiot, threatened to call the CN police on me, and continued to act childish.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with management as they are constantly trying to find a reason to fire you,  as well as, you're on call 365 days a year

Workplace culture consists of:
Management hates you
Workers are depressed and get very limited sleep
You get up to 24 hours off at a time (this includes the time it takes to get home)

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Conductor 3 salaries reported	$125,000 per year
Traffic controller 4 salaries reported	$99,250 per year
Senior communications officer 1 salary reported	$98,750 per year
Laborer 1 salary reported	$26.15 per hour
Foreman 1 salary reported	$5,202 per month

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