Culture of hard work and heavy drinking still drives high-flyers
Accept a lunch invitation from a City law firm or bank and you might well believe that the alcohol culture of the Square Mile is fading fast. The wine is still in evidence, of course, and it is usually of fine quality, but glasses are often left half-full while the extra bottle demanded of the waiter is more likely to be fizzy water.
However, despite such appearances, medical and alcohol support professionals say the macho, booze-reliant culture of the City is as strong as ever with evidence suggesting that drink and drug abuse is growing among City workers.
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Corporate hospitality events, entertaining clients, networking with contacts and socialising with colleagues are all seen as a required part of a City job even if they take place after, and often long after, office hours. Such events invariably revolve around alcohol.
And for the young, go-getting professionals, playing hard is as important as working hard. As one banker put it: "Just go to the City on a Friday afternoon if you think the alcohol culture has gone. When we go out, we're not drinking Diet Pepsi."
Figures from Alcohol Concern, the agency on alcohol misuse, put lawyers as the fourth most likely group to die from alcohol-related causes, behind bar staff, doctors and seafarers.
People from managerial and professional socio-economic groups are also more likely to exceed Department of Health guidelines for safe drinking. As many as 44 per cent of men in the "large employer and higher managerial" category said they drank more than the recommended limit on at least one day in the previous week.
The high demand for alcohol counselling in the City has prompted The Priory clinic to target advertising at high-performing alcoholics in the financial and professional services community.
Dr Neil Brener, a consultant psychiatrist for The Priory who practises in the City, said long hours, demanding targets and a reliance on work for feelings of self-esteem created stress that led to alcohol abuse. He said: "Many high-achievers typically deal with these problems by self-medicating - using alcohol, cocaine and other substances to relieve their emotional and psychological distress." The Priory said the stream of City professionals seeking help showed no sign of slowing.
Hilary Tilby, chief executive of LawCare, a support organisation for lawyers, believes increasing stress levels are at the root of many alcohol problems. "About 80 per cent of the people calling us about alcohol problems say they drink because of stress at work."
LawCare's new case files are increasing at a rate of 30 per cent a year and it has already opened more new cases this year than it did in the whole of 2005. It has taken about 1,300 calls this year from existing clients.
Ms Tilby said: "Certainly in the big firms there is that sort of culture of going out drinking at the end of the day." She believes it is socially acceptable for professionals to drink heavily but not to admit they have a problem. In addition, many high-flying lawyers were relatively young and the effects of years of regular heavy drinking did not manifest themselves until later.
She said alcohol problems typically became evident in male professionals in their mid-40s, although women on average showed signs in their mid-30s.
Although stories abound of City workers pepping themselves up with cocaine to face long working hours, Ms Tilby said the issue of drugs was still largely underground.
"We do get some people who are dual addicted, and the drug is usually cocaine, but that's even less socially acceptable than admitting you have a drink problem."
Alcohol Concern said problems were often caused by professions that viewed networking with alcohol as an important way of progressing up the career ladder. That could be a particular problem for women, the agency said, who often felt under pressure to "keep up" with boozing male colleagues to be taken seriously at work. It said there was evidence to suggest women on higher incomes drank more.
The Cabinet Office has estimated that work-related alcohol misuse costs the economy up to ￡6.4bn a year in reduced performance and productivity. Yet many employers are still in denial over the problem.
Alcohol Concern urged employers to do more to tackle alcohol abuse and adopt policies that allowed employees to seek help for drink problems without being stigmatised. A good policy should "regard an alcohol problem as a health problem rather than being an immediate cause for discipline or dismissal", and should establish rules of confidentiality to encourage staff to come forward.
But perhaps the best policy, it said, would be to "create a workplace environment where people don't feel pressure to engage in that sort of drinking as a way of doing well in their job".
For help with an alcohol-related problem, the LawCare helpline is 0800 279688, while The Priory offers free,confidential assessments on 0845 6050121.
