Pros
I came to Southwest with so much excitement and so much respect. Finally, a company I could work for that had a reputation for treating it's employees great. When I went in for my interview I let them know my greatest asset was my positive attitude and that I would work very hard for them if hired. Everything leading up to training in Dallas was perfect. They flew us to a People department and overwhelmed us with love, letting us know how fortunate we were to work for such a great company while explaining our benefits. Amidst the glow, individual contracts were set out in front of us, with the base pay and the union who had negotiated it. I couldn't have felt more proud of myself for landing this job. I then returned to the station where I trained for about a month with someone, after which I went to the training headquarters in Dallas for three weeks of paid training. All the moments I spent there were wonderful. There was free coffee everywhere, and they put us up in a nice hotel and gave us food cards. It was heaven, and again I felt lucky and so proud to work for Southwest Airlines. I cannot express how great the Corporate culture is. The benefits you receive, as well as the welcome you get, are the main and only highlights of this job. However, once you return from Dallas, the reality sets in: something is not as it seems. This really is too good to be true.
Cons
A week after I returned from Dallas, I had completed my training and finally began a probationary period of 6 months. During this time you begin your union contract and bid for a shift. Per the contract: Southwest employees cannot decline mandatory overtime, call in sick, or come to work late. If you do, you receive an occurrence. Three occurrences and you are terminated. During this time it became perfectly clear that I was an employee number. Nothing more. 60 hour weeks were commonplace. Imagine: Your shift is Wednesday through Sunday 3pm - 11:30pm. On Wednesday you work your regular shift, but clock out late due to delays: 3pm - 1:30am (10 hours). However, you are assigned mandatory overtime (remember you cannot decline this without being fired) for 2 hours after you get off at 3:45am - 11:45am. You then work from 3pm - 11:30pm the same day. Imagine that this happens 2 times a week, every week. That is the reality of Southwest Airlines. Throughout my probationary period this was VERY common, and again happened at least 2 times a week. The most I had to work was 81 hours in one week, four 16 hour shifts back to back, and then a regular 8 hour shift on one of my days off. It's not the type of work that is the problem, it is the amount of work. Upon asking union leaders and management, their responses were, and I quote VERBATIM: If you don't like it, maybe this job isn't for you. Once completing your probationary period, which is rare as people literally fall asleep on the job and are fired, or break down from the mental stress of staying awake for 2 days straight, you can decline the overtime. Even then, 16 hour days are a common occurrence, as is mandatory overtime. The IAM union contract states that for every refusal of mandatory overtime, you accrue half a point (.5). If you accrue 9 points, you are subject to termination. In the single month after my probation I accrued 5 points by simply declining overtime. Per the contract, it takes 3 months for just 2 points to drop from your record, during which time you cannot be late, call in sick without a doctors note, or decline ANY overtime. As it stands, my weeks are never less than 50 hours. NEVER. This amount of work results in huge employee burnout. I recently spoke with someone at Headquarters in Dallas who said, "Right now we have a high turnover rate for customer service and we are trying to figure out why." I cannot in good conscious recommend this job to anyone that values their sanity.