Fly-in fly-out

Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas by flying them temporarily to the work site instead of relocating employees and their families permanently. It is often abbreviated to FIFO when referring to employment status. This is common in large mining regions in Australia and Canada.

Similar to the fly-in fly-out roster is the DIDO roster, drive-in drive-out, which has essentially the same benefits and negatives.

Rather than relocating employees and their families to a town near the work site, the employees are flown to the work site where they work for a number of days and are then flown back to their hometowns for a number of days of rest.

Fly-in fly-out is very commonly used in the mining industry, as mines are often in areas far from towns. Employers prefer it when the cost of establishing permanent communities (of sufficient quality to attract families to live locally) will exceed the cost of airfares and temporary housing on the work site. Generally, such sites use portable buildings since there is no long-term commitment to that location (e.g. the mine will close once the minerals have been extracted).

Usually a fly-in fly-out job involves working a long shift (e.g. 12 hours each day) for a number of continuous days with all days off spent at home rather than at the work site. As the employee's work days are almost entirely taken up by working, sleeping and eating, there is little need for any recreation facilities at the work site. However, companies are increasingly offering facilities such as pools, tennis courts and gyms as a way of attracting and retaining skilled staff. Employees like such arrangements since their families are often reluctant to relocate to small towns in remote areas where there might be limited opportunities for spouses' employment, limited educational choices for children, and poor recreational facilities.

Fly-in fly-out employment can put stress on family relationships, and the phenomenon may stifle regional development.

The impact of absent FIFO parents (primarily fathers) on their children and schooling has yet to be the subject of a major study, but it is likely that the separation anxiety experienced by the children of FIFO workers is similar to that of military families before, during and after deployment. Research published in Australia in 2014 suggests that children of fly-in fly-out parents suffer emotionally from the parent's absence, more frequently become the targets of schoolyard bullying, and may evince additional bad behaviour. However, such children often receive greater incentive to succeed academically, and some such children appreciate the extended time at home available for FIFO parents.

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Wikipedia