The majority of dispatchers (including myself) are paid less than £7 an hour, on part time contracts usually offering 4-6 hours a day, the majority of shifts being earlies. I find myself and many others having to work double split shifts, typically something like 0430-0830 then 1730-2130, then back in at 0430 the day after) just to be able to eat
Admittedly some days you'll spend hours sat down twiddling your thumbs but for others you're constantly under pressure running from stand to stand trying to get flights off on time.
IMO, for the pressure dispatchers are under and the amount of responsibility they have, the amount they're paid is a complete joke. They'll be the first ones to get blamed when the flight goes late and seem to spend 90% of the time trying to cover up delays for others, then face all the questions from management. You'd earn the same amount of money working in a fast food chain, where you'd get the benefits of decent training schemes and even degrees (McDonalds).
Getting anything more than 6hrs sleep is a novelty these days for me, and I'm sure many others.