Fly-in fly-out work might seem like insane money for less work but one man has given a brutal assessment of the lifestyle.
The unidentified FIFO fitter and turner took to TikTok to declare the work “s**t”, despite the salary.
In footage that has amassed more than 350,000 views in two days, the worker shared the many downsides of the role which he said included “s**t” food and having to live with divorcees.
When asked if the job is as good as people say, the fitter, who works two weeks a month, replied: “Nah, it’s s***.”
“You’ve got to live with a bunch of divorcees and the food is s***,” he said.
“The place you stay is alright because it has got air-con, but you have to wear thongs in the shower.
“It’s just not that good.”
While he admitted to raking in more than double the hourly wage he’d be paid in the city, there was a good reason why.
“The only reason you get paid more (than in the city) is because you are doing 84 hour weeks,” he explained.
The fitter estimated that working in the city might reap him $40 an hour in wages — a slim figure compared to his estimated $75 to $85 hourly rate whilst on site.
The fitter isn’t alone with his negative FIFO experience, with Medical Journal of Australia research indicating remote mining workers living on-site experience levels of psychological distress three times higher than the general Australian population.
Despite his criticism of the industry, the worker revealed the one FIFO role he’d wish he’d applied for.
“I would just be a cleaner,” he revealed.
“(The site cleaners) have got it chill.
“They just drive around in little golf carts and just clean your rooms — it’s not like cleaning up after people, all they do is wash sheets.”
Camera IconThe fitter revealed he would apply as a site cleaner if he could turn back time. Credit: @getahead.app/TikTok
TikTok users were divided over the worker’s comments.
Many left comments praising the fitter for his honesty about the FIFO industry and its downsides.
“Finally someone who’s actually honest about the job,” one commenter said.
Another commended him for the “accurate description of the role”, while a third commenter simply wrote: “He’s spreading the pure Aussie truth”.
Other viewers, however, disagreed that cleaners had an easier life.
“Cleaners are low paid and it’s definitely not easy,” one person shared.
Someone shared that cleaners are “always under the pump” at mine sites, while others said it was definitely “not a chill job” like he said in the clip.
A minesite cleaner even chimed into the discussion, encouraging the fitter to consider a change in career: “He should become a cleaner . . . because I’m cleaning mine sites and it is so exhausting in the big camps.”
The viral video comes only a month after a WA FIFO worker went viral for similar criticisms of the job and the glamourisation many expats often attribute to FIFO.