Stress and the City: alcoholism soars in banking

A binge-drinking culture in the City among highly paid lawyers, bankers and other workers has seen death rates there from alcohol-related causes climb to triple the national average.

Health experts warn that middle-class drinkers are ignoring the public health warnings about alcohol because they do not believe they apply to them.

While the three-hour boozy lunch may have disappeared from many top firms, there is still too much pressure on employees to use after-hours drinking and dining as a means to promotion and networking, campaigners say.

A spokeswoman for the charity Alcohol Concern said: "People will go out to a posh restaurant to entertain colleagues or contacts, order a lot of expensive wine and may end up drinking two bottles each, but they don't think that is a problem because it's in a nice setting and it's 'work'.

"They view it differently from teenagers sitting on a park bench drinking a bottle of cider, but in reality the two situations are the same.

"When people think about binge drinking and alcohol problems, they tend to see the signs in others, but not themselves.

"It is still acceptable in the City for people to drink a lot as part of the culture, yet the problems are costing these firms money as well as the health of their employees."

The Government estimates that work-related alcohol problems cost the economy £6.4bn a year in lost productivity, absenteeism and other burdens.

More than 17 million working days are lost to alcohol-related absence. Figures from Alcohol Concern show that lawyers have more than double the national average rate for deaths from cirrhosis.

Liver cancer fatalities among lawyers are three times higher the average and top the league of professions, including publicans and doctors, who traditionally have high rates.

Almost half of all men and a quarter of women in higher managerial posts drink more than the recommended limit of four units of alcohol a day.

The Priory addiction clinic, famous for its celebrity clients, is now targeting advertising at "high functioning" alcoholics in the financial and professional sectors in an effort to de-stigmatise the problem.

LawCare, a support organisation for lawyers, says that its cases are increasing by 30 per a year.

While the majority of callers to the helpline are from people suffering from stress and depression, a growing number are about problem drinking. Around 80 per cent of those who admit to having an alcohol problem say it started because of stress at work.

Hilary Tilby, chief executive of LawCare, said: "I don't think people tend to go out for the big, beery lunches any more but there is still a culture where a lot of networking may be done over drinks and dinner.

"People in the City are very highly paid but a lot is expected of them in return; there is a lot of pressure from their bosses and their clients."

She added: "Part of the problem is also that the personality that goes with a lawyer means being a perfectionist, obsessive and wanting to succeed to the utmost of your abilities.

"They also tend to want results very quickly. This means that they put a lot of pressure on themselves, get stressed and then look to a quick fix for relieving that stress. Other people might go for long-term solutions like yoga; lawyers are more likely to go for nicotine or drink.

"There is also the genetic element; a high achiever may come from a family of high achievers, all of whom may have had problems with drinking."

Ms Tilby said there was still a stigma surrounding alcohol problems and many workers were too afraid to speak out because it could harm their careers.

The Government has launched a national strategy to tackle the health and socio-economic problems of alcohol, but campaigners say the policy has been undermined by the relaxation of the drinking laws.

LawCare's helpline is on 0800 279 6888.

'It became a vicious circle'

When Nicholas Jones* was offered a job at a top City law firm, he was ecstatic.

But the pressures of the job - and the culture within the profession - led to burn-out for Mr Jones, now 34, within three years.

He said: "Looking back, I realise I was probably drinking to excess at university, but so was everyone else so it didn't seem like I had a problem.

"When I started working, it seemed like an extension of university.

"There was a real blokey culture of going out, especially on a Thursday or Friday night and staying to the bitter end in case the partners turned up, or you missed a key bit of information or just didn't know the in-jokes the next day. But you're with the brightest, most ambitious people and it's all really competitive.

"I began to feel I wasn't as good as them and that made me drink more to feel more confident.

"I had moved to London from up North and the only people I knew were the ones I was working with, so it was very claustrophobic.

"It became a vicious circle; the more stressed I felt, the more I drank, the more mistakes I made at work, and so on.

"I realised I had a problem when I was going home one night and I was so drunk I couldn't remember where I lived.

"I decided to stop drinking but then, when we went to the pub, everyone was asking why I was on Coke, and making a big deal of it, so off I went on the booze again.

"What really woke me up to the problem was when I did stop drinking for a couple of days and I had a fit; my body had got so used to alcohol it went into meltdown when I stopped."

Mr Jones started going for counselling but eventually decided to leave the law firm.

"I just felt ostracised, frozen out - I think people looked at me and it made them feel uncomfortable because they knew they had a problem too," he said.

He has since become a teacher.

* The name has been changed

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