Fly-in, fly out workers disengaged and more stressed: Aussie study

People who work on a fly-in and fly-out (FIFO) basis become less engaged and more stressed over the course of their work cycle, Australian researchers have found.

The study, published by Deakin University on Wednesday surveyed a group of FIFO workers over a number of months every three days while they were on site to assess their emotional state.

Researchers from Deakin found that working on a FIFO basis can have significant emotional impacts on the workers.

"Workers, on average, showed a decline in engagement and supervisor support, and an increase in emotional demand over the course of the work cycle," the study said.

"The results of the hierarchical modelling showed that day-level autonomy predicted day-level engagement and that day-level workload and emotional demands predicted emotional exhaustion."

It said that employers with a large number of FIFO workers had a responsibility to ensure workers were receiving the necessary mental assistance.

"The findings highlight the importance of managing FIFO employees' day-to-day experiences of job demands and job resources because of their influence on employee engagement and emotional exhaustion," it said.

"To best protect FIFO workers day-level wellbeing, employing organisations should ensure optimal levels of job autonomy, workload, and emotional demands. Practical implications, study limitations and areas for future research are outlined."

FIFO workers usually are flown to remote locations, usually on mines, to work 12-hour shift for between two and four weeks at a time before flying home to have a one or two week break between rosters.

Previous reports commissioned by the Western Australian (WA) Government have found that up to 36 per cent of FIFO workers experienced serious symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress. Endit