FIFO Workers: Have Your Say on Mental Health
Current and past FIFO workers are being urged to anonymously share their experience in a short online survey, as part of an author's ongoing research into FIFO mental health.
Current and past FIFO workers are being urged to anonymously share their experience in a short online survey, as part of an author’s ongoing research into FIFO mental health.
A 2018 study found one-third of FIFO workers in the resource sector experience high levels of psychological distress, a number double the rate of the general population (see related article).
Writer John Toomey said his book would explore how FIFO workers can reverse this trend, and create themselves a successful and rewarding FIFO experience.
“For a long time, I have been watching the unfolding mental health challenges that seem to impact so many FIFO workers across Australia. I can feel the impact on the individual, their families and their workmates. We need to move to reduce the suffering here.”
“Having a great deal of experience in working with physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and providing workable solutions, I have felt strongly that I can offer some guidance and support.”
According to the 2018 study, 33 percent of FIFO workers experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress (compared to 17 percent among non-FIFO workers). FIFO workers also reported higher levels of burnout and suffered more bullying.
The report‘s recommendations include changing shifts and roster patterns to provide better downtime, building on community connections, providing workers with permanent rooms whilst on-site, and providing reliable communications for workers to talk to loved ones back home.
Acknowledging the clear problem, Toomey said his book would help all workers and their families, new and old, to better prepare for the experience and make it work, for everyone.
“This is my effort to reduce the unacceptable levels of mental health issues impacting this workforce.”
Toomey is now seeking responses from the FIFO community as part of his research and has created a 10 minute, 35 question anonymous online survey – found at the bottom of the article.
“I want to hear from the people on the ground, living the FIFO life, or who have lived the FIFO life.”
“Your genuine responses to this survey will help me gain a clearer understanding. I will simply use the data to collate to give me a better understanding so that the book will be as relevant and useful as possible.”
“Even if you are not currently working FIFO – if you have worked FIFO in the past, please do the survey and answer as you would have whilst working FIFO.”
Take the survey
About John Toomey
John Toomey is a Professional Speaker, Writer, and Wellness Thought Leader. Having served 7 AFL teams as either a conditioning coach and/or nutritionist, John has also written books, e-books, 100’s of articles, lectured in universities, and has presented over 2000 seminars in the corporate arena.
Mental health in the workplace
Mentally healthy workplaces are as important to employees as physically safe ones. But how do you get there? A lot of employers have the desire to do more for their employees’ well-being but get overwhelmed by the number of resources and information that’s available.
So how do we move away from workplaces that hinder mental health, and toward those that help it? Gone are the days where you would simply identify risk factors. Businesses around the world are moving toward a best-practice approach for developing and maintaining a mentally healthy workplace.
Want to learn more? Follow these 10 steps for a less stressful workplace.