I’m genuinely puzzled by the praise General Atomics receives for its work-life balance (WLB). In my experience, the WLB is actually quite poor. While the company touts a 9/80 schedule as a perk, the reality is that you’re trading slightly fewer workdays for consistently long, 9.5-hour days. That extra half hour includes a mandatory 30-minute unpaid break, which must be taken within a tightly enforced window. You can’t skip it or shift it to a time that better suits your needs—even if you’re fasting, on a special diet, or simply not hungry. In effect, the company dictates when you eat, with no flexibility.
Time off is another major downside. Vacation and sick leave are drawn from the same PTO bank, and accrual is painfully slow. You start with 120 hours per year, which is advertised as “15 days,” but that’s misleading. Since most workdays are 9 hours long, you’re actually only getting about 13 full days off per year. If you get sick, say goodbye to your vacation.
The list of company-paid holidays is outdated and lacking. There’s no recognition for MLK Day, Juneteenth, or Indigenous Peoples’/Columbus Day. Worse, when holidays fall on a scheduled off Friday (as the 4th of July did this year), there’s no make-up holiday granted. Many companies offer at least a partial paid shutdown between Christmas and New Year’s, but not General Atomics—you’ll need to dip into your already limited PTO to spend time with your family during school breaks.
In short, the benefits may look decent on paper, but the reality is rigid scheduling, limited time off, and an overall lack of flexibility or consideration for employees’ personal needs.
