Pros
I worked at Werner from 2002 to 2007. I rarely, if ever, had a problem getting paid, and when my anniversary date came each year they would automatically deposit my vacation money into my bank account. The equipment is very well maintained, and if you need another tractor quickly, because yours is not available, they usually could get you another one right away. I was impressed with their tractor and trailer mechanics. Most of the time they did a great job very quickly. The lane run got me home every night and the weekends too, the full weekend.
Cons
I was on a dedicated lane from Omaha, NE to North Platte, NE, and the pay started out around 22.5 cents per mile and they next, and only, pay advancement took you to 25.5 cents per mile, after 3 or 4 years of time in. They may have changed that now, but that pay was way under what it should have been. You got one week of vacation for the first four years, and two weeks for your fifth year which was too long to wait. The opportunities for advancement or placement, in Omaha anyway, were slim and none. They typically only had night lane runs and family dollar available. They constantly have you on the computers each month taking safety courses that could last from thirty minutes to 90 minutes, but 90 minutes was very rare. You got a $20 credit at the Werner store for each time you took your safety courses, but they were mandatory, and a pain in the rump. The absolute worst part about working at Werner was the dispatchers. They were just rude as could be, and they treated you like a piece of equipment to be ordered around. There were many time that I got into arguments with them for how badly they treated the drivers. It is true that sometimes drivers that would finish the orientation would be waiting one to several weeks for a truck. It didn't happen often, but it was still too often which just show poor communication, honesty and competence on the part of the administration. One last major failure of the company was the driver relations department. They should change the name of that department to the administration relations department. They were mostly useless. I had one girl who actually took the side of management during her attempts to help me. Most of the time the driver relations just swept the problem under the carpet. They were ineffective at best, and at worst, corrupt. That is a good word to use for this company. They are very mafia-like. They have a take it or leave it attitude about almost everything. Werner is a corrupt and dysfunctional company, and I hope they fail, for the sake of the decent drivers out their. Somebody else will take their place, after they fail, it is the nature of things.