Fly-in fly-out

Fly-in fly-out is a method of employing people in remote areas.

Overview

Rather than relocating the employee and their family to a town near the work site, the employee is flown to the work site where they work for a number of days and are then flown back to their home town 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.

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.

Generally fly-in fly-out work sites use portable buildings as typically there is no long-term commitment to the work site (e.g. the mine will close once the minerals have been extracted).

Employees like fly-in fly-out arrangements as their families are often reluctant to relocate to small towns in remote areas, due to the lack of opportunities for partner's employment, limited educational choices for children and poor recreational facilities.

Employers prefer fly-in fly-out arrangements when the cost of establishing facilities of sufficient quality to attract families to live locally will exceed the cost of creating basic facilities for a fly-in fly-out community plus the cost of airfares.

Negative effects

On the negative side, fly-in fly-out employment can put stress on family relationships and may stifle regional development.

Mining towns that once had a considerable size, like Wiluna in Western Australia, which had a population of 9,000 in 1938, have shrunk to a population of 300, with almost all employees of the local mines on fly-in fly-out rosters.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/