Network Rail reviews

3.8

74% would recommend to a friend

(2,607 total reviews)

Jeremy Westlake

75% approve of CEO

53% positive business outlook

Network Rail has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 2,607 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Network Rail employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Construction, Repair & Maintenance Services industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
Mar 26, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The effort to pay ratio is very good. Plenty of opportunities for overtime. The majority of the staff on the platforms are tolerable.

Cons

Management is horrendous, most of them appear uneducated at best and outright vicious at worst. One in particular has been known to control the rostering in a way that often means staff annual leave requests aren’t approved unless they agree to do ‘voluntary’ overtime. Another manager shut a colleague in an office without food or water for three hours pending a drugs and alcohol test, under the proviso that the colleague wasn’t ’allowed’ to have anything to eat or drink for three hours prior to the test (incorrect). A lot of the middle jobs like platform co-ordinators are filled by management’s close friends and family too. The situation did improve slightly when a long-standing Operations Manager left in 2022 but has since reverted back, with the current Operations Manager being a lackey for those above him, with no interest in building relationships with the staff. Passengers are abusive, some staff have had knives pulled on them and another was punched in the face. Station building itself is barely adequate either, despite a costly revamp a decade ago. Escalators frequently break down and the ‘air filter fans’ on every platform present serious long-term risks to your hearing. A minority of the platform staff are horrible to work with too - some lack basic hygiene and others are outright bigoted (multiple staff have been sacked in recent years for racist comments about colleagues). Another colleague - who was a platform co-ordinator at the time - was suspended and investigated for sexual misconduct. The charges were eventually dropped with the accuser then ‘coincidentally’ gaining a promotion shortly afterwards.

2.0
Mar 6, 2024

No work life balance

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Salary is good, London allowance also good. Some really lovely helpful people working in the Route functions. Some areas are very inclusive such as offices.

Cons

No work life balance, contracted to 35hrs per week. Regularly required to do 50-60 with no over time. Have to work during Annual leave. National/Central functions toxic. Cost cutting and headcount reductions. Front line areas not very inclusive or diverse

1.0
Feb 1, 2024

Too many changes….

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Many training opportunities, and personal development through work. People are generally nice.

Cons

Some managers are not delivering work for a few years, and they are still there…. Lack of efficiency due to a large organisation. Many hard working contractors to cover permanent employees inefficiency.

Viewing 181 - 183 of 2,607 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,888 Network Rail reviews submitted anonymously by Network Rail employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Network Rail is right for you.