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Norfolk Southern

Is this your company?

Stable industry/company on one hand with a stuffy & cut throat work environment on the other hand - Anonymous employee Norfolk Southern Employee Review

2.0
Nov 19, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Stability, benefits including retirement pension, great wellness initiative including pedometer program where you can earn up to $500 extra dollars cash just by walking. A company with good intentions

Cons

However decent the intentions are, NS has failed to succeed in a culture shift, and I personally believe the retirement pension has a lot of unhappy people sticking around just to be able to retire. A lot of "position hopping" also occurs, which is good in the sense you have the opportunity to become a well rounded employee if you intend on being a lifer, but it also creates the scenario where poor performing employees who are toxic to their departments are able to climb the financial ladder by taking incremental pay bumps and their managers are happy to sign off on these to get the poor performing individuals out of their department, in this sense - poor performance/attitudes get rewarded. There is also an era of dry/lifeless impersonal workplace environment and a bit of a condescending detachment from some of the upper level executives, many of which don't have young children or families. Don't be surprised if you work here and don't form any close bonds with the people you spend 8 hours+ a day with. Not sure if this is a hard-nosed railroad mentality of "just do your work and go home, make friends later", or just the vibe in big corporate America in general. Maybe with some young fresh blood this negative energy will be replaced. Not much of a mentorship initiative to nurture development of young/new employees...

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.

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