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60 Independence Group NL
THE CHALLENGE OF FIFO
The FIFO work environment presents a number of
challenges for our people and has been the subject of
significant public debate in the last few years with both
State and Federal government enquiries. We understand
that working away from home can be stressful when the
environment is impersonal and does not feel like home
for people when off duty. We recognise the importance
of the standard of accommodation, the food, and the
need for people to feel at home in the residential village.
It is a high priority to ensure that our people live in an
environment where they do not constantly feel like they
are ‘on duty’. Our view is that it is important for people
to have their own room and ‘personal space’ for ‘down
time’. It is also of high importance that the standard of
food and the quality of the canteens/kitchens and other
facilities allows for a level of relaxation and de-stressing.
Our Social Club and theme nights are an important part of
us creating a sense of community and providing a level of
‘fun’ that is important to this concept of ‘down time’ and
relaxation.
We also appreciate the challenge our FIFO workers face
being away from home where all the little ‘ordinary’
things are happening in the life of their families at
home. We believe that the ability to communicate with
their family using reliable mobile and Internet coverage
is critical for our people to maintain this contact. The
opportunity for real-time contact by Skype or phone
provides this avenue for contact and we have installed a
mobile tower, WI-FI and televisions in each room at our
Jaguar Operations to facilitate the best communication
possible for our people and their families.
Family emergencies can present further challenges to
FIFO workers. To address this we have developed good
relationships with our airline carriers to enable us to
move our people offsite in emergencies at relatively short
notice. We also view a well-resourced, easy to access
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as an important
point of confidential contact for our people and their
immediate families. Our EAP has been used as a resource
for our people for a range of personal issues relating to
work stress, anxiety and depression, family, children and
marriage. In the future we see that our EAP provider may
be of assistance in the education program for applicants
and new starters to understand and prepare for the
impact of FIFO life.
IGO has always supported growth through
innovation and recognised the value of
developing our people to achieve their potential.