Pros
Definitely a company I would recommend working for. I left this company for a number of complex reasons, which I will go through in the “Cons” section, but I feel the need to write this review, in defense of Atmos and their management team, as I had a very good experience working there. I was informed by an ex-colleague that some negative reviews have been made and I feel the need to address some of the criticism. Please accept this is my personal experience. I often regret leaving. I wish that the situation which forced me to leave could change, as I would go back in a heart beat. I left at the same time as some of these negative reviews were given and wanted to make sure that no one thinks they were from me. I was an Electro-Technical CompEx 01-04 Field Engineer and my positon very specific within the company. I left Atmos at the beginning of April 2022. I worked for Projects and was stationed at a desk in Research and Development. I worked in the field, installing equipment/instrumentation half of the time. I regularly interacted with all departments directly and indirectly both in the Manchester office and internationally. The CEO and Managing directors were superb, they were always friendly, all treated me with respect and appreciation, like a human being rather than a number, even though I was relatively low down in the organisational hierarchy. This is difficult to find, and I have not experienced anything like it anywhere else I’ve worked. Many staff have been around for several years and clearly enjoy working there. I was there for just over 2 years. The company and it’s management are always making efforts to improve. The senior and middle management have the same positive, pleasant attitude and I never met anyone that didn’t feel like they were trying their best to be a good person and achieve their goals in a respectful and professional manner. Wonderful admin, support staff, IT, Accounts, HR and Marketing. Everyone seemed to care about each other and be proactive to do their best to make each other’s lives easier (although this is not always perfect or even possible). Incredibly profitable, successful business, with a bright future, dedicated staff and real global presence. New business opportunities all the time and diversification into multiple sectors. The CEO and MDs are always looking towards the future and constantly inventing new products/services, which means great opportunities for career development (In many job roles) and a guaranteed position with the ability to move up or sideways. People were incredibly intelligent, skilled, competent, empathetic and helpful. Everyone seemed to do a great job of balancing the multitude of tasks required for each role and had a real concern for quality of delivery whilst taking all aspects of their role into consideration e.g. company needs, colleague needs, customer needs, department needs etc. The software was interesting but often challenging, this is normal for innovative, bleeding edge technology. There are so many products and services, that it’s impossible to get bored. I want to address some false statements made by other reviewers, obviously taking into account that everyone is entitled to their opinions and everyone’s experiences are different. Compensations and Benefits: A previous review stated “Standard Company benefits very little else.” This is Utter nonsense. There's a company bonus scheme, quarterly and yearly. Holidays now in line with/better than other companies in the industry. Very expensive and luxurious Christmas hamper sent to everyone in the company. Birthday meals paid for. Time in lieu. Relaxed company atmosphere. Beautiful building, in a great part of the city. Plenty of parking and public transport access. Flexitime (although some positions mean working long hours one day/week and making them up the next week, this can take a strong personality to make sure you get your time back). Free mental health support (very important with today’s work/life pressures). Health and wellbeing scheme. Private medical. Salary sacrifice options. Pension contributions. Paid work outings. Worldwide travel (if you’re into that sort of thing, I personally don’t care as long as I’m looked after properly whilst away, I will discuss this more in “Cons”). Coffee machine, free teas and coffees. Sometimes chocolates and biscuits. Someone kept nicking my cereal, so some people got that for free as well I guess :D… Fruits delivered weekly. Regular treats provided by travelling staff. Impromptu outings by managers treating well performing staff. Wide variety of work. Relaxed work environment (when possible I would get time and be left to work on multiple other development projects but then loads of work would come and everything would be hectic). Atmos achieved "Best Company" status, just after I left. I am not surprised by this as they worked very hard for it and implemented many policies and improvements to get there. Predominantly positive culture and values. Someone’s review stating “Despot directors” is complete nonsense. The office was always lively and co-operative. Some of the nicest, friendly people I’ve worked with/for. There were sometimes competing opinions/stances and some tension between departments. Due to my role, I was thrust directly in to the centre of these. But these were normal for any business and were minor in comparison to many other companies. Diversity and Inclusion: One of the most diverse companies I’ve worked for, internationally recognised and affiliated (customer, contractors and suppliers) with some of the largest companies in the world. Challenging interview that would generally find the right person for the job with the relevant competencies, experience and qualifications. Senior Management: Always treated me like a human being, always spoke to me with respect and humanity. Never made me feel small or undervalued. Best experience of senior management I’ve ever had. Work / Life Balance: Mostly positive but complicated.
