employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Norfolk Southern

Is this your company?

Job stability but painfully tied to tradition - Anonymous employee Norfolk Southern Employee Review

3.0
Jan 12, 2010
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

NS offers a very stable work environment. Stealing or lying will get you fired, but little else will. Benefits are solid. The management training program was rated as one of the 50 best in the US and gives you a good view of the company as a whole. Pay can be extremely rewarding in the later years, minimal at entry level. Yearly profit sharing bonuses. More than 50% of the employees are nearing retirement which means many opportunities for newer employees. A couple corporate retreats are very nice.

Cons

NS is used to the past. In the past you went to work somewhere and committed for the rest of your working years. If you come ready to commit, both to NS and yourself, to 30 years, then you can kick butt. Otherwise, its not for you. Most young employees today arent ready for that. The culture is also reluctant to any type of changes and typically always favors the "way things have always been done." This can be discouraging. Lastly, if you end up with a senior manager who has been around forever and has a "rough, work you to the bone, you kids dont know the first thing about hard work" attitude, good luck. They have been around forever and no one will get rid of them, no matter how poor their management skills are.

Explore other reviews about Norfolk Southern

5.0
Apr 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good training provided at training center

Cons

It was 3 weeks feel like needed to be longer

3.0
Jul 1, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Depending on the team you are in, it can be very flexible, and you’ll be working with nice people.

Cons

HR needs to step in more, they are supposed to set a precedent yet it seems like the higher ups in different departments actually set the expectations. Which can be toxic, and some managers clearly don’t know how to manage teams. HR seems to be a nice and fun department, but the rest of the company has lackluster reviews. Also, stop advertising a total rewards package to new hires when you need to work over fiver years to get some benefits and due to the merger they won’t actually get that package. Just raise your base salaries.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All