It is a sign of positive times for business. You only have to enter any airport and there they are, masses of people all crossing the country, going here and there and everywhere.

I would guess most of these people are business travellers and a percentage of these are coming or going to work locations away from their home base.

However the other thing that is noticeable is the sense of calm about the place.

People are not so aggravated anymore when the more-common-than-not announcement that “flight such and such is delayed”, or even worse cancelled, comes across the loudspeakers.

These days, people simply place the mobile phone to the ear and ring ahead to pass on the news, then sit back and do a crossword, read the local rag, undo the laptop or hit the Blackberry.

Perhaps the odd delay can actually be good for lowering stress levels.

So much of the new technology that enables us to easily travel and communicate across the world is being taken for granted. But is it all good for the health and wellbeing of workers, from ground level to executive class?

This leads me back to the ideals of health and wellbeing within the workforce. Recently I wrote about fatigue, especially when it comes to how shift rosters can impact on exhaustion.

It appears there is a trend in the workforce itself, not management, to lobby for more changes to shift patterns to allow for more R&R time.

Now given my limited to non-existent medical knowledge, for a person to cope physically and mentally with a demanding position they must be physically fit and have a good diet to help ward off mental and physical fatigue.

It also appears to me the ethos of being aware of and encouraging more physical fitness and wellbeing is slowly becoming more prevalent in mining corporations from head office to sites.

But this flies in the face of a recent announcement that Aussies are among the most obese people in the world.

Given this, if the mining and minerals processing industries are promoting health and fitness in their workers then they are a step or two in front of the nation as a whole.

This may all sound well and good, but realistically, if we look across the mining industry and the supply sector, the picture is not that rosy. In fact, it’s a rather chubby, sweaty and out-of-shape picture that greets us.

So much of the support chain relies on people travelling to all corners of the country and globe.

This means long periods of time away from home, as well as hotel food, plane food, long hours in airports, short hours in bed and long days simply sitting behind the wheel of a car, or on a plane.

A quick meal on the run grabbed for lunch and the invariable longer dinner in the evening entertaining clients who are otherwise not available during the day, plus coffees and red bulls and other pick-me-ups during the day.

After all, this is what makes the infrastructure of business society tick, certainly in the service industry.

So where do people find time for the physical exercise they need, and how do they find more time to think about their food?

Managers and owners of service and supply chain companies, listen up.

You have to make sure your employees make this part of their daily schedule, or at least set aside some time during the working week (this could be seven days if they are on the road) to take time out to exercise.

It needs to be in their job description or part of their salary package to join a fitness centre or sporting club where energy is expended (not just a social member of a footy club, where the only exercise comes from trips to the bar).

Employees need to be active and you, as their manager, owe it to them and your company to encourage physical health and wellbeing.

I am not proposing that we create supermen and women who do marathons for fun, but we do need healthy employees who do not say things like “we are just too tired at the end of the day to go for a walk”.

And finally, to the supply industry of the mining and minerals sector, remember also that healthy, active staff will have fewer sick days, and will be more productive. Isn’t that worth the investment?