Cons
No serious negatives, but no where is perfect. I will list the cons, as I see them: Career Opportunities: I can’t speak for other jobs and roles within the company but in my particular position it was sometimes difficult to see a proper developed career path. I would have liked to spend more time onsite in a solo capacity so that I could spend more time experimenting with any newly developed software, survey / installation apps, improvement to the company’s onsite policies and procedures etc. This was difficult, due to internal company politics. Compensations and Benefits: It could be difficult to claim back worked time. There were very busy times where people work unpaid overtime and theoretically could have claimed this back with time off (start later in the day and finish earlier). Some people found it very difficult to do this, partly due to their personality and partly due to business demands. I personally felt well paid enough for the work I did, but I felt it was necessary to work overtime back at the office due to lack of solo time onsite. It's the first time, as a field engineer, that I've ever had to share a company vehicle, that was incredibly strange... but we made it work :D Culture and Values: I was employed by the projects management side, but mainly worked in conjunction with on-site/Research and Development. There was a lot of pushing and pulling between departments to try and achieve their aims. I was often caught in the middle of this, due to my particular position within the company which could sometimes be compromising as I felt a loyalty to all departments. I feel most people would regard the culture and values in a positive light. Diversity and Inclusion: I never personally experienced any negative issues in relation to this. Senior Management: I have only good things to say. Someone in a previous review said that management were insensitive when family members passed away. I can't talk from their experience but I was one of the employees who’s family member died, in December 2021. My manager was nothing but understanding, I was given more time/as much time off than I would do in most companies. The problem is, that no amount of time off ever feels enough when a family member dies. The senior staff did their best to accommodate my personal issues, I accepted the fact that Atmos are a business at the end of the day and I have no complaints. Work / Life Balance: This was the thing I struggled most with, and I believe most people at Atmos probably had difficulty with navigating. In some jobs your time is monitored by your boss/manager/automated system. Atmos tries to monitor spent time with a timesheet that you fill in. This can be very difficult, as you’re very often hopping from one task to another and dealing with multiple departments and projects. This also makes it difficult to judge your pay vs hours worked. Saying that, I was given a lot of trust to manage my own time and I felt respected. I also felt well paid. The reason for this was also largely out of the control of the company, and a necessity due to tax and budgeting reasons etc. There did seem to be a high degree of staff turnover, just before and as I left, but this seemed to be mainly due to the fact they hired a lot of young engineers (some I believe to be on the spectrum or had difficulty communicating) who may not really have known what they wanted to do and once they got some experience on the CV they looked for something new. In my personal position, internal training when starting the job was great but external training could have been sourced and organised by Atmos. Customer Focus: One comment I feel necessary to make is regarding customer relations. Sometimes I felt that it wasn’t quite communicated to the customer the value of the staff at Atmos and the status of the engineers. Some customers treated me and other engineers like unskilled laborers or like we were beneath being treated with adequate respect and consideration. Semi related to that... In previous employment a Health and Safety risk assessment was usually done for travel to and from site or location/country of project, and people with injuries, back problems, age (ie. Many field engineers) would automatically get greater comfort to deal with these normal issues e.g. business class, extra leg room, larger vehicle etc. To address some of the Cons mentioned in previous reviews: “Constant disrespect”, “Bullying", “Exclusion”, “Defamation”, “Rudeness”... All Nonsense. “Hazardous And Destructive Management” … Utter Nonsense. "Arrogance” … Matter of opinion and usually a 2 way street. “Micromangement” … Some people need it “Make sure you do a background check before hiring people” … They did a thorough background, quals and skills check on me. This may have not been the policy before I started though? “Not suitable for people who do not like changes or uncertainties” … Agreed, Difficult, challenging, but rewarding work. I think the reason why some people were unhappy was due to the personality type of the people Atmos have to hire. Physicists, scientists, engineers and technicians, all very intelligent and capable people but can sometimes fall on the spectrum (Autism/Aspergers etc.). This can make communication difficult and challenging and the best of times, and especially whilst under pressure, like on some of the projects. In my opinion this in turn can lead to misunderstandings and I believe this is the true cause of the accusations made. I never saw anything but good intentions from all staff at Atmos. In relation to training and hiring the right people: It is virtually impossible for their company to hire fully experienced engineers. The majority of the hardware and software is developed by Atmos. Once you’ve been with the company for a couple years, you will have learnt a lot and their management seem to appreciate this and you will be rewarded. In my opinion none of the cons listed by myself or others (taken with a grain of salt) would be a reason to dismiss an opportunity with Atmos. I can not overstate enough how lucky I feel to have worked at Atmos.
