Network Rail Employee Reviews for Planner

Management are useless. Nothing more than bullies. The job is good, but it fails with the poor moral caused by some management. There has been loads of grievances put in against one or two bullying management, but nothing is done about it, even though its proven time after time.

Pros

good pay, good training, good hours

Cons

bad management and hours expected to be done for free every night

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Good Place to Work

Programme Planner (Former Employee) - Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire - 29 February 2020

Management are screwed on in the section I was working. Hopefully would love to work for them again. It very multi-cultured. Response from staff are very good.

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Insights into Network Rail

Based on 110 survey responses

What people like

Supportive environment
Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging
Energising work tasks
Support from manager

Amazing benefits

Operational Planner (Current Employee) - Milton Keynes - 21 January 2020

The flexible hours, 28 days holiday and 8 days volunteering are just some of the benefits of working for Network Rail. Safety is above all, so if you are a safety oriented person with an analytical mind don't hesitate to apply.

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Great Company to work

Integration Planner (Former Employee) - Derby & Crewe - 1 January 2020

Good company to work for, provides great opportunity to demonstrate your initiative. Great team working spirit, openness and collaborative form of working.

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New starter and going well

Operational Planner (Current Employee) - Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire - 18 August 2018

Just started a month ago, on this exact role. Interview process was straight forward. Online test about 12 questions to show how good you are with puzzles and problem solving. Then 3 hour assessment centre at MK quadrant. 1 hour interview 1 hour test on the role ( questions where you read and calculate train journeys on a sheet using diagrams) 1 hour group work with fellow interviewees where you will be observed. They totall up all 4 processes and highest scores are successful. Going through my 18 week training. Training and working at the same time. You get put in a team after you join and that when you’ll know which area you’ll be working in and also it’s your wam that help you feel welcome in a place where everything is just so new to you. The actual work is okay once you’ve been shown how to do it, it’s very technical, dealing with time table plans and then offering them to train operation companies. Then validating them. It’s not simple but it’s really interesting. The office is amazing. Parking is great you get a MK employee permit for free. All day parking is £3 in mk purple bays. The network rail staff carpark is £2.80 per visit. So you have a choice. Training team are lovely they help you with your development. But also it’s how you also make sure your developing and take control of the matter. Plenty of promotional opportunities once your competent and in need for a change. Smart wear, shirt/ half sleeve shirt and trousers. Most Fridays is dressdown for charity. Gym £18 a month with free classes. Every Monday they have a football league -

Pros

Gym, ample parking if you come early, flexible hours

Cons

A Lot to learn, information overload

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Application test

Planner (Current Employee) - Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire - 5 July 2018

Great conpany lots of variety of people, very friendly team. The hours are the hours you do occasion there is overt, but very rarely. Parking facilities is excellent. There’s test in order for you to get an interview, which think is ridiculous

Cons

Test doesn’t show you as a person

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Official response from Network Rail

25 September 2020

Thank you for your honest review. It's always difficult reading about a poor experience. Any testing we do include within our recruitment is to find the right person for the role, however we always welcome feedback to improve the experience for our candidates and colleagues. You can speak directly with your line manager or your local HR Business Partner to provide some specific feedback. Thank you again for sharing your experience.

Typical day at work

SECTION PLANNER ADMINISTRATOR (Current Employee) - London - 1 June 2018

Typical day at work. Good place to work. Paid on time good benefits with 75% off travel. Holiday and sick pay. Environemt differs where ever you work.

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Great

Operational Planning Assistant (Former Employee) - Milton Keynes - 14 April 2018

Was managed well and everyone was friendly.They always had me doing things and it enjoyed it thoroughly. Work environment is really good and its very easy to fit in.

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Going by my dad's job - only week for work experience placement

Work Experience Placement (PICOP - planning team) (Former Employee) - London - 18 August 2017

Nice atmosphere and relationships with colleagues (welcoming). Everyone really seemed to know what they were doing so you will be well trained and cared for.

Pros

Relationships with colleagues

Cons

Far from where I live

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Not a happy workplace

Section Planner (Former Employee) - Crewe - 17 August 2017

Very stressful environment.with no extra staff Maintenance area covered was growing with no extra staff to cover work. Staff getting stretched thinner and thinner

Pros

Good Pay

Cons

Always taking work home for no extra reward

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Jobs at Network Rail

Planner positions

Section Planner, Administrator

Senior Project Engineer

York

1 day ago

Examination Data Technician

Milton Keynes

30+ days ago

Challenging Environment always changing

Operational Planner (Former Employee) - Milton Keynes - 13 September 2016

Worked in the Capacity Planning Department, a challenging role of meeting the needs of freight operators under daily deadlines to offer bids back to FOCS. Worked in a large team involved daily stakeholder management with operators via email and phone. Met GBRF in June 2014 was good to put names to faces, met operator to understand there needs and future markets. Visited Roberts Road Depot to see how the class 66 diesel fleet is maintained by Electromotive. The building in MK was great to work in the commute was long from London however worked with some good people which made the job good. Learnt a lot about rail freight this being a niche area of the industry and valuable to know information gathered which would hopefully lead to more opportunities in the future to work at a freight operator.