伦敦金融城“酒气”太重
如
果你接到了伦敦金融城某个律师事务所或银行的一次午餐邀请，你可能会深信，金融城的酒文化正在迅速衰落。当然，酒还是一定会有的，而且通常品质上乘，不过，杯子里经常会剩下一半，而再向服务生点的酒水更可能是汽水。
然而，尽管表象如此，提供毒品和酒精问题救助的专业人士却表示，金融城崇尚男子气概的豪饮文化与从前一样发达，而且有证据表明，在金融城员工中，酗酒和吸毒现象正日益严重。
公司接待活动、款待客户、建立关系网以及参加同事间的应酬，都被视为金融城工作中必需的一部分，即便这些活动是发生在工作之余，而且常常是在下班很久之后。这类活动总是围着酒精打转。
对于年纪轻轻、野心勃勃的专业人士而言，拼命去玩跟拼命工作一样重要。正如一位银行家所说：“如果你以为酒文化已经远去，那就在周五下午去趟金融城。我们出去的时候，喝的可不是‘轻怡百事’(Diet Pepsi)。”
在英国酒精滥用问题机构Alcohol Concern提供的数据中，律师被列为最可能因酒精相关原因致死的第四大群体，排在酒吧员工、医生和海员之后。
根据英国卫生部(Department of Health)的安全饮酒标准，来自管理和专业社会经济团体的人也更有可能超标。在“大型雇主和较高管理层”人群中，多达44%的男性表示，在过去一周，他们至少有一天的饮酒量超出推荐限度。
金融城里对酒精咨询的高需求，促使The Priory诊所将广告目标锁定在金融和专业机构中业绩优良的酒鬼身上。
在金融城行医的The Priory精神病学顾问尼尔?布雷纳(Neil Brener)医生表示，工作时间长、目标苛刻、依赖工作获取自豪感，这些因素都会产生压力，导致酗酒。他表示：“许多很有成就的人通常都在利用酒精、可卡因和其它东西来减轻情感和心理上的痛苦。”The Priory表示，金融城专业人士寻求帮助的势头并没有减缓的迹象。
律师援助组织LawCare首席执行官希拉里?蒂尔比 (Hilary Tilby)认为，日益增加的压力是许多酒精问题的根源。“由于饮酒问题给我们打电话的人中，有80%的人表示，他们喝酒是因为工作压力。”
LawCare的新案例正以每年30%的速度增加，今年新增案例已经超过去年全年，今年已从现有客户那里接到约1300个电话。
蒂尔比表示：“大公司的确存在每天工作完毕后外出饮酒的文化。”她认为，专业人士大量饮酒是为社会所接受的，但承认他们有问题则不然。另外，许多雄心勃勃的律师都相当年轻，持续多年、经常性大量饮酒造成的影响要到以后才会显现出来。
她表示，对于男性专业人士，酒精问题通常在45岁左右变得比较明显，但女性平均在35岁左右就有了出问题的迹象。
蒂尔比表示，有关金融城员工用可卡因提神以应付长时间工作的故事很多，但毒品问题大多仍是非公开的。
“确实有些人既有酒瘾也有毒瘾，毒品通常为可卡因，但与承认有酒精问题相比，毒品更难为社会所接受。”
Alcohol Concern称，这些问题的起因通常是，专业人士将借助饮酒培养人脉视为职业上取得进展的一个重要方式。该机构表示，这对女性可能尤其成问题，她们经常感到面临压力，需要“跟上”大量饮酒的男同事，以便在工作中受到认真对待。该机构称，有证据显示，收入越高的女性饮酒也越多。
英国内阁办公室(Cabinet Office)估计，与工作相关的酗酒致使业绩和生产率下降，每年给经济造成的损失高达64亿英镑。然而，许多雇主仍否认这一问题的存在。
Alcohol Concern敦促雇主采取更多措施解决酗酒问题，并实行相关政策，允许雇员在不蒙受耻辱的情况下，寻求酗酒问题方面的帮助。好的政策应“将酒精问题视为一个健康问题，而非成为遭受纪律处罚或解雇的直接理由”，同时应制定保密规定，鼓励员工主动寻求帮助。
然而该机构表示，可能最好的政策应该是“创造良好的工作环境，让员工不会感到，为了在工作中表现良好，他们必须参与这种饮酒活动。”
要寻求酒精相关问题方面的帮助，请拨打LawCare热线服务电话：0800 279688；The Priory提供免费且保密的咨询评估服务，电话为0845 6050121。
