David Moir/Reuters
- Twenty six percent of British bankers believe their job negatively impacts their health and wellbeing.
- That's according to the third annual review from the Banking Standards Board.
- Investment banking, long seen as the pinnacle of the banking industry, was more likely than other areas to negatively impact workers' health, the survey showed.
- However, investment bankers "were the least likely to see pressure in their roles as excessive."
LONDON - Long hours, punishing deadlines, and very little sleep. That's the outside of view of banking for many not involved in the industry.
A new survey from the UK's Banking Standards Board released on Thursday seems to confirm that view, with 26% of bankers surveyed saying that "working in their organisation was having a negative impact on their health and wellbeing."
"In areas of firms with the lowest scores for this question, employees commonly described what they saw as inconsistent and unfair treatment within their organisation of different departments, teams or geographic areas," the report noted.
Investment banking, long seen as the pinnacle of the banking industry, but also as the most gruelling part of it, was more likely than other areas to negatively impact workers' health, the BSB said.
"People working in investment banking, were the least likely to see pressure in their roles as excessive, yet more likely to experience work having a negative impact on their wellbeing, suggesting their concept what is 'excessive' differs from other areas in banking."
Twenty nine percent of investment bankers reported their work having a negative impact on their health and wellbeing.
Not only are a significant proportion of bankers negatively affected health-wise by their jobs, so too are many scared of what might happen if they speak up about their concerns, the BSB's third annual report said.
Over a quarter of the 36,000 people surveyed by the BSB said that would be "worried about negative consequences for themselves if they raised concerns," although 60% said they would not.
"This is a mixture of fear that they will get into trouble and futility that it will serve no useful purpose," Dame Colette Bowe, the BSB's head said, according to the Financial Times.
The Banking Standards Board was set up in 2015 by Britain's seven biggest banks as a measure to improve conduct in the industry in the wake of scandals like LIBOR.