FIFO or Residential?

Many companies offer their workers the option of either fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) or residential living.   But which is the best option for you? Most of the time, the answer to this dilemma is associated more with your family’s circumstances than with the role itself. Whether you’re on a FIFO roster or residential living, what you do at work will change little. However, if you have a family with children approaching school age, or are at school already, the decision becomes a little more difficult.

I’ve done FIFO and have lived residentially, both in Australia and overseas. At the time both suited our circumstances, mainly as it was based on our son’s need for kindergarten and school. Soon after our son was born while we were living in the Northern Territory with Rio Tinto, my wife and I discussed what we thought was how we’d like our future plans to work out. Again, this was mainly based on our son’s education – we felt that we were in a position to travel and live residentially until he is in year 6 or 7. At that time we felt stability for his education was important mainly to minimise the amount of travelling and the upheaval associated with this.

Over the past 7 years we’ve had 7 moves with various companies, including overseas postings – not the most stable environment for our son, but it doesn’t seem to have had an effect on him. He’s in year 2 now so any effect would be minimal, but had he been older and in higher grades, there may have been an impact. So what do you look for in a residential offer? If the company is offering you one of their houses, your options may be limited, but the basic requirements you should look for are suitability for your family’s size and needs. Some companies offer houses rent free, others give you an allowance and charge a minimal rent (usually equivalent to the allowance). Others leave the house hunting up to you and offer a rental allowance knowing that rents will be high and assistance is required due to this. Some don’t offer anything all.

In terms of a FIFO arrangement, you should find out all you can about camp facilities, room types and any other amenities on offer. The difference in mining camps can vary greatly, even within the same company. In some cases, during the boom in 2007/2008, companies were trying to outdo each other in camp facilities simply to attract and retain staff. Many people made decisions on where to work purely on the type of camp they lived in and not the work they were doing! Most camps are rated on the basic facilities such as room size and type, how many per room (most are 1 per room these days) and whether they have en-suite facilities. Other features that play a large role in peoples’ choices are whether there is decent Internet available direct to the room and if entertainment options like cable TV or video-on-demand are offered.

For overseas camps, options will vary greatly mainly as it’s based on what’s available in the host country. For places like PNG and Indonesia, the Internet is many years behind what you find in Australia, so don’t expect to have the latest and greatest in the camp. In some cases, it may only be satellite based and limited to management or Superintendents. Likewise, in other cases only management get rooms with en-suites. I’ve stayed at camps where it’s ‘barrack’ style accommodation with shared showers and toilets – quite common for greenfield camps until permanent infrastructure is established.

The other important point to consider with FIFO is the roster – these vary greatly from company to company. Even within the same company, rosters can vary greatly, especially for overseas locations. Usually, overseas FIFO rosters are expressed in weeks on and off. The general ratio is twice the number of weeks worked to weeks off i.e. 2:1 or 4:2, though some companies offer rosters like 15 days on, 12 off. Travel to\from home is generally split across your time and the company’s time, though with some companies you can negotiate this so that it’s all on their time, giving you more time at home. Most flights home are economy class, though for exceptional circumstances, ie you’re too tall for economy class, you may be able to negotiate premium economy. Balance salary offers with these benefits based what you value personally. Most companies will oblige.

If you have an opportunity to do either FIFO or residential, do your research on the options and make the decision in conjunction with your family. Living overseas can have its advantages, mainly as you get to experience a new way of life, different food and local cultures, but it’s not for everyone. It can be quite daunting for a family to set up a new life in a different country, especially if you are off to work each day, or for the week, leaving them to fend for themselves.  The support the company gives you overseas can make a big difference to the experience. Ask about this and if you get a liaison person to work with once you’ve arrived. Getting visas and flights is only a small part of the overall effort required to move countries.