Pros
Benefits. Since Norfolk Southern is a railroad all employees, agreement and nonagreement, receive "railroad retirement." For this to be valuable, however, an employee needs to plan on having a company for their career. Railroad employees do not pay Social Security; instead they pay a slightly higher tax on their wages for this retirement benefit. The Norfolk Southern offers a good work life balance. The nature of the work is not that you need to take it home with you. Hours are set and employees generally are not required to put in overtime. This of course is a two way street.
Cons
Given the history of railroads in our country there is a still a union culture. Although the vast majority of the white collar jobs are non-agreement there is still a blue collar mentality. People show up at a particular time every day, and leave at a particular time every day. Employees take their lunch on a fixed schedule. Norfolk Southern offers a wide variety of careers. Opportunities include accounting, finance, real estate, engineering, information technology, among others. Given these options it feels as though opportunities for advancement are limited and highly political.
