Fly-in Fly-out roster

[niemeerhier]

I have noticed that a great many jobs in Australia have a fly-in fly-out roster. I would like to have some first hand accounts of people who work in jobs with such an working arrangement. Specifically -

• Is the salary premiums sufficient to compensate for time away from home
  
• I understand these jobs normally entail long shifts - do people cope with this easily?
  
• What is their experience relating to their family relationships?
  
• What are the different arrangements normally available in this regard?
  
• Is it feasible to consider relocating to that rural area?
  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-in_fly-out

http://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlieg-in_vlieg-uit

Edited October 29, 2008 by mrmaritz

[GerhardinOz]

I do not FIFO as a general rule, but had to do it for up to three, four months at a time. The rosters vary a lot as well as the wages and conditions. It also depends on what you do for a living?

I am single so it is a little hard to give you an expert opinion on how families are influenced by this, but from what I have seen it can be hard on some families.

Most of the guys do, it for a couple of years just to safe up some money for a house deposit or pay of a loan or something. A lot of the time it is possible to go residential, in other words move to the location and companies provide housing to their employees. Most South Africans I have met on these sites prefer to go residential.

Shifts:

Most of the time they are 10 or 12 hour shifts, sometimes 12.5. There may also be the occasional overtime, but they try and keep it to a minimum. Usually night shifts are on the roster. If you FIFO you can get rosters from 8 days on 6 days off (be very lucky) to 4 weeks on 1 week off (the longest I have seen). When you do a long shift they have an RDO (rest day off) every 13 or 14 days.

Usually employees live in either camps or motels. The camps are usually better, as they cater better for the conditions. They sometimes have swimming pools, gyms, tennis courts, etc.

Wages:

Average from $40/h to $55/h for trades’ people, I have seen better and I have seen worse. People doing general labor and unskilled work gets less, but I would be sticking my neck out on giving you an estimate on wages. Contracts can be temp, full time and permanent.

If you want more info pm me.

Gerhard

[niemeerhier]

Thanks for the info.