Some current information on Dubai, SERCO, Abu, Bahrain and Doha.... Dubai upper mngmt (locals) has their head up....... Lowered hiring maximum age to 45. No pension, not a lot of incentives and yet they want individuals who will come and put 10-20 years in. ATCO's are starting to leave in 2's and 3's because of conditions. Wages are less then some other ME locations but living expenses incredibly high.
SERCO is pretty much a non-player now in Dubai and for a good part of ME. Why, their HR is terrible/horrible in fact, line mngmt not much better and they just haven't kept up with the times.
GAL is Abu and just forget about this location. Bottom of the pay scale, considerably less then other ME locations. They won't pay for you to go for APC's unlike the rest of the local ANS providers and everything is at your own expense for the hiring process. These guys are obviously just trying to take advantage of the desperate ones out there which will eventually backfire on them. Cost of living still very high and their pay/allowances are 20% less then Doha/Bahrain/Dubai for instance. GAL have a little more respect for this profession.
In Bahrain ATCO's seem to be the happiest bunch of the group, renumeration is good and management is cohesive.
That leaves Doha.... 3 days on and one day off (oh ok a sleep day as well that counts as your day off even though you worked till 6am that day). Yes the sleep day is found other places but when its one of four much different then one of two. Promises of raises for some time that have never happened and staffing just crazy. One controller working the unit that a minimum of three would be working in other locations. Perhaps one day someone will come and save us but for now we are just doing what we need to do.
All of these locations have some assets/positive things to offer as well and all of the above may be interpreted in different ways but the facts of them are all true and up to date.