Drinking culture: a contributing factor to inappropriate behaviour

Excessive alcohol consumption at client events and after-work socials was identified in the report as a contributing factor in incidents of sexism, racism and inappropriate sexualised behaviour.

Thirty-seven percent of participants said they had seen or heard discriminatory language in the workplace, including misogynistic, sexualised, racist, homophobic, ableist and ageist language.

Many respondents noted that the comments were generally made under the guise of humour or banter, but were more often than not taken as offensive and ignorant.

This included older men giggling at the word “penetration” and making misogynistic comments about their wives.

One respondent reported that a male colleague had been messaging younger women in the company, and would often approach them at after-work drinks.

“You spend one hour with them at drinks and someone’s gonna make an inappropriate comment or somebody’s gonna make a reference that borders the line of racism,” said another participant.

“People skip out on even the annual Christmas party because they practise Islam and they can’t go there because it’s drinking. And I think in the financial services sector there’s a long way to go in order to come up with team building that doesn’t include alcohol”

In addition to the blurred boundaries of acceptable workplace language, drinking culture was underlined as a key element of in-group behaviour, especially for insurers and brokers in the City of London.

Excessive consumption of alcohol as part of workplace, social or other activities was also identified as a major causal factor in excluding or ‘othering’ some employees.

Respondents expressed concern that they were not seen as committed, or were viewed as an outsider, if they did not participate in after-work activities.

This culture does not consider employees that have caring responsibilities who may need to leave at the end of the working day, as well as those with chronic health problems such as heart disease, liver disease or diabetes.

Others do not drink for various religious, personal or other cultural reasons.

One respondent added that after-work drinking culture skews work/life balance the wrong way, with the majority of evenings taken up socialising with colleagues and industry peers, rather than with family.

Raising the bar

There is a clear imperative for the UK insurance industry to focus on team-building, client engagement and work-related socialising outside of pubs and bars.

“Pressure to engage in excessive alcohol consumption should not be acceptable in work-related settings,” said the report.

“The insurance industry must demonstrate greater awareness that not everybody is comfortable being around people who are drinking and that it can make some people feel very vulnerable. Career progression should have no link to ability or willingness to participate in drinking alcohol.”

Some respondents noted that their firm has a social group charter with a remit to be inclusive, while the report added that some organisations have banned alcohol consumption during lunchtime.

“I was just talking with a girl from Australia. We started our jobs quite at the same time in the UK and she was horrified. She’d gone to her first after works here and people were getting so drunk, even her manager got really drunk on a Thursday evening, on a random pub evening”

In terms of the unprofessional behaviour that can occur due to excessive drinking, the Code of Practice states: “Inappropriate or derogatory language in the workplace could amount to harassment if it is related to a protected characteristic and is sufficiently serious.

“Workplace policies – if the employer has these in place – should emphasise that workers should not make inappropriate comments, jokes or use derogatory terms related to a protected characteristic.”

The report added that training should address discriminatory language and the consequences of this, with senior role models encouraged to challenge the use of such language to ensure that colleagues feel safe and protected to call out inappropriate behaviour of their own volition.