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Fantastic Company

Planning Consultant (Current Employee) - York - 7 September 2016

Really enjoyed my time with Network Rail. Would recommend the Company to Family & Friends, unfortunate that the Company is always going through Budget cuts though.

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great place to work

Planning assistant (Former Employee) - Eastleigh, ENG - 22 June 2015

Great co-workers, work hours were good with 1 hour lunch break. Always possibilities to learn and advance if you wish to have career in this industry. Very welcoming and genuine people.

Pros

well paid, job security, ability to grow within company

Cons

long travel from Poole to Eastleigh

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Section planner

section planner (Former Employee) - york / hull - 19 October 2014

Don't do it !!! They treat you like sh@@t !!! ...you could bend over backwards for them but they don't appreciate anything !!!

Pros

men on the ground

Cons

long hours

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great job oportunities

Section Planner (Former Employee) - ENG - 24 September 2014

I never knew anything about the Railway industry when I was offered the role as Section Planner but with guidance from colleagues I learnt everything there was to know about the job and excelled in the role. I also planned for other areas and departments when required to cover sickness, holidays and open posts, I enjoyed my time with Network Rail as it gave me the chance to gain lots of skills to take with me in future roles. I had to be methodical, consistent and attention to detail as the role was safety critical and needed to be accurate as my role was providing safety packs for colleagues to work on the track with trains running. It made the role more intense and rewarding knowing I had such responsibilities. Management were approachable and building good communications between other departments was essential.

Pros

great incentives with pension and holidays

Cons

addictive work environment

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Enjoyed the job

Freight Commodity Planner (Former Employee) - Leeds, ENG - 29 July 2014

A very regimented routine was required to daily deadlines. Which required planning from first thing every morning. Liaising with collogues as to work loads and getting stuck in. All this ment dealing with around three hundred trains a week.

Pros

Made many friends and contacts

Cons

MAnagement

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Challenging, fast paced place of work

Planner/Administration - Cable Theft (Current Employee) - York, ENG - 15 January 2014

Fast paced, challenging workplace with a talented, skilled and knowledgeable work force. Every day brings new challenges and stretches employees to develop their skills. Essential to be able to work on own initiative as well as part of a team working towards a common goal. Fantastic approach to continuous improvement and lean principles.

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First job via Randstad after nearly 2 years out of work following redundancy

Operational Planner (Contract) (Former Employee) - Central Milton Keynes - 20 August 2013

Waited to be given daily timetable from specialist to import into system that fed thru to Paddington control station This was a robotic job and didnt learn much apart from the very short time trains have to come in and go from Paddington Station and which trains needed to go onto which platforms according to their size and whether they needed to be refuelled with water etc like the HTC trains. Not too impressed by management as I was used as the scapegoat (being temporary) to a dangerous mistake made by a permanent member of staff and let go. This was in part due to bad management as I moved onto creating the timetables from schedules but had not spent enough time with the colleague who suddenly went off sick and I was then expected to run the whole thing, I did ask for assistance as two workers used to cover this but that was denied to me. Co-workers (fellow temps) I got to know and all of them have gone permanent since then I must have done a good job as they put me on training as if I would go permanent eventually. The chance I was given based on my skills to help out with the timetables and become the guys assistant.

Pros

Friendly colleagues and original tasks were very easy and laborious

Cons

Unfair dismissal

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Hard working but challenging environment

Operational Planner (Current Employee) - Milton Keynes, UK - 8 December 2012

In this role I learned that being part of a team is vital for the smooth running of the department. The work itself was challenging and enjoyable. I really enjoyed the environment and the people I worked with as well as the nature of the job that involved a lot of logic and problem solving. I am a planner by nature, and really enjoy seeing things through to the end.

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Stressful & not happy place to work

Section Planner (Former Employee) - Selby - 7 October 2012

A typical day at work was to start at 7.30 and not come up for air until leaving time - which was officially 3.00 but rarely got away on time. It was not a good place for your health! At one period I did 2 peoples jobs for 11 months and they were very happy for this to continue until I finally said enough is enough. Needless to say they didn't think it was worth anymore than one salary. This is the worst job I have had in my life.

Pros

officially could finish by 3.00pm

Cons

long unpaid hours

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Productive, customer orientated environment.

Operational Planner (Current Employee) - Milton Keynes - 23 August 2012

A tyical day would involve liaising with customer regularly to consult on train plans whilst meeting the rule of the plan. Since being at Netowrk rail i have improved my prioritisation skills and negotiating skills due to working in a high presured environent. I am looking to develop a career in project management, specifically within an area which focuses on people and therefore i am looking for opportunities to allow me to do this.

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