‘Piece of meat’: FIFO reality that made 28yo quit $100k+ job
A young Aussie who worked FIFO for five years has revealed the reality that made making big money “not worth it.”
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Brooke McIntosh loved her job as a FIFO worker but quit because she was treated like a “piece of meat.”
Ms McIntosh, 28, started working fly-in and fly-out when she was 22. She kept it up for five years but eventually threw in the towel.
“It was very challenging to be in a male-dominated environment,” she told news.com.au.
Ms McIntosh started off as a trade assistant and then worked as a truck driver and eventually moved into construction, but the sexist culture was everywhere.
“It was sexist. It was like you were walking on eggshells. It was a fine line between banter and inappropriate comments,” she explained.
“You could be having a good joke, and then someone says something inappropriate. If you wouldn’t say it to your sister, daughter or mum. Don’t say it to me.”
She tried to shut down unprofessional conversations but it made her work life harder.
“Whenever an inappropriate comment was made or the boys were talking about their sex lives. I would say, ‘don’t talk about that in front of me,” she said.
“They’d shut up but then go quiet, and it felt unpleasant. When you spoke up, you were seen as difficult, like people would say, ‘Oh, don’t say much around her.”
When she worked in the mining industry, she earned over $100,000, which was enough to get ahead financially.
The pull of such rigorous work that takes you away from your home life is the financial benefits.
According to job search platform SEEK, the annual salary for a tradie jobs in Australia in 2024 ranges from $75,000 to $95,000.
The only tradie job options with a median salary above $100,000 are for those working in mining, resources and energy.
The 28-year-old also genuinely enjoyed the work, the daily challenges and working as a team to get things done but the never-ending sexism made it impossible to stay.
“One of the main reasons I left is because my mental health was at an all-time low due to the inappropriate comments made. The money isn’t worth it,” she said.
For the young worker, it was little things like that “back to the kitchen” mentality that she knew she was meant to laugh off.
It was also big things. If she wore work pants that were slightly tighter, someone would always make a comment.
“If your pants were a bit tight, people would say, “Oh, you look good in those pants” or say something about your pants,” she said.
“It was like I was a piece of meat. It was the biggest reason I left.”
She found that she was either the only woman working a job or one of the few women, and so, therefore, she was always the minority, and the outdated blokey culture just seemed to carry on.
“Women put up with it and they shouldn’t have to up with it,” she said.
Ms McIntosh found that when she did speak out even men that agreed with her would just “let it go” or turn a “blind eye.”
“It is hard for anyone to have the immediate courage to call out bullshit behaviour. But you need to call out your mates in the workplace,” she said.
She’s now working as a business coach, training for a run to raise awareness for mental health and has moved on with her life, but she misses it.
“I have some days when I’m driving through highway, and I see a big truck and think I’d love to drive that again, but I won’t go back.”
Originally published as ‘Piece of meat’: FIFO reality that made 28yo quit $100k+ job
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