A career that starts with anxiety and depression - Flight Attendant Air Canada Rouge Employee Review

Heads up this will be long, and could be even longer but I’ll breakdown the worst aspects of this company. Let me tell you from first hand experience that working here will put you in more debt than you’ve ever been in before. The financial stress will cause you more anxiety and a feeling of devaluation greater than you’ve ever felt before. The pay is a disgusting slap in the face for the work expected and the role’s responsibilities. There’s a reason why they don’t put what the annual salary is on the job posting on their official website. It’s currently $26.42 an hour and you can expect to work an average of 80 hours a month. In a regular 9-5 you put in about 160hrs a month. So in reality, you’re making $13.21 an hour. So per month you’re looking at $2,113.60 before tax deductions. You most likely will operate some flight pairings that have a layover with meal expenses attached (these benefits are non-taxable). Let’s say on average you’ll get an extra $500 for meal expenses. These are not guaranteed and can fluctuate, and if your flight cancels and you are reassigned, you will not get those expenses if you previously budgeted your month around those. So in general, you’re looking at $25,363.20 per year. Can you pick up extra hours? Sometimes, but they’re distributed by seniority and there are certain parameters that may prevent you from “legally” working those extra hours. For example, you cannot pick up extra flight as a junior flight attendant whose whole month is reserve (on-call) shifts, until you’ve completed a certain amount of on-call hours. Now if you reach that point where your monthly reserve hours are done, chances are it’s near the end of the month and you may not have enough time to even get the extra flights or they go to people with a higher seniority than you. So again, this is unreliable. Thinking of getting a second job or already have one that’s flexible? Good luck. You can have a set schedule, but due to operational reasons, such as a flight attendant getting sick, you may be required to operate that flight for them and that could include on your days off. It’s common for flight attendants at rouge to be “stuck” away from home with constant flight extensions. Your maximum time on duty (not flight hours but duty which includes delays etc.) is up to 17hrs, but you like will only be paid a portion of that time. This was one of the reasons the Union’s are demanding the government make unpaid work illegal in the airline sector. On top of this, the company culture from the higher management is extremely toxic. They consistently display a lack of desire to make any meaningful changes that would improve the quality of their employees. For example, you may find that someone wants to give up one of their flights for personal reasons, and you’re willing to take their flight. Well, you can’t because you can only fly a maximum hours per month unless you waive that right, but then the flight must be assigned first by a crew scheduler. Picking up someone else’s flight does not void the max hourly month cap. The company lacks any form of flexibility and sense of true, empathetic leadership toward its employees. Their main focus is always the technical side of the operation. They mask their concern for employee well-being by providing (limited) access to programs which will connect you with mental health support, yet they make no effort to amend the conditions within their own organization that cause the employees to use the programs.