Pros
Great place for experience. Dispatch to every corner of the planet except Antarctica. Day to day experience here cannot be matched at ANY major airline.
Cons
1) Management expects each dispatcher to do 25+ flight plans on a 8 hr shift when the most anyone can humanly possibly do is around 13 max. This is not a MAJOR airline were operations are streamlined and efficient. Everything is done manually here. The company does not have the infrastructure nor the personnel to make the job easier and safer. Overwork was the main complaint by everyone on both sides, Atlas and Polar. People have passed out on the floor from exhaustion and sent to the hospital. That’s how bad it got. Complaints have been expressed to the FAA and management, at the time, but no one cared! 2) Moral was always rock bottom and I can say that for most of us were there only for the pay. Pay is very good and so was experience but every thing else was rock bottom on the happy work/life scale. I don’t think anyone in the GCC was happy there including myself. Every workplace has its problems but believe that this company needs to be re-engineered from top management to the peons at the bottom. Back stabbing, complaining, insulting others, preferential treatment, finger pointing and reporting people quietly behind their back was the daily norm. There was also a battle between Atlas and Polar employees which I always observed being instigated by not only Atlas’ Dispatchers but Management as well. I never really understood why there was so much bad blood between Atlas and Polar when they both worked side by side. This bad attitude also transcended through ever department in the company including the Pilots.